Foreign and Military Affairs
Guqin concert held to mark China-Sweden 60th anniversary
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-10 10:24
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STOCKHOLM - To mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Sweden, a Guqin concert was held in Stockholm on Sunday evening.
The concert presented 12 different pieces, half of them about Guqin, some of them are the Xiao, a beautiful flute. Some of them they played together. All the music are about 2000 years old. One of the most beautiful ones is called Liushui, Flowing Water, that piece is on a golden disk in a voyage in an American Spaceship went away in 1977 out in the outer space.
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"It's a very important day because 60 years ago exactly on this date, May 9, Sweden and China established diplomatic relations, and actually Sweden was the first country in the west to do so. So we are very proud and we have long been in contact with China after that," said Lindqvist.
"Since then cultural contacts have developed tremendously, and this concert we are giving tonight is a kind of celebration of this very important day, so we hope lot of people will come here and listen to this music because 60 years is a long period. So we want to present Guqin to the Chinese community here and to all the Swedes who are interested in the Chinese Culture," she added.
Qin player Deng Hong and Xiao player Chen Shasha are both graduated from the Central Music Conservatory of China and work in Central Nationality Orchestra of China.
"I feel honored to come here to perform Guqin in order to commemorate the 60th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Sweden. I feel very excited and also very happy. I love to bring great enjoyment to the people in Sweden with China's oldest instrument and the universal language of music," said Deng Hong who has come to Sweden to perform for two times before.
"This was the third time I came to Sweden. When I came here for the first time, I feel the Swedish people begin to like Chinese music and like it better and better, therefore, we try to bring more and more different music with different instruments," said Chen Shasha who plays flute and Xun.
In addition to traditional music such as Flowing Water and Three Variation of the Melody of Plum Flower, this time they bring some new music such as Bamboo Branch Lyric, Tears of Yanhui and Spring Morning in the Jadepalace.
During the concert, Lindqvist's book Qin in both Swedish and Chinese and the CDs are all well sold, reflecting strong interests in Chinese culture.
