Song of Praise in Lunenburg
“One of the many recent issues triggered by the COVID-crisis has been an intensified antagonism towards Asian-Americans. Fears of the outbreak have fuelled xenophobia, and we have personally observed these hate crimes in our local community from physical assaults at grocery stores and metros to verbal harassment - my brother being repeatedly called out as “Chinese Virus” at his school. More than ever, the pandemic has highlighted the urgency for our need to speak up against racism. We plan to build on our pre-existing program “Song of Praise” to not only celebrate our Chinese heritage, but to re-foster the appreciation for the ways our culture is connected to that of Canada and the Western world. ”
Livestream
November 11, 2020 @ 8:15PM EST
We are so grateful and excited to share a HD broadcast of our Song of Praise concert livestream in Lunenburg. Please join us again and interact with the community in real time to create more gratitude, awareness, and beautiful wishes <3.
Fu-Tong Wong - Chinese Dance in E
He Zhanhao & Chen Gang - Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto
Alice Ho - Four Seasons Ballade
[poetry interval, “Crossing for Signs”]
Jianzhong Wang - Embroidering a Golden Plaque
[poetry readings]
Vivian Fung - Birdsong
Chengqian Xue - Song of Praise
Song of Praise is a personal project that started from our curiosity to connect Chinese heritage with our Canadian upbringing. It has grown and developed to become a celebration of diversity as well as an opportunity to introspect and consider our roles and personal responsibility in the world.
“There are many current issues highlighted by the COVID situation, and we wanted to take this opportunity to explore what we can do as artists and as a community to address these issues.
As we progress through this program, we’d like to invite you to actively participate with us by thinking about three concepts: gratitude, awareness, and action. For example, What privileges are we thankful for during these difficult times? What injustices do we see or avoid seeing around us? What can we promise ourselves and each other in terms of changing our choices and behaviours to be more responsible and involved?
Throughout the concert, please think about a wish or goal you could realize within the next month that contributes to our community- you could write on any issue or subject that resonates with you personally. We invite you to share your messages with us in the chat.
We hope this gesture can hold us accountable to taking action and help us find new or reignited meaning in our identities and responsibilities, and thus contribute to building a better world together through our gratitude, awareness, and action.”
Some recap of cheesy thoughts :’)
Song of Praise original concept for Montreal outdoor installations
“We discovered so many new aspects of ourselves as people and artists through exploring this program. We grew so much from this experience at LAMP. We were perhaps able to make some tiny impact, and perhaps continue on believing we can still strive to do more, do better.”