Gao Hong, pipa & Issam Rafea, oud – Virtual Concert
Monday, February 1, 12:00PM—
Monday, March 1, 1:00PM
This concert was originally scheduled for Thursday, March 11th at 12:00pm CST.
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About the Program:
Gao Hong, leading player of the Pipa, the Chinese pear-shaped lute, and Issam Rafea, a master of the Oud, the Arabic lute, perform a concert of new, improvised works.
About the Artists:
The Issam Rafea and Gao Hong duo performs live improvisations blending Chinese and Arabic techniques. Songlines Magazine in the U.K. called their collaboration “…engaging, deeply contemplative, and culturally resonant.” Each performance is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and audiences have the opportunity to witness singular creations that come to life before their eyes and ears, but are never to be repeated.
Pipa master Gao Hong and oud master Issam Rafea met in 2017 at Carleton College while Hong was teaching there and Rafea was a residency artist. Once in the recording studio, they began improvising music that was so cohesive it sounded as though they had performed together for years. Because all of their performances are improvisations, no two pieces are ever exactly the same, and the duo often creates instantaneous site- and audience-specific pieces to describe their immediate feelings and honor their audiences.
