On this blog (see Top 20 songs) Felsha had me check out a couple of music videos, both of which were beautiful. One of them had a lot of meaning for me beyond the music.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NZdggNUvq0&feature=related
Maxence Cyrin is the pianist/composer of this piece, Where is My Mind. The video is made entirely of excerpts from the film The Mysterious Lady (1928), starring the great Greta Garbo.
Cyrin's music and the film segments make each other more than they are alone. This is actually not surprising, because silent films were meant to be viewed in a theater, accompanied by live piano music. Part of the film would be the piano score written for it. In the early 1980's I saw a different Garbo classic at the Anthology Film Archives on Astor Place in the East Village of Manhattan, and, along with the film, a pianist played the score that had originally been written for it. It was a completely different experience from viewing a silent film without the music, the music added drama, comedy, etc.
Inspired by this, I looked at other videos of Cyrin. Yet another featured a classic silent film. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2A5Gno7T0Y&NR=1
This piece is called La femme chinoise (Yellow Magic Orchestra), the film is The Goddess (1934), a Chinese film set in Shanghai. The Chinese word that gets translated to "goddess" means both goddess and prostitute. The actress is Ruan Lingyu, a legendary Chinese movie star who was the Greta Garbo of Chinese silent films, usually playing the tragic heroine. She had a full but complicated personal life and committed suicide at the age of 24, leaving the note: "Gossip is a terrible thing."
The woman's long form-fitting dress is a form of the cheongsam, a traditional Chinese dress. Cheongsam with slits up the legs were worn by prostitutes and women of fashion. It showed off their slender, elegant bodies, and their gentle curves. That style of dress is still worn occasionally by Chinese women today, at formal occasions. At the storied ballroom dance club The Paramount, which celebrates the glamour of old Shanghai, the female dance professionals all wear this style of dress. Bolei and I have been there several times, and danced with each other and professional dancers (for a price).
At the very end of the film, you see the lights of Shanghai. The skyscrapers are Art Deco, they loved the great Art Deco skyscrapers of Manhattan (such as the Woolworth and the Chrysler buildings).
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