MUZI · STAGE · Dizi and Xiao
Happy Reunion
Parting and reunion on the northern bangdi
As the sun sets over a river, a man seated on a stool beneath a willow plays a transverse bamboo flute. A man in a covered boat listens quietly, an attendant stands holding a horse, and the water reflects the evening glow.
Introduction
Feng Zicun's bangdi solo arranged from an Errentai interlude tune of the same name
Xi Xiang Feng (Happy Reunion) is a solo for the bangdi flute arranged by Feng Zicun, a leading figure of the northern dizi school. Its source is an interlude tune of the same name from Errentai, the folk theatre of Inner Mongolia. Feng arranged it as a solo in the 1950s, and the musician Fang Kun helped him fix his largely improvised playing into a set score. The piece is a set of variations in four sections that depict parting, reunion after a long absence, the journey home and a family reunited. Changes of tempo and ornamented variation mark each section and give it a strong northern character.
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