Jah Wobble
Chinese Dub
Wednesday 9 July : 8.30pm
£10.00 adv : £11.00 door
A fantastic fusion of dub music and Chinese melodies and instrumentation, featuring bass, drums, guzheng, bamboo flute, gourd pipe and the vocals of singers Wang Jingqi and Gu YingJi. The performance was commissioned by the Liverpool Culture Company for European Capital of Culture 2008.
Book through NAC Box Office on 01603 660352 or Online through UEA:

The performance will be a fusion of dub music and Chinese melodies and instrumentation. The instrumentation will be: bass, drums, guzheng, bamboo flute, the famous gourd pipe of Yunnan province. Jah Wobble is going to utilise the voice of Wang Jingqi, a singer from the Mao ethnic minority of China (part of Yunnan province) and Gu YingJi, a singer from the Tibetan/Mongolian.

During the performance, there will be displays of various Chinese arts forms (dance and Sichuan opera's specialty 'The Mask Change'. Over 20 people will peform in this amazing production which will be both informative and highly entertaining.

About 'The Mask Change':
The ‘Face Mask Change’ is a unique Chinese art form. Its origin lays in the Sichuan opera. The Mask Change began 300 years ago and as time goes by, the technique is constantly worked upon and improved. This art form is now considered as one of the top folk skills in China and is on top of their list of protected arts.
It is said that ancient people painted their faces to drive away wild animals. Sichuan Opera absorbed this ancient skill and perfected it into an art. There are three types of face-changing techniques in Sichuan opera: "Wiping Mask", "Blowing Mask" , and "Pulling Mask."

The "Pulling Mask" technique is the most complicated of all face-changing techniques. Performers nowadays will be able to change over 10 masks in less than 20 seconds during their routines, in combination with their operatic movements. Performers use different masks to show different emotions, expressing invisible and intangible feelings through visible and tangible masks. From green to blue, red, yellow, brown, black, dark and gold, these masks show fear, tension, relaxation, slyness, desperation, outrage and so on.
For hundred of years, this secret arts form was only passed down by family and was forbidden to female performers. However, female performers can now be seen on stage as mask change masters. All performers who are chosen to learn this art form have to swear to secrecy before they allow to learn even its basics. It takes them many years of hard practise to master the skill. In China, there are less than 200 artists who are able to perform ‘the mask change’.


