Interview: Tan Dun

An airborne swordfight atop a bamboo forest. A blizzard of arrows flying towards a solitary, condemned figure. You’ve seen these scenes played out in the movie theatre – now imagine them blown up in a concert hall, backed by the full swoop of a live orchestra and led by the man who conceived the music himself. That’s the vision behind award-winning Chinese composer Tan Dun’s ‘Martial Arts Trilogy’, coming to the Esplanade this month as part of this year’s Huayi Festival – Chinese Festival of Arts.

‘The “Martial Arts Trilogy” was born out of the three greatest romantic martial arts films of our time, which were directed by three of its most influential directors: Ang Lee [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2000], Zhang Yimou [Hero, 2002] and Feng Xiaogang [The Banquet, 2006],’ explains Tan, 54, who worked alongside all three directors to compose the soundtracks to their movies. Now, a decade after starting the project, the composer has pieced together a new programme using elements from each of the films.

‘For me, the trilogy was a preconceived project that started ten years ago: one opera or ballet in three acts,’ he explains. ‘It centres on the love and sacrifice of three women for three very different reasons. Each of the film’s leading female characters sacrifices her life for love. In Crouching Tiger… the character Jade sacrifices her life for her spiritual love of the wuxia [Chinese martial arts] dream. In Hero, the character Snow sacrifices her life for the love of her country. Lastly, in The Banquet, as in Hamlet, Empress Wan sacrifices her life and love for desire and revenge.’

In addition to matching the music to the corresponding film scenes, each part of the trilogy is characterised by a solo instrument – with the original soundtracks featuring, in Tan’s words, ‘three of the most important musicians of our time: Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and Lang Lang’. At the Esplanade, cellist Ng Pei-Sian, violinist Wang Jiamin and pianist Sun Jiayi will be taking the respective solo honours.

The programme is a respite from Tan’s more typically avant-garde (yet equally attention-grabbing) fare. Notable projects throughout his career have included everything from banging on ceramic urns, car-wheel hubcaps and ancient bells, to swishing giant bowls of water, rustling huge reams of paper, yelping orchestra members, loudly flipping score pages and soloists decked out in all kinds of shamanistic regalia that make the concert as much about performance art as musical presentation.

His visually and aurally stimulating presentations have not only pleased audiences but also made fine fodder for the global mass media. Famously, Tan traces his musical leanings back to his childhood in Hunan province, where he grew up observing shamanistic rituals before the Communist government whisked him away to become a rice planter. ‘My music is deeply associated with my birthplace – the original culture of my life,’ he says. ‘Anything that is directly reflected in my own life, belief and my own Earth – that will be my music. My style is true to my life.’

It was also while working in the rice fields that Tan’s interest in music began, as he discovered local folk songs, which were often sang accompanied by the banging of pots and pans. Those bitter years also provided Tan with essential musical training, which eventually led to an engagement with the Beijing Opera Orchestra playing the viola, as well as lessons at the Beijing Conservatory of Music. From there, he received a doctorate from Columbia University, where he learnt how to combine his disparate influences into compositions. This was further honed by his immersion in the ’80s New York avantgarde scene, where he hung out with the likes of John Cage and Philip Glass, and stood out among the proliferation of Chinese ‘fusion’ composers.

Without a doubt, the ‘Martial Arts Trilogy’ is among Tan’s most successful – and mainstream – work. Crouching Tiger…, in particular, re-ignited Hollywood’s passion for all things pugilistic and won four of its ten nominations at the 73rd Annual Academy Awards, including Best Original Score for Tan (after which he became known as ‘Ten Done’, thanks to presenter Julia Stiles’ mispronunciation). The fervour surrounding the film helped Tan score further mainstream success with Hero and The Banquet – both part of the glut of made-for-Hollywood martial arts movies that attempted to emulate Crouching Tiger…’s success.

‘I have always sought to cross boundaries and disciplines, and bring genres together,’ says Tan of his work in the movies. ‘The tradition of martial arts was created from Chinese opera in the 19th century. To me, the opera tradition is an ancient form of cinema, and cinema is the opera of the future. Winning awards in the West [including a Grammy and an Oscar] opened my music up to new audiences, bringing non-traditional concertgoers into the concert hall and the younger generation into the opera house.’

Indeed, the ‘Martial Arts Trilogy’ is a huge crowd-pleaser: the programme has received ovations around the world, from New York to San Diego and Shanghai, with an official album release from Sony International. Singapore is the final stop planned for the programme, and a concert that Tan reveals ‘feels like a homecoming. I love Singapore – the audiences are fantastic and they have always accepted me with open arms and enthusiasm.’ Let’s not prove him wrong.

This story first appeared as 'A perfect Tan' (Jan 2012). Tan Dun’s ‘Martial Arts Trilogy’ is at the Esplanade Concert Hall on 27 & 28 Jan.