YangKo (2000/2004) by Chen Yi
for violin and percussion
West Coast premiere

YangKo, originating in northern China, is a major folk dance form in mass performance popularized in the country. In a YangKo performance, people always play rhythmic patterns on the drums hung around their waists while singing and dancing. In my piece YangKo, I have imagined a warm scene of YangKo dancing in the distance. The solo violin plays a sweet and gracious melody line imitating a beautiful girl's singing. Supported by the sound produced two percussionists, who play instruments and recite percussive sounds, with the evergoing pulse, the music recalls a warm scene of the dance parade in the background. Under request of Network for New Music ensemble, the piece is adapted from the second movement of my Chinese Folk Dance Suite for violin and orchestra, and premiered by NNM in Philadelphia on March 8 and 9, 2005.