Chinese composer Tan Dun opens new show in Sydney

World Today

Chinese composer Tan Dun opens new show in Sydney

One of the world’s most innovative and respected composers Tan Dun is performing in Australia this week.

He is the first Chinese musician to receive a Grammy. And he won for the soundtrack to the movie: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Tan Dun said he hopes his success will help the Grammys and other awards to recognize more musicians from around the world.

CGTN’s Greg Navarro reports.

One day before his first performance in Sydney’s Opera House. Tan Dun wanted to make sure the musicians who surrounded him understood the story behind the music.
Because the 59-year old composer’s latest work – Nu Shu: The Secret Songs of Women is very much about bringing that story to life.

“A very, very ancient women’s culture and it’s about the dream discovery and it’s about the people with the most tears who ended up the happiest,” Dun said.

The story of that ancient women’s language is told through a blend of visual arts and music creating the kind of unique and moving experience that Dun has become known for.

“Although the shapes are one by one the screens and are not actually linked together but actually we can use the sound to link them together and that becomes so interesting,” Dun said.

Tan Dun’s performances in Australia are the latest in a career spanning more than four decades. And include a growing list of international accolades that includes an Oscar and a Grammy for his score on the soundtrack to the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Dun hopes the Grammys will continue to look across borders and recognize musicians from the East. Not a surprising view from a man whose career has not been defined by musical borders. With his latest work, he blends a dying ancient eastern language with modern western musical elements.