East and West, Ancient and Modern

New word, new life

NAGA Upcoming Yalon Series

November 13 and 14 2010, Beiijng

 

Dear Qin Friends,

NAGA is pleased to announce that the upcoming series of yalons will be held in the evenings from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm on November 13 and 14, 2010 at the beautiful Beijing Regal Court in the Beijing CBD area.

A yalon雅龙^© (yaji+salon) is a mixed gathering of East and West, ancient and modern. It was conceived and created by NAGA’s director Wang Fei in October, 2010. 

Based on the traditional Chinese scholar’s yaji (雅集 elegant gathering) and the French artistic gatherings known as salons (沙龙), a yalon (雅龙) ^© is a novel and artistic high society gathering, centering on guqin, attended by contemporary literati in homage to the ancient Chinese yaji of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove and hosted by intellectual women in their living rooms, as was done in the past by George Sand in her French salons and Lin Huiyin (林徽因) in her literary salons.

The purpose of yalons is to provide an inspirational platform for artists to collaborate across cultures and across art forms; to encourage artists to create new works; to introduce a new lifestyle in which a person can be not just materially wealthy but also spiritually rich. We hope today’s NAGA yalons starting in China will be a spark that can light a prairie fire to revive Chinese high culture, now that its economy has become so successful.

NAGA’s  ground-breaking yalons (雅龙) ^© were successfully premiered this October in a Beijing courtyard house where renowned Chinese opera master Mei Lanfang (梅兰芳) used to reside, and the Zuiqin Studio by Taoran Pavilion Park. Attendees included guqin master Professor Li Xiangting, Wang Fei and her sister Wang Wei, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, publishers, doctors and officials from both China and the US. Attendees enjoyed and appreciated music from famous guqin pieces to improvisations, poetry recitals and improvisational writing with guqin improvisation, while tasting fine wines and aged Puer black tea, wore hanfu, played impromptu childhood games and discussed various artistic topics as well as modern marvels such as the iPad and iPhone…

The theme of this upcoming series is the appreciation of the guqin and art collecting.

Attendees will include guqin and xiao masters, collectors of paintings, stones, carvings and thangka (唐卡); award-winning calligraphers, opera singers, venture capitalists, publishers, diplomats and young urban professionals from China and overseas.

 

Winter has just arrived. It may be cold outside, but stay indoors with family and friends and have a cup of wine or tea; play or listen to guqin music; recite a few favorite poems, appreciate some artworks and have intellectual conversations that might warm your heart…

 

About NAGA

The North American Guqin Association (NAGA) is a nonprofit cultural arts organization dedicated to the public presentation and preservation of the art of the guqin, spreading community appreciation of Chinese culture through the traditional art of the guqin and building a bridge for cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the Chinese and American communities. NAGA offers guqin classes, performances, recordings, workshops etc.

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