fplohoff / ©
Frank-Peter
Lohoff
Project :
The Shadows of Istanbul
"Conrad, Nabokov, Naipaul - these are writers
known for having managed to migrate between languages, cultures, countries,
continents, even civilisations. Their imaginations were fed by exile, a
nourishment drawn not through roots but through rootlessness; mine, however,
requires that I stay in the same city, on the same street, in the same house,
gazing at the same view. Istanbul's fate is my fate: I am attached to this city
because it has made me who I am.
Flaubert, who visited Istanbul 102 years
before my birth, was struck by the variety of life in its teeming streets; in
one of his letters he predicted that in a century's time it would be the capital
of the world. The reverse came true: after the Ottoman empire collapsed, the
world almost forgot that Istanbul existed. The city into which I was born was
poorer, shabbier, and more isolated than it had ever been its 2,000-year
history. For me it has always been a city of ruins and of end-of-empire
melancholy." Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Maureen Freely
I´ve been
1st time in my life in Istanbul in March 2011. I stayed for 4 days walking all
day in the streets of Eminönü, Fener, Beyoglu, Galata, Karakoy, Tophane, Pera
and Tunel. I could not stop looking and shooting with my Leica and a 25mm Zeiss
Biogon which I used here first time. Before I came I was planning to do a B/W
serie but it turned out quite soon that Istanbul was my color city. I perceived
people and places as a composition of moving lights and shadows and I decided to
go for this perception and do a serie on this.
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12
photos
Created on:
08/06/2011
Modified on:
25/06/2011
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fplohoff / ©
Frank-Peter
Lohoff
Project :
The Iban Headhunters Today on Borneo
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6
photos
Created on:
07/07/2011
Modified on:
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fplohoff / ©
Frank-Peter
Lohoff
Project :
A Chinese Opera in Bangkok
Chinese opera (Chinese: 戏曲/戲曲; Pinyin: xìqǔ) is a
popular form of drama and musical theatre in China with roots going back as far
as the third century CE. There are numerous regional branches of Chinese opera,
of which the Beijing opera (Jingju) is one of the most notable.
In the
Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368), forms like the Zaju (雜劇, zájù, variety plays), which
acts based on rhyming schemes plus the innovation of having specialized roles
like Dan (旦, dàn, female), Sheng (生, shēng, male), Hua (花, huā, painted-face)
and Chou (丑, chŏu, clown) were introduced into the opera. Although actors in
theatrical performances of the Song Dynasty (960–1279) strictly adhered to
speaking in Classical Chinese onstage, during the Yuan Dynasty actors speaking
in the vernacular tongue gained precedent on stage.[3]
The dominant form of
the Ming (1368–1644) and early Qing dynasties was Kunqu, which originated in the
Wu cultural area. It later evolved into a longer form of play called chuanqi,
which became one of the 5 melodies that made up Sichuan opera.[4] Currently
Chinese operas continue to exist in 368 different forms, the best known being
Beijing opera, which assumed its present form in the mid-19th century and was
extremely popular in the latter part of the Qing Dynasty
(1644–1911).
19th century
In Beijing opera, traditional Chinese
string and percussion instruments provide a strong rhythmic accompaniment to the
acting. The acting is based on allusion: gestures, footwork, and other body
movements express such actions as riding a horse, rowing a boat, or opening a
door. Spoken dialogue is divided into recitative and Beijing colloquial speech,
the former employed by serious characters and the latter by young females and
clowns. Character roles are strictly defined. Elaborate make-up designs portray
which character is acting. The traditional repertoire of Beijing opera includes
more than 1,000 works, mostly taken from historical novels about political and
military struggles.
1912 - 1949
In traditional Chinese theater, prior
to Yuan Dynasty, no plays were performed in vernacular Chinese or without
singing. Opera masks of all sorts of colors were used in many Chinese operas. At
the turn of the 20th century, Chinese students returning from abroad began to
experiment with Western plays. Following the May Fourth Movement of 1919, a
number of Western plays were staged in China, and Chinese playwrights began to
imitate this form. The most notable of the new-style playwrights was Cao Yu (b.
1910). His major works — Thunderstorm, Sunrise, Wilderness, and Peking Man —
written between 1934 and 1940, have been widely read in China.
In the 1930s,
theatrical productions performed by traveling Red Army cultural troupes in
Communist-controlled areas were consciously used to promote party goals and
political philosophy. By the 1940s, theater was well established in the
Communist-controlled areas.
1949 - 1985
In the early years of the
People's Republic of China, the development of Beijing opera was encouraged;
many new operas on historical and modern themes were written, and earlier operas
continued to be performed. As a popular art form, opera has usually been the
first of the arts to reflect changes in Chinese policy. In the mid-1950s, for
example, it was the first to benefit under the Hundred Flowers Campaign, such as
the birth of Jilin opera. Similarly, the attack in November 1965 on Beijing
deputy mayor Wu Han and his historical play, Hai Rui Dismissed from Office,
signaled the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. During the Cultural
Revolution, most opera troupes were disbanded, performers and scriptwriters were
persecuted, and all operas were banned except the eight "model operas" that had
been sanctioned by Jiang Qing and her associates. Western-style plays were
condemned as "dead drama" and "poisonous weeds" and were not performed. After
the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976, Beijing Opera enjoyed a revival and
continued to be a very popular form of entertainment both in theaters and on
television.
Following the Cultural Revolution, both older and new works
reappeared. Revised and banned plays from China and abroad were reinstated in
the national repertoire. Many of the new plays strained at the limits of
creative freedom were alternately commended and condemned, depending on the
political atmosphere. One of the most outspoken of the new breed of playwrights
was Sha Yexin. His controversial play "The Imposter" which dealt harshly with
the favoritism and perquisites accorded party members, was first produced in
1979. In early 1980 the play was roundly criticized by Secretary General Hu
Yaobang - the first public intervention in the arts since the Cultural
Revolution. In the campaign against bourgeois liberalism in 1981 and the
anti-spiritual pollution campaign in 1983, Sha and his works were again
criticized. Through it all Sha continued to write for the stage and to defend
himself and his works in the press. In late 1985 Sha Yexin was accepted into the
Chinese Communist Party and appointed head of the Shanghai People's Art Theater,
where he continued to produce controversial plays. Since then, he has again
fallen into disfavour.
Present
Chinese opera is seldom publicly staged
in the 21st century, except in formal Chinese opera houses, and during the lunar
seventh month Chinese Ghost Festival in Asia as a form of entertainment to the
spirits and audience
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4
photos
Created on:
06/09/2011
Modified on:
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