The Silk and Bamboo
(sizhu)
Ensemble is a world renowned string and wind group based in the UK, and
represents a typical, traditional Chinese musical form. Like Shanghai
Tea-house and Cantonese music, it often includes strings such as erhu and gaohu fiddles, pipa and yueqin lutes and the yangqin dulcimer as well as the dizi flute, sheng mouth-organ and percussion
instruments such as the ban and
gu clapper and drums. Our Silk
and Bamboo Ensemble varies in size and instrumentation, and can have
from 3 or 4 up to 12 musicians. The group features wonderful expert
musicians and plays regional, traditional and contemporary music as
well as enjoying cross-culture and cross-genre musical ventures. Since 1998, the Ensemble has performed extensively in the UK and Europe, has been in demand for media and film recordings and has delivered tailor-made educational programmes. The group has been featured in the Purcell Room and Queen Elisabeth Hall at London's Southbank Centre, and has appeared at festivals including the City of London, Cambridge Folk Music and Edinburgh Festivals. During 2001–2003, the musicians toured over a dozen countries in Europe, the Middle East and the USA with the Shaolin Monks musical theatre production Shaolin: Wheel of Life. The group has also performed at the WOMAD (Canada and Sweden), Spoleto (Italy), and Masala (Germany) festivals.
