Shanghai Art Troupe Blows Roof Off at Soochow University

“2016 Celebration of Lantern Festival: Shanghai Art Troupe Taiwan Tour,” a series of art shows held by Shanghai Culture Friendship Association, Shanghai Cross-strait Exchange Association and Department of Music at Soochow University, had brought Shanghai-styled performances to Taipei City and New Taipei City during the lantern festival. On February 25, Shanghai Art Troupe gave audience at Soochow University one of its applaud-winning shows at the school’s Songyi Hall.

In the troupe for this year’s tour were some of Shanghai’s best artists of different generations. Among them, the singers Yu Lihong, Chi Liming, Wang Weiqian, Luo Yu, etc. sang a number of famous tunes with traditional Shanghai cultural features like “Today Is a Good Day,” “Shanghai Nights,” the song for the opening ceremony in Beijing Olympic Games “You and Me” and Taiwanese folk song “Grandma’s Penghu Bay.” The magician Yan Hezhi and the acrobat Li Yong also wowed the audience with their dazzling, interactive shows. Similarly impressive was the amazing dance “The Papercutting Girls” brought by the students from Shanghai Film Art Academy.

The entire show was full of amusing surprises, too. The tenor Chi Liming, for example, sang the famous folk song “Grassland Rises a Sun That Never Sets” a cappella without any amplifier, and his clear voice echoed across the theater, something far from the coarse voice that he worried could have happened due to lack of warm-up time for his vocal cords. Also, Erhu artist Ma Xiaohui played a solo of a jazz-mixing piece “Whispers of Birds and Scents of Flowers” before she gave the audience some bonuses including the theme song of the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and the classic Erhu piece “Horse Racing.” While these two pieces were very different in style, they were both wonderful treats to the audience’s ears.

Shanghai Art Troupe’s performance was blended with various genres including traditional Chinese music, magic, acrobatics, singing and dances, which perfectly reflected the inclusive nature of Shanghai culture. Short as the 90-minute show was, it totally blew the audience away and brought full joy to them for a wonderful festival.