“We usually take the local public transport to the nearest town, then a ride to the villages, some are not reachable by car, so we have to walk inside… We like to eat, live, chat with the locals, to listen to them speak about the lives of their ancestors, and to become their friends. In those remote mountain villages, one wakes up with roosters’ crow in the morning, and sleeps with cicadas’ chorus in the night. They believe in nature, animism, they work in the field to feed their children, their joy and sorrow are expressed with songs and wine. They are also troubled with poverty and disease, when the pains of aging arrive they wait for the spirits to come and take away their souls, then to have their bodies buried below the ground.
Most of their music has no scores nor historical records, they are passed down from generation to generation through singing, the music carry personal stories, images and imagination, taking us to those ancient and faraway places, to observe their lives as well as to self-observe.”
-Shi Tanding
8pm Tuesday July 2
IFP Studio Heizhima Hutong 13