The Wuxia Commemoration
The musical wuxia tradition lives on through composer Eliot Leung.
It may sound like a Le Carré novel, or a Matt Damon film, but the scene you need to imagine is a quite different one. A stealthy figure, clothed in middle kingdom Hanfu silk, leaps across the tiled roof of a Chinese pagoda, in twilight. He pulls a sword with almost impossible speed as he summersaults down into the yard below. Filled with the spirit of Sun Tzu, he engages a couple of guards and knocks them senseless, taking the map from the room nearby. He will find his love and avenge his family!
Adventure films involving the martial arts are not new. They have been dominated by Hong Kong and Japanese filmmakers for decades, with a certain fan base, and a few big name actors. In the West, we began with David Carradine’s Kung Fu series in the 1970s. Then came a flurry of films (many involving Keanu Reeves) that took a different path, often with a science fiction/fantasy flair (The Matrix, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, John Wick, and so on). The musical scores to these films have been extremely varied and innovative, however, in this area of film production mainland China has been overshadowed by its neighbours until recently.
Then, just when you thought nothing was happening, you stumble across something unexpected and curiously interesting that you just want to share, with like-minded, obsessive mad people. Obviously, I came to this audience.
I was flipping through TV channels in my hotel, in southern China this January, when I chanced upon an orchestra playing something quite interesting – and completely unknown to me. To find an orchestral concert on Chinese CCTV was itself unexpected, because most of the Chinese channels are unwatchable soap operas or heroic Red Army dramas. True, there is a documentary channel and one music channel with most fascinating singing competitions (typically dominated by China’s fifty or so ethnic minorities), but orchestral music is not widely represented by any means. This sounded like film music, but that was surely impossible!
Chinese orchestral music has its own character, and it’s not always my cup of oolong – it is usually blended with Chinese traditional instruments, like the Erhu (a sort of Chinese viola with a distinctive tone) or Pipa (a Chinese slide guitar, very far from the Hawaiian shores). But this was different: an unusually modern and cinematic piece that immediately spoke to me. At first, I suspected that it was a Japanese animé theme, but after some time, I was finally rewarded with a title: The Wuxia Suite. It was a fusion of Eastern and Western styles that had me confused. I immediately began searching for a recording so I could listen to it properly.
The performance came with no fanfare or context. It was as if it was so completely obvious to watchers what it was that it didn’t even merit a mention. I immediately made a note to research its origins.
The year 2024 was the one hundred year anniversary of the birth of “Jin Yong” (pen name for China’s legendary author Louis Cha). Cha was an iconic Hong Kong writer and cult figure in Chinese literature, whose writings reached well into television and film adaptations. “Wuxia” is a type of historical fantasy literature, based on the Chinese swordsmanship tradition. The popular Japanese manga Rurouni Kenshin is a Japanese version of this tradition. Cha is generally credited with reviving the genre and he commanded sufficient respect to commission a symphonic piece in his honour.
Approaching the anniversary, in 2024, a small group of local orchestras from Chengdu, Shanghai and Hangzhou commissioned new music based on his books, to celebrate one hundred years of Martial Arts storytelling. I even have one of his books at home, translated into English. The resulting music was performed around China during the festival, and is recorded here by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
Although not strictly film music (there is no film), the symphonic score is written in cinematic style by up-and-coming film composer Eliot Leung (Elliot Ho Yat Leung). The style can be contrasted with Tan Dun’s score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and even Harry Gregson-Williams’ remake of Disney’s Mulan.
Leung’s music is a sweeping symphonic romp, scored for a large orchestra. It claims to be loosely inspired by Cha’s novels. Music of this caliber needs no explanation from me. It draws on musical references from around China as well as cinematic orchestration effects used by the popular Japanese composers (e.g. Joe Hisaishi). For instance, a very close relative of the love theme can be found in a work by another contemporary Chinese composer: Sichuan Image by Ye Xiaogang (performed by the Scottish National Orchestra).
Leung, a mere 30 years old, already has an impressive list of credits to his name in Chinese film. He is obviously a composer to watch out for. Chinese cinema is evolving quickly and already produces a small number of quite interesting movies. Hong Kong composers are sought after in South Korea and Taiwan too. Perhaps there is finally something new to look forward to beyond the endless Marvel remakes and fluorescent CGI creations that Hollywood hides behind. It seems to be happening in Asia.
The Wuxia Commemoration was performed to live audiences across China in the 2024-2025 concert season.