On June 29^th, 2022, FENG Mantian, a top Chinese zhongruan virtuoso, will give a concert themed “Up & Down the Mountain” at the NCPA Concert Hall with the Mantian Band.

RUAN Xian, one of the “Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove” in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, was good at playing the plucked string instrument of this kind, which was therefore named “Ruanxian” by later generations. It is now called “Ruan” for short. The “Ruan” is also the only instrument to be named after a person.

FENG Mantian, a “devotee of the Ruan”, says, “People say my music is new but actually it's just what I have learned from ancient China. I’ve divided music into ‘Up the Mountain’ and ‘Down the Mountain’. ‘Up the Mountain’ implies that man is on the mountain, which means sacred in Chinese; ‘Down the Mountain’ implies that man is in the valley, which means secular in Chinese. I often shuttle in and out of the secular society or go up and down the mountain, hoping to take ‘Down the Mountain’ as a guide to show people what they haven’t ever experienced “Up the Mountain”. Everything visible is empty, while emptiness exists in every form. Sound is music, while music is sound. The same is true for acceptance, delusion, action and wisdom. Our ancestors have left us a lot of things, which are, however, susceptible to destruction. I’m here to open a window for others, who will do more in the future”.

“Up & Down the Mountain” is a zhongruan solo concert that FENG Mantian began to conceive and design in 2018. In the same year, he started touring the world with the concert, which has been held for more than 100 times, winning praise from a great many music lovers. After a three-year absence from the Beijing stage, The Mantian Band is returning now again. Is there anything exciting in their repertoire?

In the first half of the concert, FENG Mantian and the band (wind instrumentalist: DING Xiaokui; percussionist: YU Lei; keyboard player: HAN Tianhe; world percussionist: ZHAO Bing) will play classical, rock, jazz, poetry, lyrics, etc. in various forms including singing and narration to describe time and space. As the Ruan traverses the art circles in search of like-minded people, they will look for the root of Chinese music and the soul of Chinese culture “Down the Mountain”.

In the second half of the concert, a 30-minute uninterrupted performance without light will be presented and the band will restore the feelings of ancient literati in modern music. Without a rehearsal or score, all the performers will improvise. You don’t know what to hear. What kind of sparks will arise from the collision among wind music, plucked string music, electrophonic music and percussion? That will be a performance that cannot be recorded or reproduced. Such improvisational romance is not to be missed.