Jon Jangtet:"Butterfly Lovers' Song"@Presidio Officers Club-San Francisco-March 31st, 2017

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On-line program notes from:
http://www.sffcm.org/concerts/presidio-sessions/jon-jangtet/
"Butterfly Lovers Song (The Legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai) is one of the most popular legends and music from China. The Legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai takes place at a school in Hangzhou during the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420 AD). Long before Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, The Legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai is about two young star-crossed lovers who fall in love, then separate because of the arranged marriage customs, die of tragic circumstances and then return to life as butterflies. The primary musical theme of “The meeting of the two lovers, is associated with the “Butterfly Lovers” Concerto for Violin and Orchestra composed by Chen Gang and He Zhan Hao in 1958. However, the traditional melody originated from the work, Liang Zhu, created and performed by the Shaoxing Opera from the Zhejiang Province. The Shaoxing Opera is the first all-women company which came to Shanghai in 1923. For many centuries, only men were allowed to perform the women roles in Chinese opera. Ironically speaking, Zhu Yingtai, who is the female lover from Shangyu, Zhejiang Province in the legend, disguised herself as a man because women were not allowed to study at school.

When I was an “artist in residence” for the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) in San Francisco Chinatown in 1988, I discovered the Butterfly Lovers Song. During the 1980s, Jesse Jackson became the first presidential candidate to speak in San Francisco Chinatown and he often supported many issues and concerns that were specific to the Chinese of America. One time, Francis Wong and I were asked to perform Cannonball Adderley’s version of Josef Zawinul’s Country Preacher because it represented an anthem that pays tribute to Jesse Jackson that dates back to the Operation Breadbasket gathering event in 1969. Around the same time, longtime CPA leader Mabel Teng requested that I learn to perform Butterfly Lovers Song for the CPA anniversary banquet. The birth of my interpretation of Butterfly Lovers Song is based on the merger of Chen Gang and He Zhan Hao’s Butterfly Lovers Song with Cannonball Adderley’s Country Preacher.

Jon Jang wishes to thank the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music and all of you for joining him in this special celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Asian Improv Arts founded by Francis Wong and Jon Jang. Trombonist Jeff Cressman was a member of Jon Jang & the Pan Asian Arkestra (1988-1994) and a featured soloist on Never Give Up!, the 7th recording on Asian Improv. Tonight Jeff Cressman’s daughter Natalie is performing for the first time with Jon Jang"
Musicians:
Hitomi Oba, tenor saxophone • Natalie Cressman, trombone • Jon Jang, piano • Gary Brown, double bass • Deszon X. Claiborne, multiple percussion