From Mao to Mozart
Hey
all…as promised on my last post..here’s the snippet of the
documentary that I saw not too long ago..It’s really worth the watch to
see how the lives of these people were at that point of time. Professor
Tan describes the scene with extreme detail while he was place in the confinement cell that one will be definitely be overwhelmed with tears just picturing how much of torture one has to go through in life. The reason Professor Tan and his colleagues were put in those cells was because the Chinese goverment discovered that these teachers were teaching Western music to the chinese students and didn’t like the western influence one bit. They tortured these teachers and some of them just went plain crazy, some died and some committed suicide because they were treated like prisoners when in fact they were only educating and exposing the students to various music of the world. It is such a shame those sort of things happened in the past, i thank god they are a more civilizaed nation now despite the Falun Gong incidents.
On the brighter side, the kids in the school play where the teachers were teaching played beautifully…some of them are as young as 7 years old and the music they play is simply divine! Makes me feel like shit that I can barely make a tune on a musical instrument. Oh well, here’s a lilttle synopsis of the whole documentary.
SYNOPSIS
In 1979 Isaac Stern accepted an invitation to visit China as an official guest of the government. Accompanied by his family, Mr. Stern spent one month traveling through China learning
about this vast country and meeting the Chinese people, "first as musicians then as friends."
Mr.Stern met with musicians from all over China. He held master classes, visited schools, coached
young people, and worked with orchestras, as well as staging public performances. Wherever he went, he was received with great warmth and enthusiasm. A small group of American friends believed that this first visit by a musician of world stature could mark a turning point in the history of our cultural relations with China. They formed the Harmony Film Group, a not for profit organization, with profits shared between Carnegie Hall and a fund to further the exchange of music and musicians between China and the West. They traveled with Mr. Stern throughout China filming this extraordinary
and historic event.
FROM MAO TO MOZART: ISAAC STERN IN CHINA won the 1981 Academy Award for Best Documentary,and immediately opened theatrically to critical acclaim and achieved record-breaking attendance
in theaters around the world. Many major
critics honored the film by placing it on their lists of the "10 Best Movies of the Year." FROM MAO TO MOZART has become one of the most honored documentaries of our generation. Bernard Levin of The London Times declared, "This film won an Oscar in the
Documentary category; it deserves also a prize for its contribution to understanding,to art, to civilization and to humanity itself.
And to those whom are interested to watch the documentary, here’s the link to get your hands on it : From Mao to Mozart DVD
Have a good one peeps!
M e L | s S a
