In improvised music, Lan finds a common ground where her various trainings and influences can come together to create a new language. The sounds of the East and the West, contemporary and traditional, all enter and exit the canvas freely from time to time.
In addition, Lan meets with musicians from different musical backgrounds, through improvisation. These meetings have inspired many trips to study and perform different musical genres and traditions, and numerous collaborations at home and aboard. Most of the trips have been sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts and/or the BC Arts Council. Recent trips include the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, India, Egypt…etc.
Modern Chinese music training is largely based on western classical schools. Through improvisation, Lan finds it satisfying to seek the spontaneity lost in westernization and to experiment techniques and tones that would have been considered improper. She enjoys the freedom to step outside traditional aesthetics to explore new possibilities. At the same time, she takes inspiration from Asian music in a contemporary framework. The two worlds continue to meet, interact and transform into each other in various ways in her musical experiences.
Lan Tung & Friends
Charlotte Hug – viola, Zurich, Switzerland