Week 4 Posting

Question 1:
Professor Rees contends that the Naxi music enjoyed by tourists is not as "ancient" as it is actually marketed. For one thing, the music performed by the Lijiang Naxi has a great deal of Han Chinese influence. The religious scripture on which much of the music is based, Dadong Xiangjing, is of Han Chinese origin, as well as the style of singing and melodies. In order to produce a marketable "authentic" performance for tourists, Naxi ensembles incorporated disparate aspects of different pre-1949 Dongjing ensembles, both those which emphasized religious ritual as well as those which were completely secularized. Rees writes that these performances for tourists highlighted "unchanging tradition, formality, and reverence" (p. 6), among other aspects. Some elements of performance which are not actually "authentic" include the following: not all of the performers are ethnically Naxi, some are actually Han Chinese; some instruments used are based on Han Chinese instruments, though with a Naxi flair. Rees describes "authenticity" as something which is "credible and convincing" to tourists. Of course, if a tourist has no prior knowledge of a culture or the manner of performance, anything foreign can seem authentic. The mere fact that many of these performances are purposely put on for the entertainment of foreigners, and not for the Naxi people themselves, can possibly make them unauthentic, because the original purpose of the musical performances was to please the Naxi themselves, not tourists who probably understand far less about the music than the Naxi people do.

Question 2:
On the other hand, Western scholars accused Chinese orchestras of being inauthentic, although they performed traditional Chinese music. Rees described such ensembles as consisting of mass-produced Chinese instruments accompanied by Western instruments, creating a mixture of East and West, both in terms of sound and in performed pieces. These performances were labeled as inauthentic and not "traditional." Westerners see this as being nontraditional because they expect to hear and see foreign, homespun music and instruments in their native settings, as opposed to factory-produced instruments and mass ensembles. I believe that there is merit to both arguments. On the side of the Western scholars, this kind of music is not authentic in the sense that these performances are not like those of the past, before the rapid development of technology and the influx of Western traditions. On the other hand, Rees writes that many Chinese musicians have no qualms about calling this music traditional. The Chinese have a different point of view, because they see it as being just another expression of traditional Chinese music under the influence of Western styles. These Chinese musicians understand that Chinese music is not static, but dynamic, with the ability to evolve over time, particularly in today's global culture. Another important supporting argument is that even Chinese musicians who have professionally trained at national Chinese conservatories can agree that this emerging type of Chinese musical performance is, indeed, traditional.