Requiem of Our Digital Age<\/i><\/p>\n
Set to the poetry of Xu Lizhi \u8a31\u7acb\u5fd7 (1990 – 2014), Njo Kong Kie\u2019s song cycle uses the human voice, the piano, and video imagery to create a tragic but beautiful cry of protest in solidarity with immiserated workers everywhere.<\/p>\n
In this haunting song cycle, composer and performer Njo Kong Kie \u694a\u5149\u5947 sets the poetry of Xu Lizhi \u8a31\u7acb\u5fd7 to song and delivers a lamentation for our digital age. Xu toiled in a factory in Shenzhen, China, where he, along with hundreds of thousands of others who were unseen and ignored, manufactured the digital devices we use every day. Xu\u2019s spare and profound poetry is an indictment of labour exploitation, and it also offers a glimpse into his interior life: his hopes, his dreams, and his struggle under the unbearable weight of existence.<\/p>\n
Kong Kie\u2019s score for solo voice and piano is performed in Mandarin, with English subtitles that are integrated into a rich tapestry of video imagery. The result is a contemplative landscape\u2014and a powerful insistence on Xu\u2019s humanity. This is a work about human dignity and economic injustice, each set against the other in a conflict as familiar as it is tragic. In the synthesis of the two artists, we have a vital human document, an act of political witness, and, not least, a performance of great beauty.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything about this show is thoughtful, measured, and well-pitched. It celebrates and mourns Xu and destabilizes viewers in important and timely ways. You\u2019ll not look at your cell phone the same way again\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 Toronto Star<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\u201cNjo’s score is a marvel, conveying a vast spectrum of places and complicated emotions with heartbreaking lyricism\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 The List, Edinburgh<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n