A gathering of musicians around the world is to unite on Sunday 11 November 2018, marking the centenary of the Armistice by playing together via social media. (See my previous post: Piece for Peace). Yesterday, the Edinburgh Chinese Music Ensemble met to prepare and record its contribution to the event: a version of ‘Armistice’ by Thoren Ferguson played on Chinese instruments.

Our ensemble is made up of a group of mostly Edinburgh-based musicians who enjoy playing Chinese music. It is a mix of people from Hong Kong, England and Scotland who are Edinburgh residents and people from China who have come to Edinburgh to study. The youngest player is at secondary school and the oldest is retired and the languages spoken in rehearsals can be a mayhem of Cantonese, English, Mandarin and of course Scots. Calm is restored when we play music together!

We have enjoyed preparing for this event and sharing our thoughts about WWI. For me, the fact that my grandmother’s fiancée was killed in France a few days before peace was declared is particularly poignant.

Here are some photos from our recording of Armistice. Our video is be uploaded to Facebook on 11.11.18 at 3pm (GMT).