Duration: ~ 4’42” Commissioned by Oliver Zeffman for the opera film Eight Songs from Isolation World Premiere Recording released on September 25th 2020 Shenyang, bass-baritone Wu Man, pipa Wu Wei, sheng Film directed by Billy Boyd Cape For Du Yun’s Every Grass a Spring, it was originally scored for Bass-Baritone, Pipa and Sheng, and electronics playback.
For the ensemble version, pipa has multiple tracks. For live performances, it is optional to play the 2nd pipa line.
ENGLISH
Program Notes In the spring of 2020, the pandemic was raging around the world. The bassbaritone Shenyang told me a British group was reaching out to me for a request. I would then to learn, on the phone with Oliver Zeffman, that he would commission eight pairings of composers and singers around the world to produce an opera film on human isolation, which was to be filmed simultaneously in different locations. I didn’t agree at first, as
there have already been excessive pieces about the pandemic. Surely, I did not need to contribute yet one more.
I have a good friend named Yang Nan, a young journalist. We knew each other from her interview with me, and a great friendship ensued. She is conscientious, hardworking, her writing bold and on point. When Wuhan was in lockdown in January 2020 she asked to be stationed there, reporting on the frontline workers and the families of patients. She stayed there for several months until the city reopened. All the while, I followed closely her series of articles on the pandemic in the Southern Weekly. What was the most unforgettable was how the poeticism of mundane daily life in Yang Nan’s writing paralleled to her report on the hard reality the city and the people was facing. The saying "every grass, a spring", was told to her by an elderly person admitted into the ER with the coronavirus. On the day Wuhan reopened, April 8th 2020, she wrote, there she was, sitting in the taxi, the driver would play her the music and asked her to see the sunrise in the city. Out of the taxi window, there were group of people watching the cherry blossoms. That would be almost a month after New York City began its own full lockdown. For the next few months, the only sound I would hear out of my New York apartment windows was hospital sirens and helicopters whizzing by. The soundtrack of the city for the next few months. When New York City lifted its lockdown in summer 2020, the first shift was more sound thrived. So many more voices on the street. On my nightly walks, excited tears would fill up.
When I came back from a walk that night, I thought of Oliver’s request, and felt there should be a voice from China in the film. I texted Oli and expressed I would only compose if I could invite two more Chinese musicians. Oli said yes. So I asked the Pipa player Wu Man and Sheng player Wu Wei, whose artistry I respect and admire massively.
They would then agree. There we were, Shenyang, Wu Man, Wu Wei, Oli’s team and I started the rehearsals and the film shootings in Shanghai, California, New York, Berlin, and London respectively, at the same time. The film opera, Eight Songs from Isolation, released at the end of September 2020.
I hope this is not a work du jour. This year, I hope we would see bountiful, wonderful things together, and listen to endless various sounds. That, would certainly be spectacular to live for.
-- Du Yun Spring of 2021, by the East River, NYC
CHINESE
2020 年春，全世界疫情正浓。男低音演唱家沈洋跟我说有一个英国团体在找我。后来 在电话中了解，他们在委约八组活跃于世界各地的作曲家和演唱家，制作一部有关人世间隔 离的影像歌剧，在不同的地点平行拍摄。我婉拒，因为应时题材很多，不多我一个。 我有一位好朋友，叫杨楠，她是我非常喜欢的青年记者。我们相熟于采访，相知于后 来的友情。她兢兢业业，落笔却大胆狠准。武汉封锁时，楠楠毅然前往，跟踪一线工作者和 患者家庭，一呆就是好几个月，直到城市解封后。她发表在《南方周刊》的系列有关疫情的 文章我一路读来，感慨颇深。印象最为抹不去的是她描写的与世间悲壮并行的人间烟火。那 些是我们想要活下去的动力。那一句“人生一世，草木皆春”，是一位病症老人跟她说的。 她坐在出租里，司机给她听音乐，让她去看晨曦。 2020 年四月初武汉解封，纽约三月中到五月全城封锁，每天数多直升飞机在头上打 转，窗口前鸣耳的都是警报和医院方向的车来车往。后来那年夏天，纽约解封了， 我走在路 上，最先感到的是声音的变化。人慢慢多了，气息活跃了。 那天，很是高兴。 走在路上，高兴得流泪。
那晚散步回来，我想到这题材， 一定还是要有中国的声音。所以拿起电话，说可以 写，但一定得让我用中国乐器。很快，邀请来了琵琶演奏家吴蛮老师和笙演奏家吴巍老师 ----- 都是我喜欢和敬仰的音乐家 ---- 他们一口答应。于是我们四人和 Oliver 的团队开启了同时在 上海（沈洋）、南加州（吴蛮）、柏林（吴巍）、纽约 （我）、和伦敦（后期）的排练和录 影摄像。这部作品收录于影像歌剧, 《八首隔离之歌》，发行于 2020 年 9 月末。
不希望应时应景。今年，希望我们可以一起看到很多美妙的事，听到很多不一样的声 音，那样就很好。 杜韵，于 2021 年春， 纽约市东河边。
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LYRICS
CHINESE
ENGLISH Every Grass a Spring Lyrics by Du Yun & Yang Nan In truth, we find silence In silence, we raise solace You turn black, o cloud and let your brow sink I see you weep The sound (that) first melted re-awakening The bird chirps, the spring begins to trill the flowers flourished the roof a life, every grass a spring In our city you must go see the sunrise (you must go) listening to the music Spring will revisit you She who loved you once will love you anew