Canne's prizes revive HK films
HONG KONG - By lifting the Golden Palm for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival this year, Tony Leung gave Hong Kong's drooping film industry a much needed boost.
Film-selling website to shut down
WASHINGTON - Reel.com, a website aimed at selling to film-goers, will shut down, the owners said on Monday, citing a cash crunch.
'Some Like It Hot' - century's best comedy
LOS ANGELES - "Some Like It Hot" and "Tootsie" - films in which some of Hollywood's great male stars dress up as women, were named on Tuesday as the two funniest American films of all time.
The aroma of Spanish wine
MIGUEL Torres, chief executive officer of the leading Spanish Torres Winery, was very enthusiastic introducing his wines in Shanghai two days ago despite the fact that his joint venture in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, is running in the red.
Lucky meeting brings singwes together
THE soft 1970s songs of Filipino band "Infinite" sounded enchanting in the Lobby Bar of the Huating Hotel as drizzle fell on the streets outside.
Striking the right note for kids' future
CHILDREN play pianos while their parents wait outside. A common scene in local piano schools.
Chinese erhu meets Western jazz
By Brian Cummins
IT was a slightly unusual marriage - the Chinese erhu, an ancient Chinese stringed instrument, and a six-piece Japanese jazz band - so it was difficult to know what to expect as we arrived at the crowded Shanghai Centre Theatre for a recital titled "Shanghai Dream." Erhu player Chen Min was born in Suzhou and grew up in Shanghai before leaving to attend college in Japan in 1991, returning in 1997. She formed associations with Western and Japanese musicians and gained a liking for Western music especially jazz. With the encouragement of her father, Chen Longzhang, and Associate Professor Nie Yaliang of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, she joined with the Dream City jazz band composed of Japanese musicians for the performance here. Dream City is perhaps better described as a swing band with piano, bass, guitar, drums, saxophone/clarinet and trombone. They played in the style of the Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman bands. The numbers included: Slow Boat to China, Moonlight Seranade, St Louis Blues, Chinatown My Chinatown, Petite Fleur, In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree and Shanghai Lil. Chen fronted the band with her erhu and joined the instrument, allowing for its limited tonal range, in a series of riffs. As well, she played several erhu compositions with a jazz arrangement. It was an enjoyable night of music, but for traditionalists any blending of "odd" instruments, which was so fashionable in "World Music," doesn't seem quite right.
Copyright 2000 by Shanghai Star. All rights reserved.