Duo Chinoiserie | 東風
以世界音乐文化为灵感的二重奏组合
“中国风（英语：Chinoiserie）也译成“中国风情”、“东洋风情”，在艺术史上是一个专有名词。此风格起源于十七世纪，在十八世纪成为风行全欧洲的国际时尚，表现在各种艺术类型，并在各地发展出不同特色。”——摘自维基百科 https://zh.wikipedia.org
经过一番深思熟虑，夏菁和胡滨的古筝——吉他二重奏终于有了名字：Duo Chinoiserie (東風)！英文“Chinoiserie”一词源自法语，代表了18世纪欧洲对神秘东方文化的向往，而夏菁与胡滨的二重奏又恰恰由一个中国乐器和一个欧洲乐器组成。他们用来自东西方的两个代表性乐器诠释着欧亚大陆的不同音乐文化，从中世纪的圣母玛利亚赞歌到西班牙吉普赛人的音乐，从巴赫到德彪西，从中东到新疆直到长安，仿佛重新勾勒了古老的丝绸之路。他们的选曲多受民族元素的影响，展示着不同音乐文化之间的联系与相互影响。中文名取为“東風”意指东方的风情。“风”一字亦具流动性，象征着一种传播。
格莱纳多斯《东方》
TUCSON LIFESTYLE
图森风尚杂志专访
One local couple has combined their performing talents on two very different string instruments to create a transformative experience for concertgoers.
一对当地的夫妻结合了他们精湛的表演天赋，用两件很不一样的弹拨乐器上为音乐会听众带来了崭新的体验。
When Bin Hu and his wife Jing Xia perform together, a kind of sonic alchemy happens. East meets West, Classical blends with traditional, and the music that results is pure gold —— gleaming, rich and beautiful.
胡滨和他的太太夏菁的表演有着一种声音的魔力。东方遇到西方，古典和民间音乐的融合，其结果就像金子一般纯净——闪亮、浑厚、美好。
There definitely seems to be the hand of destiny in the story of how the guitarist and the guzheng player each chose their instruments, and how they finally met and began playing as a duo.
两位音乐家如何选择了他们乐器以及他们最终相遇并组成二重奏的故事似乎包含着缘分与注定。
Bin, originally from Tianjin, China, which is a major coastal city that’s about 20 minutes by train from Beijing, took up the guitar because of his father. “My father went to college for engineering, but he played guitar as a hobby,” Bin explains. “When I was nine or 10 years old, I used to see him play all the time. I got interested in the instrument and asked him to teach me.”
胡滨来自中国天津，一个坐火车20分钟就能到达北京的重要滨海城市。他最初开始学习吉他是因为他的父亲。“我的父亲是个机械工程师，弹吉他是他读大学时候的爱好，”胡滨解释道。“我九、十岁的时候总是看见他弹吉他，于是我便产生了兴趣并让他教我。”
Sadly, his father passed away when he was 14, but Bin had learned to really enjoy the guitar, even playing in a rock band when he was a teenager, and vowed to continue playing to honor his dad. It wasn’t long before he realized that music was what he wanted to pursue as a profession. Starting in the 1980s, it had become very popular in China to learn to play a Western instrument. “Every family with a child wants them to learn an instrument at an early age,” Bin says. Still, earning a living as a musician is a daunting proposition. “How can you be a musician and survive?” he observes of the universal dilemma. “Even my family was against it at first. But I insisted, and I believed that if I had enough enthusiasm, I could achieve my goals. I went abroad when I was 18 years old, to the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre to get my bachelor’s degree. And then I went to Salzburg, Austria, to attend Mozarteum University.”
很可惜的是，他的父亲在他14岁的时候就去世了，而胡滨也学会了享受吉他带来的快乐，他甚至在十几岁的时候组成过自己的摇滚乐队，并誓言用弹吉他的方式来纪念他的父亲。不久，他便意识到音乐就是他想追求的事业。从80年代起，西洋乐器开始在中国流行。“每个有孩子的家庭都想让孩子在小的时候学习一件乐器，”胡滨说道。尽管如此，以音乐来谋生仍是一个令人畏惧的想法。“如何成为一个音乐家并以此为生呢？”他谈到这个普遍的音乐家的窘境。“一开始甚至连我的家人都反对这个想法，但我还是坚信只要有足够的热情，我一定能达成我的目标。我18岁的时候就出国了，在爱沙尼亚国立音乐戏剧学院完成了本科学业，之后又去了萨尔茨堡莫扎特音乐表演大学。”
Jing, who grew up in the picturesque city of Wuhan, China, also began studying an instrument because of her father. In her case, her dad didn’t play, but he wanted his daughter to have the opportunity. “He wanted music to be a companion for me,” Jing says. When she was four years old, she started on the guzheng. This plucked string instrument with harp-like qualities is widely used in traditional Chinese music, and has a lush, soothing sound that makes it ideal for compositions that evoke the natural environment, history and cultures of the land.
夏菁在如画的武汉长大，开始学习古筝也是因为她的父亲。她的父亲并不会弹古筝，但想要为女儿创造这个机会。“他想让音乐成为我人生的伴侣，”夏菁说道。她四岁的时候便开始学习弹古筝。这个类似竖琴一样的弹拨乐器在中国音乐里十分常见。它那柔美、抚慰人心的音色使它成为描绘自然、呈现本土音乐文化的理想乐器。
The guzheng demands a great deal of dexterity and focus from musicians, but Jing was up to the task, and at age 12, she was good enough that her parents sent her to Beijing to the China Conservatory of Music. “My professor was amazing,” she says of the life-changing experience she had there. “She told me, ‘You don’t just play the instrument. You play with your heart. Maybe you can console people because of their emotions.’ And I thought, ‘Yes, I’d like to do that.’”
古筝对演奏者敏捷度和注意力集中度有着很高的要求，而这些对于年幼的夏菁来说似乎游刃有余。在她12岁时，她的父母便将她送入了中国音乐学院。“我的导师给予了我很大的启发，”她说道她在北京改变人生的经历。“她跟我说，‘你不仅仅是演奏一件乐器，而是要用心去演奏。这样也许你会抚慰人们的心灵。’我当时就想，‘这正是我想要做的。’”
法雅《恐怖之舞》
It was music that brought both Bin and Jing to the Old Pueblo. In Bin’s case, it was because of a fellow student. “After my master’s degree in Austria, I decided to get a doctoral degree, so I wouldn’t have to worry later if I needed it,” he reflects. “One of my biggest problems was German. If I wanted to earn my doctorate in Austria I had to have C level German, which I do not have. I found Tucson because one of my classmates wanted to come here but didn’t pass the language proficiency. He told me, ‘It’s a great place. You should check it out.’”
是音乐把胡滨和夏菁带到了这个西部牛仔的故乡。胡滨的到来是因为他的一个同学。“我在奥地利毕业以后想要继续攻读博士，这样如果有一天当我需要博士学位的时候就不用再去担心了，”他回答说。“当时我最大的问题就是德语。如果我想在奥地利读博士，我的德语必须达到C级，但当时我并没有。我找到了图森因为我有一个同学想要考这里但没有通过托福考试。他跟我说，‘那是个很棒的地方，你应该去看看。’”
Bin wrote to Tom Patterson, the department chair for guitar at UA’s Fred Fox School of Music, and he invited the young scholar for an audition, which proved that he would be a great fit. “I am happy about being here, and people are very supportive,” Bin notes about his doctoral studies in Tucson. “They make me feel really good.”
胡滨便给亚利桑那大学福克斯音乐学院的吉他教授汤姆·帕特森写信。他邀请了这位年轻的学者过来面试，对他的表现也非常满意。“在这里让我很高兴，人们都很支持我，”胡滨谈论关于他在图森博士学习的经历。“他们让我感觉很舒服。”
Jing, meanwhile, came to town as a visiting scholar, and she works with the UA Confucius Institute as an instructor and cultural ambassador of Chinese music. It was her desire to perform with other artists that brought her together with her husband. “I have passion for playing,” she says. “I asked many musicians if they wanted to play Western music with me, but only Bin found the repertoire to try together. That’s how we started.”
与此同时，夏菁以访问学者身份来到图森。她作为中国音乐的文化使者在亚利桑那大学孔子学院任教。正是她想要与其它音乐家合作的愿望把她和他的先生带到了一起。“我对演奏有着很高的热情，”她说。“我向很多音乐家表达过合作的意愿，但只有胡滨找到了曲目并一起尝试着改编。我们就是这么开始的。”
One thing that helped to solidify their relationship was going on a challenging journey together, along the route through Spain where legend has it the remains of the apostle James were carried to his resting place. “Two years ago, we did the Camino de Santiago,” says Bin. “Very spiritual. Quite a nice experience, but also very tough. When you do that kind of thing, you’re completely honest with each other. You can’t hide anything. You may be in your worst mood and super-exhausted. I thought, if we can survive that, we will survive anything!”
其中有一件事情让他们的关系更加紧密：他们一起去了一个很具挑战性的徒步旅行——西班牙的圣地亚哥朝圣之路，也就是传说中圣徒詹姆斯的遗骨被安放的地方。“两年前，我们一起走了圣地亚哥朝圣之路，”胡滨说。“这是一个非常有灵性的经历，也很艰苦。当你徒步的时候，你会把自己最真实的一面毫无保留地展现给对方。你真的什么都无法隐藏。也许你在筋疲力尽的时候脾气会很差。我想如果我们能禁得住朝圣之路的考验，那就没有什么能难倒我们的了！”
Choosing compatible repertoire, and figuring out how two very different stringed instruments can share a stage and enthrall an audience, is no easy task. “I want to show the charm of the guzheng with our repertoire,” Bin says of the music that the couple performs together. “For example, we’ve chosen pieces from some of the French Impressionists, like Debussy and Ravel, to show the Oriental influence, and how that would sound on an original instrument from Asia. Some of the Impressionist pieces are pentatonic. The idea is very similar to Chinese traditional music; it depicts a certain subject, like a lake, a bell, or a sunken cathedral like one of Debussy’s works. Traditional Chinese music is the same. It’s always about a certain image or subject. The expressions are very similar, so in that way it makes connections to Jing’s instrument. Plus, I cannot do Impressionist music on guitar alone because the guitar has a very short sustain, and Impressionist music has a massive sound, lots of sustain. But with Jing’s help, we can make it sound bigger and better. There are only open strings on the guzheng, so that adds a certain quality of serenity to the music. When you hear it, it’s very relaxing, the sound of the open string. On the other side, we’ve chosen some Spanish repertoire because Spain was ruled by the Moors for centuries, so the music has a lot of Oriental feeling, like the Arabic scale they use.”
找到合适的曲目让这两件很不一样的乐器结合到一起并吸引住听众绝不是件容易的事情。“我想通过我们的选曲为听众展现古筝的魅力，”胡滨谈论到他们的演奏曲目。“例如，我们选择了一些法国印象主义的作品，像德彪西和拉威尔，用东方的乐器来展现其中的东方元素。有一些印象主义的作品运用了五声音阶，这跟中国的传统音乐很像。他们都是对一个特定主题的描写，比如湖、钟、或者沉入水底的大教堂，就像德彪西的作品。中国传统音乐也是一样的，它总是在描写一个特定的画面或者主题。它们的表达方式非常相似，所以这样就跟夏菁的乐器产生了联系。另外就是，印象主义作品非常注重恢宏的音响效果和延音。吉他因为延音有限所以不太适合单独演奏印象主义的作品。有了古筝的衬托，我们能更好地表现这种音响效果。古筝的空弦共鸣很大，这些空弦的声音为音乐添加了一份宁静、放松的美质。我们也选择了很多西班牙的作品。因为西班牙曾被摩尔人殖民统治，所以它的音乐里也会有一些东方的元素，比如阿拉伯的音阶。”
法雅《火祭舞》
Watching and listening to Bin play solo guitar, on, for example, a Bach sonata transcribed from violin, the nimble way that his fingers fly along the strings, and the gorgeous tones that he gets from his instrument, it’s easy to see how he could have a career on his own. However he says, “After so many years of studying in a conservatory and university, I realized I want to explore the unique side about myself, about being an artist. Although I can play solo, I prefer to have something different, combined with Jing’s instrument.”
聆听胡滨在吉他上演奏巴赫的无伴奏小提琴组曲，看他的手指灵活地游走于琴弦之间，还有他那美妙的音色，不难看出他完全可以作为独奏家展开一番事业，但他却说，“经过这么多年在音乐学院和大学的学习，我想去发掘自己作为一个艺术家独特的一面。虽然我也很喜欢独奏，但我想跟夏菁做出一些让人耳目一新的音乐。”
During the couple’s concerts, audiences are treated to the multi-cultural, multi-dimensional sounds of the guitar and the guzheng performing together, each instrument retaining its signature qualities, and yet combining to create something greater than the sum of the parts. Both artists also perform solo, and when Jing is on stage by herself, it’s fascinating to listen to the haunting qualities of her instrument, which can trace its roots back about 2,500 years. It’s also amazing to watch the deftness with which she manipulates the moveable bridges the guzheng employs. “I wouldn’t be able to play the guzheng like Jing,” Bin admits. “But ladies are good at multi-tasking!” Though she often plays on borrowed instruments, the bridges (which are removable) are custom-made for her. They make all the difference in terms of the overall sound. “That’s my secret!” she says with a laugh.
在这对夫妻的音乐会上，听众可以享受吉他和古筝带来的多文化、多方位的声音。每件乐器在保留了各自特点的同时又创造出了更美妙的效果。两位演奏家在音乐会上也会演奏独奏。当夏菁独自在台上的时候，大家会被古筝那萦绕的声音所迷住，这已经有2500多年历史的古老声音。最令人费解的还有她在演奏期间迅速挪动码子的动作。“我肯定不可能像夏菁一样演奏古筝，”胡滨承认道。“因为女性是比较擅长同时做多件事的！”虽然她音乐会的时候经常会借古筝，但总会换上她手工定制的码子。它们对于声音的效果是至关重要的。“这是我的小秘密！”她笑着说。
Both have recorded solo CDs. Jing’s is called Water Lotus and has been sold at her performances. Bin’s, which was released by Eudora Records a few years ago, is called Ciaccona. Featuring music by J.S. Bach, the album is dedicated to his father. And while they adapt different classical and traditional works for the two of them to play together, they also are looking forward to having works commissioned for their unusual pairing. One composer they have approached is guitarist Sergio Assad, who has heard them perform one of his pieces that they’ve transcribed for guitar and guzheng.
两位演奏家都有自己的独奏专辑。夏菁的《出水莲》会在她的音乐会后签售。胡滨的《Ciaccona》是前不久由西班牙Eudora唱片公司出版的。这张收录了巴赫音乐作品的唱片是献给他父亲的。他们在改编了很多古典和民间的音乐作品的同时也在寻找机会为这个不寻常组合委约新的作品。他们曾向吉他家、作曲家阿萨德表达过此意愿，因为他们曾改编过阿萨德的很多作品。
But while the couple stays busy with rehearsing and performing, there’s an even bigger family activity for them: raising their one-year-old daughter Arya (pronounced like Aria). Though they had the classical music world in mind when they chose a name, Bin jokes that they didn’t realize how it would be interpreted back in China. “When we gave it to her, we didn’t think about it. My family name is Hu [pronounced Who], so in China she would be called Hu Arya!”
这对夫妻在忙于排练演出的同时还有一个更重要的家庭活动：照顾他们一岁的女儿Arya（和“Aria”发音相同）。虽然在取名时他们想的是古典音乐里的咏叹调，胡滨调侃说他们并没有意识到回到中国后大家会怎么叫她。“我们在给她取名时没考虑到这点。我姓胡，发音和‘who’一样，所以在中国大家会叫她Hu Arya（Who are ya）！”
Coming up in the future for the couple are more concerts, including plans for the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music’s summer series in 2019. As to what tweaks and alterations may be coming to their performances, Bin concludes, “We thought about creating a program with geographic connections, like coming from Spain and going through the Middle East to China, but we haven’t figured out how she can manage all the changes of tuning. I may have to talk more!”
接下来他们会有更多的音乐会行程，其中包括Arizona Friends of Chamber Music的2019夏季音乐季。关于他们会做什么曲目上的调整，胡滨是这样总结的，“我们想根据地理位置的分布编排出一套曲目，比如可以从西班牙开始穿过中东然后到达中国，但我们还没想好古筝该怎么在曲目之间改变定弦。我可能得培养下脱口秀的技能了！”
主编 SCOTT BARKER ? 摄影 JAMES PATRICK
TucsonLifestyle.com 图森风尚杂志 | 2019年一月
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