Rarely heard traditional folk songs from Taiwan and the south of China played on Coconut Shell Fiddle, Pipa Lute, and a variety of percussion instruments.

10 MP3 Songs
WORLD: World Traditions, WORLD: Asian



Details:
Originally from Waterloo Ontario, Canada, Jeremy Moyer has spent several years in Mainland China, Taiwan, and New York City's Chinatown learning Chinese Music. He performs a repertoire of folk songs and ancient classical pieces from the Cantonese and Taiwanese musical traditions. Moyer plays the Gaohu (Cantonese high-pitched fiddle), the Taiwanese Coconut Shell Fiddle, and the Erhu (standard Chinese two-stringed fiddle).

Moyer has always been attracted to the living folk music traditions - music which can be heard many mornings in the parks and teahouses of Chinese communities yet which is rarely represented on recordings or in formal performances. While working in Taiwan in 1996, he played the Coconut Shell Fiddle regularly with 78-year-old fiddler Zhang Shi-Dong, learning by rote Taiwanese folk tunes, folk opera pieces, and ancient religious and court songs which have been passed down through the Chinese oral tradition. While living in New York City from 1998 to 2001, Moyer played the Gaohu and studied Cantonese music with Yeung-Yee Lee. He was also a member of the Chinese Chamber Ensemble of New York where he played the Erhu.

'A Discovery of Chinese Folk Tunes' was recorded in Canada in 1997. It features music for the Taiwanese Coconut Shell Fiddle. The music is arranged and performed in a rustic traditional manner preserving the style of Moyer's Taiwanese teacher, Zhang Shi-Dong and the older generation of Chinese folk fiddlers. "The subtlety of the music and the playing requires several listenings before one can adjust to the gentle nature of the sounds, indeed, to the philosophy which breathes life into those sounds. There is a delicacy here which makes our frenetic lifestyles seem almost frivolous..." Harry Currie, The Record.

Since returning to Canada and settling in Montreal in early 2001, Moyer has been performing regularly on the Chinese two-stringed fiddles. In addition to giving concerts of contemporary world music and Chinese repertoire, Moyer gives interactive musical children's presentations, he gives lecture-presentations and workshops and he has performed at folk festivals and appeared at numerous Chinese-Canadian community events. He also performs regularly as a member of the group Galitcha (Punjabi folk and world music) and with George Sapounidis (Greek music and Chinese folk songs).

Moyer's current project 'Two Strings Dancing Ch'i' features his own contemporary world music compositions for the Chinese two-stringed fiddles. Visit the www.jeremymoyer.com website in the following months for concert dates and CD release information or email the artist (link on middle-left of this page) for more information.

Moyer speaks fluent English, French, and Mandarin Chinese.