Seminar and Concert Polifonie “in viva voce” 17 Dong Polyphonic Singing from Southern China

plus OCT, 15 2013

The “Polifonie in viva voce” series promoted by the Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in collaboration with Confucius Institute of Venice is now into its seventeenth edition. This year the guests are the Dong Folk Chorus of the Dimen Dong Culture Eco-Museum, made up of singers from various villages in the Chinese province of Guizhou. As usual, the event will be divided into two separate sessions: an afternoon seminar to analyse and explore Dong polyphonic singing, with the participation of Joanna Lee (Hong Kong University), an expert on Dong music, who has been involved in obtaining UNESCO acknowledgement for this art form and in the creation of the Dimen Dong Culture Eco-Museum; after the seminar there will be a concert by the Dong Folk Chorus.
A typical feature of local Dong singing is the combination of a large group called da ge, which can be translated with the expression “great song”, or “large chorus”, alluding to the number of singers who may spontaneously or in a more organised way take part directly in the performance.