It was a boring Sunday as I had to work in the evening. Actually it wasn't that bad, if not because I had worked the previous night (which meant I had no off days for this week!). But what perked me up a bit was that there was a Chinese marionette performance near my work place, held in conjunction with the celebration of Lord Guan Ti's celestial birthday. This was rather exciting for me, as I had loved watching Chinese marionette performances since young.
Of course, I could not stay throughout the whole show since I had to work, therefore I could only sneaked out to catch a short peek at their show during the lull periods of my work. The troupe performing was "Sin Ho Peng", and if I am not wrong, they are the only string marionette troupe left in Singapore. Although their marionettes belonged to the Heng Hwa (a sister dialect of the Hokkien dialect) style, the marionette troupe performs in both Heng Hwa and Hokkien dialect, depending on what occasion it is. I was plesantly surprised that they were performing in Hokkien dialect, something which I had not watched for many, many years. There were more surprises coming my way, as I saw familiar faces at the backstage...
As I walked to the back of the stage, I saw Haining (a.k.a. "Teacher Zhuang" or ZHN) in charged of the percussion instruments. Haining used to help our opera troupe in percussions for some of our shows, and was sort of my mentor as I had learnt the basics of percussion instruments from him before (though still not very skillful). He saw me, and eagerly invited me up the stage to have a sit, and when I went up, I saw "Senior Zhuang" (Haining's father) playing the lead string instrument as well. I'm less familiar with "Senior Zhuang" as I had only seen him once, during our latest performance at Taman Jurong Community Club. He still recognised me anyhow.
And then, Haining threw me a "bomb", by asking me to help out in the gongs while he concentrate on his drums! I agreed without much thoughts, but it turned out that it was no easy feat! Although I had played alongside him before, this was much tougher than expected as I didn't know what to expect (since I didn't know how the plot would unfold on stage), and also due to the fact that I had not touched Chinese opera percussions for quite a long time). I felt I had fumbled on stage, but the marionette operators of the troupe thought I played rather well, and Haining came to my rescue saying that I was more used to playing well-rehearsed and scripted shows than palying inpromtu. Indeed, playing inpromptu is not easy, and I had to take my hat off to Haining!
After messing around with the percussions for quite a while, I decided that I had to leave, as I had left my office for quite a while. Before I left ther performance, I bidded both teachers goodbye and take one "final look" at their show down stage (but of course I did return again after an hour or so to catch another glimpse)...
Of course, I could not stay throughout the whole show since I had to work, therefore I could only sneaked out to catch a short peek at their show during the lull periods of my work. The troupe performing was "Sin Ho Peng", and if I am not wrong, they are the only string marionette troupe left in Singapore. Although their marionettes belonged to the Heng Hwa (a sister dialect of the Hokkien dialect) style, the marionette troupe performs in both Heng Hwa and Hokkien dialect, depending on what occasion it is. I was plesantly surprised that they were performing in Hokkien dialect, something which I had not watched for many, many years. There were more surprises coming my way, as I saw familiar faces at the backstage...
As I walked to the back of the stage, I saw Haining (a.k.a. "Teacher Zhuang" or ZHN) in charged of the percussion instruments. Haining used to help our opera troupe in percussions for some of our shows, and was sort of my mentor as I had learnt the basics of percussion instruments from him before (though still not very skillful). He saw me, and eagerly invited me up the stage to have a sit, and when I went up, I saw "Senior Zhuang" (Haining's father) playing the lead string instrument as well. I'm less familiar with "Senior Zhuang" as I had only seen him once, during our latest performance at Taman Jurong Community Club. He still recognised me anyhow.
And then, Haining threw me a "bomb", by asking me to help out in the gongs while he concentrate on his drums! I agreed without much thoughts, but it turned out that it was no easy feat! Although I had played alongside him before, this was much tougher than expected as I didn't know what to expect (since I didn't know how the plot would unfold on stage), and also due to the fact that I had not touched Chinese opera percussions for quite a long time). I felt I had fumbled on stage, but the marionette operators of the troupe thought I played rather well, and Haining came to my rescue saying that I was more used to playing well-rehearsed and scripted shows than palying inpromtu. Indeed, playing inpromptu is not easy, and I had to take my hat off to Haining!After messing around with the percussions for quite a while, I decided that I had to leave, as I had left my office for quite a while. Before I left ther performance, I bidded both teachers goodbye and take one "final look" at their show down stage (but of course I did return again after an hour or so to catch another glimpse)...
Haining trying to shun from my camera, but I caught him anyhow
"Senior Zhuang" and another fellow musician during their "break" from playing music
Marionette operators in action; don't think handling the marionettes are easy, they're in fact very heavy! (I've one of these at home, so I know)
This is not a ghostly scene; it's just me taking a snapshot in the wrong white balance mode!
7 comments:
There was 1 time when i went tampines ; and red hill there and i also saw ZHN there.
The former was si ju chun hokkien opera and the latter hokkien marionette..
Operra circule vvvv small!xj
Xin He Ping is not the only string marionette troupe left in Singapore. There are a few more like Qiu Yi and Xin Cai Yun....hehe...
I played with string marionette before...very interesting and heavy. Some are lighter because they are from another part of China. If I'm not wrong, xin hua marionette are heavier...The numbers of strings attached to the marionette differ too. They are very different from hand puppets.
I've never heard of Xin Cai Yun, and I didn't know Qiu Yi is still around, because the last time I saw this troupe (my first time too) was like a decade and half ago! Hahahaha... But anyway, nowadays if I see marionette shows, it's always Xin He Ping, so I thought that's the only troupe around lor.. Xin Hua puppets are bigger and heavier, The smaller and lighter ones comes from western min regions or Guangdong province, if not wrong, but certainly not from Quanzhou. Those are even smaller and lighter, but more complicated!
Yes indeed the opera circle is very small. Just now I went to saw Teochew opera at GCB, and the troupe's from M'sia. But I thought I saw my Thai friend's friend acting inside the troupe!
I thought the Teochew troupe from Bangkok is going to GCB soon. My mum just bought ticket to watch them this coming Fri...
It's not from Bangkok, but from western Malaysia. However, I believe they do perform in Thailand too, because Thailand is one big market for Teochew opera troupes. Anyway, I went to their debut performance last night, and you can actually read my post at my other blog, at http://watersleeves.blogspot.com
Ok...thanks...But does Thailand has Teochew opera?
Ni
Yes! Basically there're Teochew and Hainanese opera in Thailand, Teochew being the major and Hainanese being less minor. My friend Oh used to perform Teochew opera in Thailand, and from what he said, he performed almost everyday, and once a year his troupe would cross over to northern Malaysia to perform as well.
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