Chinese singer Feng-yün Song, actor and a moderator Jaroslav Dušek together with an inspiring multitude of other musicians and artists will celebrate the beginning of the 2010 Lunar New Year of Tiger with the musical roar of exquisite concerts called Songfest.cz.
“The year 2010 is under the sign of tiger which in traditional Chinese culture is acknowledged as the king of kings in the animal world. The tiger is a fearlessly intelligent predator and one of the strongest animals so it follows that people born in the Year of Tiger are similarly gifted with strength and power, they are optimistic and twice as fit as fiddle. Starting on 14th February, the Lunar Year of the Tiger is going to be a year of dynamic movement, strength and positive progress, “says Feng-yün Song, the main performer and organiser of the series of concerts. She will also introduce a collection of her new songs and introduce ‘voice painting’ together with her students.
Dušek will pass on the torch
The event is now in its ninth year with Jaroslav Dušek moderating it for the third time. Born under the sign of the buffalo he will hand the torch on to his ‘Tiger’ colleague. This year the event is held in Prague under the auspices of Mayor Pavel Bém.
Other performers
On 5th February visitors of Palace Akropolis will be blown away with a musically vivid performance by the wildly acclaimed band, Čankišou, as well as the more sublimated talents of Vladimír Václavek, Jaroslav Kořán, blind child musician Robert Lombin, Chinese clarinet player Guo Chuanqi and Taiwanise pianist Li Yixian.
Absolutely superb accompanying programme
Apart from music, all evenings will feature various delightful accompanying events, offering a colourful market, a tea room, bio product sampling, buffalo tombola, lion dance, kendo show, Nepali dance, Indian kathak and Gypsy dance. As if that wasn’t enough, to top it all off, you can dance your socks off in the Tiger ballroom that will be spun into exciting musical energy after the concerts.
Something for children
Between 4.30 and 7 p.m., children can enjoy a series of events that have been specially prepared for them and are free of charge: fairy tales, games, as well as extracts from a new children book written by Daniela Fischerova and Pavlína Brzákova and theatre improvisations prepared by young teachers working in Alfred ve dvoře Theatre.
Tiger presents from Prague ZOO
The concert starts at 7 p.m. on 5th February. Tickets are available at all usual sales outlets as well as in the Ticketpro network. Children younger than eleven years old have free entrance. All tickets will be included in the Jaroslav Dušek’s ‘buffalo tombola’, and the lucky ones will receive a ‘Tiger present’ donated by Prague ZOO. What is more, all visitors born under the sign of Tiger will get a present as well!
You can get more information at www.songfest.cz.
So what is a Lunar Year and why is celebrated?
‘The Moon is a very influential celestial body, which has a great influence on many events, animals and also on humans. That’s why in the past it moulded the perceptions of many so called primitive tribes, and it is still doing so in some countries even in present times,” explains Feng-yün Song. The Chinese Lunar Calendar is probably the oldest in the world. It came into being in the third millennium B.C. and it is still used in China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. In the same ways as our zodiac, the Chinese calendar has twelve signs in its zodiac, but each of them rules over one year instead of just a month. Animals of the Chinese zodiac follow one another in this order: Mouse, Buffalo, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep (or Goat), Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. Rich arrays of legends are embroidered around the creation of the zodiac. “One Chinese legend has it that the emperor Nefrit, who ruled over the celestial kingdom, announced that only twelve of the quickest animals can make it into the zodiac. In the course of the competition, animals showed their main characteristics and are ranged according to the sequence in which they arrived,” describes Feng-yün Song. The Moon guides other Asian nations also and millions of people therefore annually partake of the Lunar New Year celebrations. For Chinese it is the New Year or Spring Festival and is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays.
Here you can see how the Year of the Buffalo was celebrated last year.
Source: www.praha.eu
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