<\/p>\n
Audiences across Connecticut are discovering Chinese and Taiwanese folk traditions through performances by the New Haven Chinese Cultural Cooperative, a volunteer ensemble dedicated to sharing culture through music.<\/p>\n
The group performs traditional folk pieces across the state, using instruments deeply rooted in Chinese and Taiwanese musical traditions, introducing audiences to sounds and styles many may not have experienced before.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very pleasantly surprised by how much people seem to just embrace our shows,\u201d said Lely Evans, board president of the cooperative.<\/p>\n
Founded about two years ago, after the pandemic, the ensemble grew out of a former Chinese-language school in New Haven. Evans, who immigrated from Taiwan, said music became a new way to connect with the community and make cultural traditions more accessible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s taking our mission further because instead of serving people to come learn language, if you play music\u2026it\u2019s pretty accessible,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n
The ensemble performs about 12 to 15 times each year throughout Connecticut, with members volunteering their time to rehearse and perform.<\/p>\n
Rehearsals are often held inside Evans\u2019 New Haven home, where musicians practice with a variety of traditional instruments, including the erhu, a two-stringed instrument often compared to a violin, and the dizi, a bamboo flute.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will see an erhu, or the erhu section, or the dizi section, which is the bamboo flute,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n
Evans also plays the guzheng, a traditional plucked string instrument with 21 strings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has 21 strings, and it\u2019s tuned a little bit differently than like a Western instrument,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n
For ensemble member Brandon Wong, a Yale music graduate student from Los Angeles, joining the group has also been a personal journey. Wong plays the ruan, sometimes called the \u201cChinese banjo,\u201d and said learning the instrument helped him reconnect with his heritage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a very enriching and enlightening experience for me,\u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n
Wong, who has a background in classical guitar, said performing with the ensemble has strengthened his appreciation for traditional Chinese music and the opportunity to share it with others.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives us even more of a passion to come to share our love for these kinds of instruments,\u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n
Evans said audience reactions have reinforced the importance of exposing people to different cultures and traditions through music.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just makes me really happy that they see something different. It\u2019s the whole thing about cultural awareness,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n
She hopes the performances continue inspiring audiences across the state to explore traditional Chinese and Taiwanese folk music.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really glad that we get to show this side of our culture to them,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nbcconnecticut.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Audiences across Connecticut are discovering Chinese and Taiwanese folk traditions through performances by the New Haven Chinese Cultural Cooperative, a volunteer ensemble dedicated to sharing culture through music. The group performs traditional folk pieces across the state, using instruments deeply rooted in Chinese and Taiwanese musical traditions, introducing audiences to sounds and styles many may […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2426879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[347069],"class_list":["post-2426878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-new-haven"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/New-Haven-ensemble-preserves-Chinese-and-Taiwanese-folk-music-traditions.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2426878"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2426880,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426878\/revisions\/2426880"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2426879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2426878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2426878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2426878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}