What happens when you confuse “Mountain Dew” with “mildew”? “Cleveland” with “cleavage”? When you’re Chinese and speak no English and your new husband is American and speaks no Chinese? Chinglish is the true story of renowned pipa player Gao Hong and her personal odyssey from her native China, to Japan, and finally to America.
Whether she’s telling us about her refusal to believe that ducks can fly or recounting an immigration officer’s emotional response to the love letters she exchanged with her husband, her story is both hilariously funny and movingly poignant.
Music is also essential to her performance, and she speaks as eloquently through her live playing as she does through her storytelling. Her journey is also captured in an accompanying video backdrop, bringing music, visual images, and spoken word together to recount her extraordinary story. Created with director and designer Roger Bechtel, Chinglish presents Gao’s funny and moving story in concert with her original compositions for the pipa, performed before a multimedia backdrop. Gao Hong composed all the music and performs her pipa live as she uses looping and special effects to relay her stories.
CHINGLISH will be performed as part of Gao Hong’s Faculty Recital at 8:00 p.m., Friday April 7th in the Carleton College Concert Hall.