Title: Zai tan san / In Tanzania

Arranger:Tong Leung-tak

Year: [19--]

Genre:

• Small ensemble
• Arrangement
• Chinese plucked string orchestra

Call No.: SC354

Description: Originally composed by Zhao Hongsheng (1925–) and featured in the 1975 documentary film Zhongguo yiliaodui zai Tansangniya ("The Chinese Medical Team in Tanzania") as Yiliao duiyuan dao Tansang ("The Medical Team in Tanzania"), "In Tanzania" is Tong Leung-tak's arrangement of the song for a Chinese instrumental ensemble. For those who lived in Mainland China during the 1970s, the song left a strong impression that has outlived the film. This is probably because the use of film song in documentary film was exceptional during the Mao era. Lauding the Chinese medical team for both their rescuing effort and the friendship they built with Tanzanians during the 1960s and 1970s, the song is characterized by a diatonic melody in a major key with occasional syncopation, all of which likely contribute to what some have claimed as an "exotic flavor" or even a "Tanzanian musical influence." Tong renamed his arrangement as Zai Tansang in order to shed the song's connection to Maoist political agenda-a common practice in post-Mao Chinese instrumental music. Judging from the instrumental parts currently catalogued in the archive of the Music Office, Tong's arrangement features a full group of plucked-string instruments but omits most other instruments except the dizi, the cello, and the double bass; the strings are set to play the titular melody and chordal accompaniment while the dizi enters halfway. The music ends with a fast section of newly composed melodies largely in the same musical mode.

Note:

• Arrangement of the soundtrack "Medical team to Tanzania" from the documentary "Chinese medical team in Tanzania"

Instrumentation: di (2), yangqin (1), liuqin (1), pipa (1), zhong ruan (1), da ruan (1), sanxian (1), cello (1), double bass (1)