My name is Jie Ma, I play Chinese traditional instruments Pipa and Ruan. I began my musical studies at the age of five and became a professional musician at age 14. I studied with the great Pipa masters such as Fendi Wang, Dehai Liu, and Yuzhong Kuang and Ruan professor Jiliang Liu.
In 2001, I received my Bachelor of Music from the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, one of the best music school in China. Because of my talent, I was accepted exceptionally as an adjunct professor in the music department of Liao Ning Normal University. During my stay at Liao Ning Normal University, I was constantly invited to many colleges to give presentations on Chinese Traditional Music and Chinese Folk Music. I was invited to Japan in 2002 to give a Pipa and Ruan concert in a cultural exchange program.
In May 2004, I performed at Herbst Theater, San Francisco. From 2004 to 2005, I hosted a radio program on introducing the Chinese music at the Sing Tao Radio Station. In February 2005, I performed at the Pan-Asian Musical Festival in Stanford.
I also began experimenting with different genres in 2005. In February 2005, I played with the Citywinds Woodwind Quintet in San Francisco as a member of Melody of China, a Chinese music ensemble. The concert combined western chamber music with Chinese traditional music. In March 2006, I was asked to perform in an avant garde project entitled Sound for Picture with the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra.
In a continuing effort to explore different sounds of Pipa, I play Pipa with different musicians in different discipline and forms. In addition to collaborating with other traditional Chinese musicians, I have worked with many musicians of different genres such as jazz, country, blues, and rock. I welcome the opportunity to work with other talented musicians to create new sounds.
Influences
The pipa is a combination of pi and pa, originally referred to two right-hand techniques: pi meant to play forward and pa means to play backward. The archetype of the modern pipa, which had a half-pear-shaped soundbox, a crooked neck, 4 or 5 strings and 4 frets, originated in Central Asia and arrived in China in the 4th century A.D. The immortal poetry Song of the Pipa by Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi reveals the instrument's great popularity in the Tang and Song Dynasties (618-1279 A.D.) Until then a plectrum was used; after that time, performers only used their fingernails, which still persists today.
The number of frets has gradually been increased, up to 23-25 frets in the modern type, expanding the instrument's range chromatically. Now the strings are steel wires, instead of silk, with or without nylon coiling round. Its range is over three and a half octaves. The pipa's clear, bright and mellow tone and its variable volume can be seen from the description of Bai Juyis verses:
The bold strings-they patterned like the dashing rain,
The life strings-they sounded like the lovers' whispers.
Chattering and pattering, pattering and chattering
As pearls, large and small, on a jade patter fall.
Today the playing techniques are even more sophisticated. The pipa is often used for solos and in ensembles or in the modern Chinese orchestra.
We are glad to inform you that the new "Life's Decay - Dysrieuses" album has just been released ! You can listen to 3 mp3 from this release on our myspace page. You can visit www.lifesdecay.com for more info and/or order the album at www.abstraktsens.com
We hope that you will appreciate the new release ! Thank you for reading and for your support ! All the best.
Pending the new release "Melotonine" (release date coming soon), i decided to offer you a part of my best recent works in a free EP, "Cupboard Replacement", downloadable in all numeric formats with special graphic art works by Flint on Music AutOmatiK's Website :
We can stay in contact on facebook now... Thanks for your support !
MA JIE, THIS IS IT, I have ONE LAST favor to ask you about this, could I? Since, as you might’ve heard, my picture won at the monthly level & Round 1, I got nominated for the LongHair Hawtie of the Year Finals (!) that ends today 7pm New York Time (can you just get it done now?) and... - was hoping for those 6 votes from you ;)
Yeah, you do need to get accepted as a friend of www.MySpace.com/OfficialLongHairHawties before you can vote, but they’re nice girls (the hawtie folks), no harm whatsoever :)
PS. since it would be so cool to win ‘by a landslide’ of like 7-800+ votes OVER and ABOVE over #2 guy (who will give us run for the money, he’s done that before!) - so, an 'evil' thought - maybe you can tell your friends to vote too? ;) Could you ask around?
feel free to order my latest CD "WATER DEALER" for € 12,99 / $ 19,37(shipping included) at our shop http://www.iapetus-store.com
the first 40 persons who will order the CD and pay via PayPal will get the bonus CD "Dubaware Soundsystem" for free!! prosperous time for you...
Hey there! Just wanted to let you know that you can download BOTH of our new songs for FREE from our soundclick page or you can just get them from the links below:
We just wanted to inform you that from september 10 to october 10 - 2009 at www.abstraktsens.com : All the Life's Decay CD albums are available for 7 euros instead of 12 euros !! Shipping costs are now also less expensive.
Don't hesitate to contact us if you need help or if you wish to order directly from us via paypal.
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