Noising Sheng 噪笙 by Zhang Meng 张梦

Noising Sheng documents Zhang Meng’s attempt to reinvent the Chinese sheng into a noise instrument. Since ancient time, the sheng has been associated with the virtue of “he” central to Confucian ethics, denoting peace, harmony, and conciliation. In the family of Chinese wind instruments, the sheng is a rare member who is able to fix to a certain tune unaffected by playing, and to play multiple notes at the same time. In an ensemble setting, it often functions on the one hand as a standard-pitch instrument for tuning, and on the other hand as a basic accompaniment instrument holding the collective sound together. The sheng was never a solo instrument in its traditional role. It is supposed to sound steady, modest, and eminently decorous.

Zhang Meng inherits a devotion to the instrument from his father, a professional sheng artist. For over two decades, Zhang Meng has performed his sheng in Chinese folk orchestras, contemporary classical ensembles, and rock bands, his regular collaborators ranging from avant-garde composer/conductor Tan Dun to beloved folk rock group Wu Tiao Ren. Yet, as his relationship with the sheng deepens, he feels increasingly uneasy with the stereotypical roles assigned to the instrument. On February 3, 2024, Zhang Meng performed a solo concert at Trigger, a new underground space co-managed by Shanghai noise artist Torturing Nurse. For the concert, Zhang Meng wrote the following:

“Nowadays, this implication of ‘harmony’ of the sheng inevitably strikes me as ironic… as a sound-producing medium, the sheng can sound dirty and raw, it should be able to 'curse'. Although there are quite a few modernist pieces for the sheng that explore its unconventional aspects, they are mostly written by composers who aren’t skilled at playing it. Sentiment aside, I think they lack a genuine understanding of the sheng as an instrument. This is why I try to approach the sheng with an experimentalist spirit, to ‘noise’ the sheng as much as possible. I choose not to use any effects pedals so that all moods are expressed only through the sheng’s original tone, and they are not all supposed to be ‘noisy’... At the concert, I played a track of the typically lyrical sound of the sheng on a pre-recorded cassette, and I played my sheng alongside. If you insist on asking why, take it as a struggle between the real and the hypocritical.”

Noising Sheng documents the whole concert throughout. The performance was half-improvised upon a written script, showcasing Zhang Meng’s virtuoso performing techniques and sharp theatrical sensibilities as a composer. Yet it is carefully staged in a way that the protagonist is not the performer, but the instrument itself. In a crescively charged space of revolving tensions, the sheng mutters, splutters, and bawls, setting free its eerie expressive potential from under a long historical shadow.

Noising Sheng is a self-conducted piece of post-irony delivered with gentle earnestness. In a time when “noise” is becoming more and more performative, still it gives it a try to take noise seriously.

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作为中国最古老的乐器之一，笙的设计与应用常与“和”的理念相连。在传统民乐编制中，笙一方面是调定音高的定律乐器，另一方面则是沉稳宽厚的合奏与伴奏乐器，而它独奏的历史不足百年。如果说中国礼乐本质上是一种秩序体系，那么笙便承担着这种秩序的界定与协调，是儒家文化政治的听觉具身。

习笙二十多年，在与这件乐器愈加密切的关系中，张梦为笙在今天的际遇渐怀不平。如他所言，笙作为一个发声载体可以“脏”而生猛，既可以循循教化，也可以恶语袭人。近年以来，尽管一些现代派作品已开始探索笙的另类审美向度，这些作曲家却大多不善吹笙。张梦于是自陈怀抱，以演奏者的经验加持作曲者的志趣，试图呈现笙在乐音之外的情态。是为“噪笙”。

《噪笙》录制于上海 Trigger 空间的一次独奏现场，整场演出看似奔流恣肆，实则是基于一套精心推敲的框架谱自导自演。这部剧本的一切张力都源自乐器本身：张梦没有使用效果器去改变笙原有的音色，而是用四轨机中预先录制的一轨抒情的笙乐为自己即时伴奏。这是笙的本然心性与社会身份之间的一场对搏——活笙死笙、巧笙拙笙、台前笙幕后笙、现场的笙回放的笙，在同一个时空中影影绰绰，击石见火，映出一副身外身。在这个意义上，以噪御笙，与其说是格物，倒不如说是发明本心。

而《噪笙》亦不是一张刺耳的唱片。抛去成见，求其放心，你将听到真性情。

dusty sound from the Chinese underground

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