neither here nor there

impressions of the show last night (run by cctv for the midautumn festival...apparently a big deal--i was the only one in tevas, well, except for maybe the cameramen)<-perhaps this should've been the true title of this post:

i've never been entranced by a soprano before. she had the most dignified eyebrows. they'd sit stately above her eyes, flat, solemn, aware that somewhere below, very important (clear, loud, bright) things were bursting out*. her mouth would contort, her cheeks would contort (it must've been like giving birth to induce a voice so large to plop into the room...stately visitors demand pomp). but her eyebrows. flat, a slight effort...i wonder if she has them plucked like that--(like what?) like the scene in little mermaid, where her plucker says, "now sing" and she says "ahhhh ahhh ahhh, ahhh ahhh ahhh..." (you know the song) and then while her face is in song-mode, her plucker sets to work to create the perfect eyebrows.

the rest of her is godmotherish. a plump, galinda chin to match her plump, galinda calves, aswim amidst the background bubbles. the rest of her is petite, skewered atop surgical stilettos (at least 3 inches!). her voice dominated the room, elicited an adrenaline rush...like seeing the pope (a dark pope of yore who held power as a lighthouse holds a lamp: Alexander VI for example, not the sweet smelling old men of present). why fuck with similes? her voice is lucrezia borgia--ruthless, pragmatic, indecent.

there was also a mongolian who could whistle and growl at the same time. it was unearthly...wind vibrating thru alien bamboo. i gotta find his cd. please let him have a cd. chinese minority singers always do a terrific job of wind and horses. not only wind in great expansive places, but also wind in small winding places. his zither is his horses (wtf is a zither?**).

and when old famous chinese singers take the stage to sing old famous chinese marches, i still swell with nationalism, even tho i just spent the afternoon explaining to a hongkong/british girl why i say i'm american when asked and not chinese (because america assimilates much more quickly then england (apparently) and because i'm not fobby enough to be chinese in america). so. the question arises: which do i feel more. and then the question arises: do i really need to choose? how integral to my identity is a national affiliation? both, questions as of yet, unanswered, but i'm leaning towards american (just because i despise too many modern chinese youth...they seem surface, fake, and rude...but wow the culture is dignified*** and maybe the shallowness is just a phase) and towards no, i don't need to choose. but still, the feelings surprised me. the chinese circus makes me proud to be chinese. the chinese popstars made me scornful.

*i hate the word "forth"--it's the sole reason we hafta spell "fourth" like the british. while we're on the topic (or off the topic, depending, i guess on which topic is under discussion), people don't say "falsies" enough. i really like that word. FALSIES.

**i'm sure it's not actually a zither, but i have no idea what mongolian folk instruments are called and i like the way zither sounds. haha, i bet you thought i would provide a link to zithers or something. you have wikipedia, look it up yourself.

***i didn't realize i placed so much value on dignity. huh.

with regards to the mongolian singing: it's called throat singing. wikipedia says, "The overtones are clearly heard when the partials of a sound wave produced by the human voice are selectively amplified by changing the shape of the resonant cavities of the mouth, larynx and pharynx. The result of this resonant tuning allows the singer to create more than one pitch at the same time. Generally the sounds created by throat singing are low droning hums and high pitched flutelike melodies. The sound of certain styles of overtone singing may remind one of a Theremin." incidentally, i've been to a theremin recital at the music library (yes, i'm bragging). the tones may be similar, but throat singing is WAY more precise. WAY. dude. way, dude (like heeey, duuuude but different. what an awesome show).