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Sarawakiana Talk on Bian Lian on 18 November

Ditulis pada 16 November 2015

KUCHING: The Sarawakiana Talk of Pustaka Negeri Sarawak is back.This
time around, it will be a talk on Bian Lian - The Art of Mask Changing
of Chinese Community in Sarawak by Edmond Wong Yik Tze. The talk will be
held on Wednesday, 18 November, 2015, at 2.30 pm at the library
Auditorium.

Edmond  is one of the performers of Bian Lian and a
well-known entertainer with multi skills, including magic tricks,
clowning  and singing.He is currently the only mask-changing master who
performs in public in Sarawak.

The purpose of this talk is to
highlight the uniqueness of the Bian Lian art performance as well as to
promote awareness of the beauty of Chinese culture in Sarawak,
especially to the younger generation.

Bian Lian is an ancient
Chinese dramatic art that is part of the more general Sichuan opera.
Performers wear brightly coloured costumes and move to quick, dramatic
music.

They also wear vividly coloured masks, typically
depicting well known characters from the opera, which they change from
one face to another almost instantaneously with the swipe of a fan, a
movement of the head, or wave of the hand.The skill and speed with which
Chinese artists change their beautifully-painted masks habe captured
audiences’ imagination for centuries.

Performers gracefully raise their hands, turn their heads and swing their arms, each time boasting a new mask.
The
secret of how they manage to change from three to 20 masks during a
single performance without anyone realising the trick has fascinated
people since it was   first practised during the Qing Dynasty about  300
years ago.

Members of the public are invited to attend this
interesting talk. Admission is free. Contact Hayati Sabil or Rozana
Octovia at 082-440488 ( State Records Repository ) or email
statedepository@sarawak.gov.my for further information.