Search - Min Xiao-Fen, Minxiaofen :: The Moon Rising

A Truly Professional Musician

plantade | Brooklyn, NY United States | 03/21/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Min Xiao Fen demonstrates a thorough mastery of the difficult traditional Chinese instrument, the pipa, a four-string, lute-like instrument made of teak or rosewood, with a fret board of six stone ledges and 24 bamboo frets. The instrument, much heavier than a modern acoustic guitar, for example, is balanced upright on the lap. Min uses plectrums attached to each of the five fingers of her right hand to pluck the silk-wound steel strings. There is much incredibly rapid, forte tremolo in such fast pieces as "Ambush from all Sides," and "Dance of the Yi People," and much that is lyrical in "Stone Forest Nocturne" and "Flying Flowers Touching the Green." The music is expressive, a little strange, perhaps, with its quarter tones and apparent "dissonances," to Western ears accustomed to whole and semitones, but there are beautiful melodies immediately accessible to those unfamiliar with the Chinese tradition, as well. Min first learned the pipa from her father, a Chinese scholar in Nanjing, and as been expanding the repertoire of the pipa by performing with American jazz musicians since coming to the U.S. in 1992. She lives in Queens, New York. Having seen her perform, I know that her technical skill is awe-inspiring, but she uses that skill in a musicianship that is thoroughly professional, highly expressive, well-disciplined. She also happens to be a warm, open and creative person, eager to talk music, eager to learn. We are lucky to have her residing and performing in this country. The more one listens to her music, the more one finds oneself entering a whole universe of complex and special feelings, full of "Spring, River, Flower, Moon, Night" (title of another of her CDs)."