Foosic Reviews: Chinese music and dance at the Garden of the Master of the Nets （网师园）

My family recently visited me in China, which was great fun, and I felt compelled to take them to a night of performances at the Garden of the Master of the Nets, a famous garden in Suzhou. During the peak months from spring to autumn they hold performances there every night, which I'd been waiting a while to have the excuse to see. The Garden of the Master of the Nets was a garden made for the entertainment of aristocratic families, but is now open to the public and beautifully preserved. We were treated to a curious mixture of a guided tour and a sort of pick and mix of Chinese music, dance and theatre, each performance lasting about 5-10 minutes. We saw some theatre first, which was, well, interesting-I'll leave it at that. We were then treated to some great dance by a lady in an interesting outfit with very long sleeves, used to accentuate her fluid movement. We were also shown a couple of performances of music, which deserve a bit more of a mention here. The first was a performance by a couple of ladies, one of whom was playing on a san xian 三弦 and one on an er hu 二胡, both stringed instruments, one plucked and one bowed. The san xian looks a bit like a guitar or a lute and sounds fairly similar, albeit with an oriental twang many will find familiar, the er hu (by the way, this is pronounced "are who") is a two stringed instrument played upright, a little like a cello with the stature of a violin. We were later taken to an area that doubles as a shop, thereby being surrounded by Chinese arts and crafts, where a trio of musicians delivered a fabulous performance of san xian, er hu and some sort of zither, perhaps a guqin 古琴 . Unfortunately they were joined for the last song by a lady who brought the traditional cat murder style of Chinese opera to the table. However much I try to convince myself that this kind of singing must have cultural merit I just can't stop thinking of bags full of cats whenever I here it. Maybe it's an acquired taste, each to there own I guess. Finally, we were treated to wonderfully peaceful selection of solo performances by the lake in the middle of the garden, one on some sort of flute-perhaps a ba wu 巴乌, and something a bit like a recorder (perhaps the instrument I mentioned in an earlier post, except I may have been wrong because this is apparently held to the side-perhaps someone can shed some light on this). I really enjoy Chinese instrumental music, it has a really well developed air of subtlety to it and accurately reflects the ancient continuous culture present here, whilst also expressing the precipitation so ever present. Music is always a great way to experience the real emotive power of a place and the evening described was no exception, and all for a tenner. I definitely recommend it if you're ever in Suzhou.