UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

Dadawa Presentation 28^th March

Good evening. Thanks for coming and spending your time to share my film tonight. And thanks to the IAR (Institution of the Asian Research) & The Asian Centre for inviting me here today.

My name is Zhu Zheqin.  My stage name is Dadawa.  I am a singer and producer and I have released 5 albums. I also produce music videos, live performances and concerts.                

In China we have an old saying: “walking 10 thousand miles is like reading 10 thousand books”. Learning about life, through reading or through imagination or through direct experience are all very different from each other.  I like to travel.  Although I haven’t readten thousand books, for me traveling has been a wonderful way to obtain direct experience and knowledge.

The first time I left the Han Chinese cultural environment and had contact with a different culture was in the early nineties.  At that time China’s opening and reform had been going on for over a decade. Chinese peoples’ values were at a crossroads.  At that time I traveled to Tibet, the most beautiful place in the world. My experience in Tibet inspired me to renew my understanding of spirituality and of the material world.

Tibet also inspired me to discovered the true beauty and nature of music. It is just like the wind and water, which exist everywhere at every moment. With Tibet as my starting point, for the next decade I traveled in Europe\ North America\ Africa\ and over the past three years to South Asia. These travels had a profound effect on the evolution of my music.

Our world is connected.  Not just in a technical way through the Net and cel phones. The structure of the universe is interconnected.  For thousands of years, people have used different means and ways to interact and connect with each other, and the result of this, is our contemporary culture today.

Recently you may have seen the Mexican film, Babel. It was all about connections…. how we are all connected to each other in this world. It talks about how in Mexico, the USA, Japan and Morocco…how in such different and distant places, peoples’ lives are interconnected. A simple coincidence, or a personal decision can have an influence on people in a distant land and culture. The basic concept of the film, to me, is very much like the Buddhist concept of Karma.

I grew up in China. Since ancient times, China has been a multicultural country. OVER A THOUSAND YEARS AGO WE ADOPTED BUDDHISM FROM INDIA. What is often described as Chinese culture (中原文化) is a synthesis of many different cultures and ways of life. It was my interest in the connections between these cultures that encouraged my travels in Asia in recent years.

You can hear the influence of my experience in my recent CD <Seven Days>. < Seven Days> takes an Asian philosophical world view in looking at the 7 senses:  Life is a simple concept, but humanity is a profound book. <Seven Days> catches just a glimpse of what is inside the book as if a page or two had been blown open by the wind.

The Chinese version, contains a CD and a DVD of my documentary. <Sound Pilgrimage> which is what I would like to introduce to you tonight.

I believe an artist lives between the objective world and her creative world. Both of these aspects complete an artist’s life.

Each has its own reality.

Every body has their own perception of reality. Like the Chinese parable 庄生梦蝶, (Zhuangzi’s Dream of a Butterfly.)

The ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi dreamt he was a free flying butterfly, until he woke up and wondered, was he dreaming about a butterfly or was now the butterfly dreaming about Zhuangzi? What is real to a human may not be real to a butterfly. Exploration and discovery have many aspects and connections which only become apparent through having no pre-conceived notions. Or as Tagore said, “Where knowledge is free”.

I believe that although most people think that a documentary film should be a reflection of reality, it is not necessarily the case. In this Universe, I am not sure any absolute reality exists.  For me, I believe using a Buddhist concept of dependent origination to explain reality in documentary is more appropriate.

What we record is just one aspect of the multifaceted realities of the world. Now I am going to show you some clips of my documentary, which through our lens, records just one aspect of reality. Even at the same time and the same place people may discover a different reality. The camera only records part of the story.

<Sound Pilgrimage> was made in May-June last year, together with Oscar winning (2005) director and cinematographer: Ross Kauffman. We traveled together from the heart of Asia-Srinaga, to the edges of the Rajastan Desert, and overland to Indian ‘s  holy city of Varanazi, and then onward to Nepal during the middle of it’s political insurgency and eventually crossing the Himalayas. This film had no script.  What you will see took place in a way which filmmakers call: Cinema veritay and what musicians call: Improvisation.

Dr Jan Walls, who translated the subtitles calls this film A Sonic Diary. I would really like to thank Dr Walls for his support. He not only translated the subtitles for this film but also translated the lyrics for my album <Seven Days>.

This is my sonic diary.  Sound is the clue. Sound plays the leading role. I follow sound, Ross follows me… recording what happens. The relationship between sound \myself and Ross’s camera are the essential elements of this film.

I should say a word about my co-director and cinematographer Ross Kauffman (You may have already seen his documentary, “Born into Brothels”).  Ross is a very sensitive and calm cinematographer. He becomes invisible to what is happening and does not intrude in any way into the course of events.

In preparation, all I gave Ross was a map which I had drawn in my own hand.  And I told him that my ears were much more acute than my other senses.

We agreed that this film would be done as an exploration…an adventure. If what we captured on film had no value or meaning...then there would be no documentary. Fortunately, as we edited the film, the individual elements seemed to have their own logic and together developed into a complete story. 

Thank you. Now I am going to show you some clips of my film.