So as not to
get anyone’s curiosity up too much: The answer to the title question is “Not
much”, but see for yourself.
*~*~*
It’s Sunday
and here I am (let’s ignore the fact that I was going to post this last Sunday
instead of this one). And ever since I last wrote, I’ve been extremely busy
having fun. In the past two and a half weeks, I’ve attended three completely
different concerts (or, at the very least, concert-like events), and they were all tremendous fun (although for different reasons)!
*~*~*
The
School Recital
I probably
should have predicted how crazy the Tongji university recital would turn out to
be, but I didn’t.
There’s an
auditorium on campus that looks like an oversized movie theatre, and the
recital took place there. It was an impossibly weird event, but I enjoyed every
second (and there were many seconds, more on that in a moment).
The entire
thing started when every audience member was handed a bag full of various gifts
upon entering the room instead of a programme (there were even different gift
bags for guys and girls).
The second
thing that I found interesting (and unusual) was that, much like in a cinema,
advertisements and student-produced short films were shown on the screen behind
the stage until the event actually started. I’d expect that at a cinema, but I
wasn’t expecting it for a university recital.
The last
thing that’s really notable is that whoever planned the event has obviously
never sat through a concert, no matter how entertaining – it ended after three
hours, and there was no break! Then again, audience members weren’t really
expected to stay in their seats or be quiet; people were talking to their
friends both during and between performances, some had brought food and drinks,
and others kept leaving the hall and returning again.
All of that’s
not to say that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy myself. Most performances were a
blend of Chinese traditional dancing and hip-hop, but there was also a
university rock band (with a lead singer who could actually sing), several
sketches, a group that performed a traditional Chinese dancing routine, two
choirs, and a slew of solo singers with varying levels of skill, (almost) all of
whom sang saccharine Chinese love songs. The audience loved it; everyone turned
on the “lamp function” (or whatever it’s called) on their smartphones and emotionally
waved them in the air.
In between
all of that there was a sort of raffle where a spotlight would randomly land on
a member of the audience, who then had to go onstage, banter with the hosts,
and finally got a small prize. This happened four times and was fun in the
beginning, but when the concert has already been going on for close to three
hours, it sort of loses its charm.
All in all,
it definitely was an Experience.
*~*~*
The
Church Service
Yes, I went
to church. I mean, it wasn’t an actual church, it was a meeting room in the
German consulate, but the ecumenical service took place there.
To be
honest, I went there first and foremost because I was told that there was going
to be a lot of singing and Christmas music, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Anyone who
knows how much I love both Christmas and singing be able to imagine just how
much I enjoyed an entire hour of being in a room full of people,
enthusiastically singing Christmas carol after Christmas carol at the top our
voices.
There was
also a small Christmas bazaar afterwards, where some members of the community
sold punch, mulled wine, waffles, and a selection of home-made Christmas
biscuits, which was accompanied by more Christmas songs, performed by a couple
of brass players. It was probably the height of this Christmas season for me.
*~*~*
The International
Institute Recital
On the
first glance, this is similar to the school recital. It took place just this
Thursday, and was an absolute blast for the first two hours. Honestly, I don’t
know why whoever organises these things doesn’t consider the fact that three
hours without a break might be difficult to sit through.
Once again,
there were gift bags at the entrance, and the performances consisted mainly a
lot of hip-hop groups (Chinese style), several male solo singers, all of whom,
without exception, went for unbearable Chinese love songs (on their own, there
wasn’t anything wrong with any of the songs, but when there are five love songs
that sound essentially the same back to back, it’s a bit much.
Nevertheless,
the event was fundamentally different from the first university recital,
because it was specifically for (and by) the students of the Sino-German institute
on campus, so three of the six hosts were German students (well, two of them,
one was Swiss).
Some
international students were even part of some of the performances. Easily the
most fun part of the evening was a tongue-twister contests, in which several
Chinese students and professors competed against each other, trying their hand
at a multitude of German tongue-twisters.
Even though
it was exhausting, due to its length, it ended on a high note: Towards the end,
a local American-style bakery gave a piece of cake to every member of the
audience, which was a sweet little surprise and very much appreciated by
everyone.
*~*~*
And, just
because this little snippet is so strange, an extra one here - this one goes back to the beginning of November:
The FC Bayern
In the
beginning of November, I attended a classical concert on my university’s main
campus. The performers were both German and Chinese teenagers who had won youth
music competitions. It was a lovely evening with a surprisingly diverse programme,
and the performances were mind-blowingly good.
However, it
started off unexpectedly different.
Apparently –
and I hadn’t known this beforehand – the FC Bayern, for some reason, grants a
full scholarship for one year at Tongji University to three promising students,
and the concert was held in honour of this year’s scholarship recipients.
Which meant
that a representative of the FC Bayern was present at the concert, and that a
group of Chinese students enthusiastically chanted “Stern des Südens” (the club’s
official hymn) to get the concert started, even before the representative and
headmaster and everyone else held their speeches.
Since I was
not aware of the scholarship thing at the time, I rather felt like I was in the
wrong film at the beginning.
*~*~*
As if they
had guessed that I was just about to post this blog entry, a friend of mine just
invited me to a concert tomorrow, where a couple of German students studying
music here are performing their original compositions. The “concert season”
continues…
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