Jou Tou and Silk Road Music

Qiu Xia and Andre write about the Home Routes Tour

We travelled through Saskatchewan and Manitoba. We didn’t go to Winnipeg where Home Routes is based. Three shows were cancelled on our trip. So, we did 9 house concerts. We had one day with light snow and one day a little rain; the rest of the days were sunny.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba have the most open roads you can see. The blue sky and white clouds are like the oil paintings of the Venice sky. If you have a big  car in front of you that you want to pass, you will have to wait a while till you find a hill that you can see ahead. Flat and straight is what you get.

There are gravel roads and side roads exiting on the highways that  give the impression they lead nowhere. However, we learned from this  tour, those unassuming paths can connect to a town, village, community or a family that has nothing but fantastic people, great history and profound human stories. They are all different, and interesting and lived in an ordinary life with the most colourful forms you can  imagine. It is never “nothing out there.”

All the Home Routes hosts love music and generously put aside their own life to get this event together. They invited the outside world to their house, the neighbours and their community.

“We love it!” they say.

We travelled to one house after another, meeting hundreds of people, particularly the “9 House Hosts,” heard their stories and felt their passion about life. They are all extremely busy and inspired individuals. They love living! They are fully involved with the world that they live in. This small town, quiet town image in our head about those people is just imagination. The truth is, they are people who  live like any city people: they work, volunteer, give and love with their full capacity! They are wonderful people!

It’s like watching an ongoing movie of human life in the middle of Canada. Their lives, with ups and downs introduces us to the dilemma of a story without a plot. We are dropped in to the individual’s life with a day and so, before we even fully observe, or say good-by mentally, we already started a new meeting. It is a high speed movie on living lives, and full of surprises!

“We love it,too!”

Silk Road and Jou Tou spend spring on the Prairies

Andre and Qiu Xia are touring extensively this spring, especially in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. For details see the tour schedule on their home page. 

The Second Annual Chinese New Year Celebration!

Qiu Xia has sent out a notice about an exciting event on February 1:

Come one, come all and celebrate the 2nd annual Chinese New Year Celebration
in the Courtyard concert with Silk Road and Friends.

Learn about the twelve ZODIAC animals through the great storytelling
skills of Professor Jan Walls. Witness the preamble to the Zodiac dance with
the Lorita Leung dancers, Jacky Essombe, The Stilt Moon Dancers and other
friends. 

Be mesmerized by Uzume Taiko and the great Pepe Danza’s wild
drumming, along with the fabulous Beijing songbird Feng Jun Wang and opera
sensation Willy Miles singing famous Chinese Folk Songs.

A family event of free concerts and arts and crafts as part of the Chinese New
Year celebration, before and after the Chinese New Year parade. The event
creates a joyful street fair atmosphere with the stage performances focusing
on traditional and contemporary Asian music, songs and folk dancing.

Under a big tent in the courtyard adjacent to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical
Chinese Garden.

Learn more from this PDF: Download Silk Road English Olympiad 09

Or visit Silk Road's own page about the event!

Silk Road Music on CBC Radio 2, December 8 at 8 pm

Qiu Xia's sent me a note:

Hello friends. First we wish you all a terrific Holiday Season and hope to meet you in the future. On Monday night at 8pm on CBC Radio Two, our concert with the Victoria Symphony will be aired. If you are free we hope you can listen and enjoy it as much as we will. 

Thank you for your support over the years.  

Silk Road Music performs with Victoria Symphony on October 17

Here's more about Silk Road's next big event:

Silk Road Music will join the Victoria Symphony at the University Centre Farquhar Auditorium on Friday, October 17, at 8:00 pm.

As their news release puts it:

With the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, Silk Road Music presents a variety of repertoire: from Han Ya Xi Shui- a classic Pipa (Chinese lute) solo piece with Tabla and symphony arranged by Mark Armanini, to a new Canada Council commission for Pipa, Erhu(Chinese violin), Guitar and orchestra piece by Jin Zhang; from a fiery original composition with Pipa, Guitar and orchestra composed by Qiu Xia He and arranged by Moshe Denburg, to many exciting Silk Road favorites that leave audiences mesmerized, overjoyed and feeling romantic.

As the Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2006 nomination said: for the Best Ensemble and Pushing the Boundaries. The world truly becomes one.

Two new photos

Qiu Xia's sent me two new photos about future gigs:

This one is for the September 5 event at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Gardens:

And this is for the October 17 concert witih the Victoria Symphony:

Jou Tou at Apple Hollow Music Fest July 19

Andre and Qiu Xia will perform at the Apple Hollow Music Fest, 1639 Route 202, Franklin Center, Quebec, at 6:00 pm on July 19.

A Mini-Concert

What a surprise! Qiu Xia and Andre showed up at my retirement party yesterday. I was delighted to see them, and they were kind enough to play some songs . My daughter Anna said it was the high point of the evening, and I agree. I got a camera as a retirement present, and took a couple of snapshots:

And here are some more photos by our friend David Porter:

Silk Road offers a "Concert on Demand"

Qiu Xia and Andre are featured on CBC Radio Two - Concerts on Demand with a performance recorded last October at Dr. Sun Yat-Send Garden. You can listen to it whenever you like!

Silk Road Music has a MySpace page!

Thanks to Qiu Xia and Andre for sending me the link to MySpace.com - Silk Road Music.

It's a very slick and colourful site, with access to some of their music, a schedule of upcoming shows, and a wild slide show.