| From April 30 to May 5 2008, 10 noted performers and groups of world musicians from China and abroad introduced the concept of world music to Shanghai audience. They held 5 concerts and 4 lectures in the Shanghai Concert Hall for the Week of World Music, all open to the public for free. The concert featured several minority performers: a Dong chorus from Hunan Province, the Dolan Muqam from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, singer Long Xian’e of the Miao Nationality in Yunnan Province, the Lao Qiang from Shaanxi Province and the Pumi, also called Primi, from southwestern China (Sichuan and Yunnan provinces). Each Chinese performance was paired with an overseas sound: Drums from the Central African nation of Burundi, Indonesian gamelan, Central Asian khoomei or “throat singing” from Tuva, a republic in south central Russia bordering the Mongolia People’s Republic, Iranian folk music and Spanish flamenco. These world music concerts and lectures were not only an important programme of Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, but also a significant part of welcoming reception to the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. |
