Lightning Go Tournament 2015

By Edward Wang (age 10)

 Ahhhh... lightning, I am playing Go with lightning! No, that's not what Lightning Go is all about. If fact, it is about an ancient board game called Go and the sound of BEEP, BEEP, BEEP (that’s the chess clock beeping if you haven’t figured it out). On Saturday March 14, my brother and I went to The Golden Key Cultural Center for a Lightning Go Tournament.

 For people who don't know what Go is, here are some things you might want to know. Go is a two-player strategic board game like chess. The earliest written reference to the game is generally recognized as the Zuo Zhuan. It said something that seemed like a Go event happened in 548 BC. Also, Go is mentioned in the book of XVII of the analects of Confucius. Above that, Go was known as yì. Now, in Chinese, Go is known as Weiqi (Wei-chí). And literally means “encirclement board game.” Go was originally played on a 17×17 board but by the Tang Dynasty, 19×19 board became the standard, up until today. Go was first seen in Zhou Dynasty and has been active since. Later, the coolest form of Go-- Lightning Go -- was made. Lightning Go is just like regular Go, but it is a game rely on speed. A regular Go game in a tournament can take up to 1 hour to a whole day to finish, but in Lightning Go, each player only gets 15 minutes. So the game finishes in 30 minutes.

 “I always wanted a Lightning Go Tournament to be held, it's the most fun form of Go I ever played. And even though I had to travel one and a half hour to get here,” said Matt Mennie, a Lightning Go tournament participant. 

 Lightning Go is awesome, maybe you can try too. Go is an easy game to start learning, you can start at as young as 3 years old. . How many times have I played lightning Go? Once, that's right, only this once. And I really liked it because I get to think faster for each move.

 “The most challenging thing about Go is that you really want to play well, you have to spend a lot of time and I did that when I was younger,” said Dix Sandbeck, another lightning go participant who started playing since 1975. I have to say I agree with him because I played go for four years and it's still very challenging even if I practice regularly.

 At the tournament, three higher level Go players also gave lectures. My Go teacher, Louis Liu, gave a lecture first, and Mingsung Suh, a former Korean Go Institute Student gave a lecture on currently famous Joseki (game opening). Then near the end, James Sedgwick, the president of Canadian Go Association gave a lecture too.

 The winner of the tournament with five wins is …Mingsung Suh.  I personally won three games which I thought it was pretty good for my first time playing lightning Go. After the Lightning Go Tournament, I felt more confident for my tomorrow’s Children’s Go Tournament, where I have to compete with other children to earn a certificate for my next level.

“I want to keep on playing Go, because I want to get better and I really enjoy playing it,” says, Liam Hinzman, the Champion of the Children’s Go Tournament. I feel the same about Go and I was happy to be raised to 7K.

 Now, I have to go back to playing Lightning Go. Ahhhh...I am running out of time!

Day of the dead at Habourfront Centre

By Dea Yu (age 9), Selena Xu (age 9), Edward Wang (age 9)

On   November 9, 2014, Voice K journalists went to the Day of the Dead Festival at Toronto Harbourfront Center. Colourful lights lit up the rooms. The halls were filled with beautiful Mexican paper cut-out decorations and stunning flower arrangements.  Mexican music was heard almost everywhere. This festival looked like a memory from Mexican past.

When we got there, we went downstairs into a room full of information on the Day of the Dead. We went to the back where we started to do some paper cutting, just like the ones that were hanging on the ceiling. 

When we got to the theatre for the band performance, it was already very cramped. A couple minutes later, the show started and the audience quieted down. A man walked onto the stage and gave a mini-speech. He talked about the birth of the festival and he introduced the band ─ which was all female ─ that was called “Mariachi Flor de Toloache”. The band members explained that “Flor de Toloache" is the name of a flower in Mexico that they put in love potions.

The show included various songs from the people of Mexico and also Latin America. They have slow, fast, high- and low-pitched songs. They sing many famous songs like Calaca and Guadalajara.

All band members wore skull makeup on half of their face. They were also dressed in beautiful band costumes. To us, we didn’t see a band with costumes and makeup. When they were playing slow music, we saw a musical river with beautiful cherry blossom trees all over it. When they were playing fast music, we saw an empty desert with a rampaging horse dancing in the distance.

 The audience cheered for the Mariachi Band on stage while they were singing a wonderful tune and clapped to the beat while others danced or sang. That is the Mariachi Flor de Toloache. They are the first ever Mariachi band that are all women. In 2008, Mireya Ramos found the Mariachi band. The Mariachi band was originally from New York, but the members are from Indiana, United States, Australia, Dominican Republic, Mexico and even Canada! What you can explore are celebrations from Mexico and other areas of Latin America.

 “My father was a mariachi and I used to go with him to all his shows,” says Ramos, a violinist and a singer. “So I fell in love with mariachi music and through that I would learn violin and voice.”

The band explained their half skull makeup: “The day of the dead is about celebrating our ancestors. Part of the makeup represents the ancestors and part of it represents our generation.” 

“It was very exciting when I learned the festival is happening and is assigned to me,” said lead artistic associate, Umair Jaffer. “Harbourfront Centre has a theme of legacy this year. Under this theme, we are transforming from the past to the present and to the future,”

Day of the dead (Dia de los Muertos) is the time of the year when people celebrate and be happy for the people from the past. This celebration was born before Christianity was invented.


“All the activities from the festival are about legacy, celebrating the past and passing onto the next generation,” said Jaffer.

ARTIST AT DAY OF THE DEAD CELEBRATION

BY: Leo Yin (age 11)

Crafts, music, and fun! I couldn’t decide which was best.

From the craft section, there was a great artist, Steve Loretta, who made attractive skull crafts. The most interesting skull was a sugar skull completely covered in icing leaves which was really breath-taking since the leaves looked real.

He made about four types of crafts for the Day of the Dead celebration. Loretta said, “I started making the these crafts five years ago when I was running a children’s workshop on making the sugar skulls in 2009 at the Brick Works, which made me now have a good memory of how to make them.”

There were paper skulls, sugar skulls, full skeletons, and skull decorations. The biggest question in my head was how he created so many decorations for the celebration and did not run out of ideas.

 “I was inspired from my heart to make these creations and that is just a thing I like to do,” Loretta said.

He even made a sugar skull kit with which to decorate your own sugar skull with icing. The decorations came with eye catching colours and irresistible style.

This is a Mexican celebration to respect the dead. Next time don’t forget to have fun with some awesome Day of the Dead crafts!

By Voice K Summer Camp

Chinese culture arrived at Habourfront last weekend. The place was jam packed with Chinese art, craft, dance and outstanding food. 

“ It’s amazing to have 70 artists from China to perform at this festival”, said Rodrigo Fritz, Senior Artistic Associate and Project Coordinator at the Harbourfront Centre. The China Now event lasts three days starting with an opening showcase on Friday, July 11th, 2014. 


“The hardest part to organize was the opening showcase that involves 7 artist group. Coming up with the correct schedule and getting everybody together is the most challenging part," said Fritz. It took Habourfront over a year to organize the event. They started discussions with the Ministry of Culture in China and their major partner, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in Washington about a year ago. Between different departments there were at least a hundred people involved.

“We are very fortunate to live in a multicultural society,” said Dr. Nelly Ng, the chair of Can 4 Culture, a not-for-profit organization that connects culture. "My goal is to by introducing this magnificent art, for people to understand one another better." 


China has a history of five thousand years. Some of the crafts, such as the clay figurine and kite making has a history of two thousand years. 


"Because we don't know much about China and its rich history, and we get fascinate about it, and we hope more people get to see it. I think through art, we are connected." said Dr. Ng. 


This is the first time Harbourfront Center hosting a festival solely focused on China.  be sure to check it out yourself!

By Amelie Zhou (Age 9) , Michelle Zhou (Age 9), Edward Wang (Age 9)

Pan-Asia Fortune Cookie Festival

By Wendy Wang (Age 14), Edward Wang (Age 8), Tom Yang (Age 13)

Nagata Sachu – Drum Performance

Boom! Boom! Boom! The Japanese Taiko drum ensemble, Nagata Sachu, was drumming at the West Jet Stage. We sat amongst the crowded audience and enjoyed the performance. We heard the drummers hitting the drums with wooden sticks as soon as we walked near to the West Jet Stage. It was such a loud sound! Each piece of music was better than the one before.

Most of their songs were imitations of nature, such as horses in the springtime. We could hear the horses' hoof beats as they raced across the meadow. During the song "Echoes of the Heart", we heard a steady heartbeat amidst the melody.

The name Nagata Sachu was taken from its leader, Kiyoshi Nagata, and sachu, an old Japanese term for "group". Nagata has been Taiko drumming for 31 years, ever since he was inspired at 12 years old.

"Our group started in 1998 and has been performing across Canada, United States and Europe for almost 15 years. In fact, we'll be celebrating our 15th anniversary with a concert this coming November," he said.

Taiko drumming may not look that complicated, but it is much harder than it looks. 

"We are constantly practicing and preparing. In the beginning, it was hard to memorize all the beats while listening to each drummer's part in a song. Not only that, there is also physical strain, such as muscle strain and back pain. Our last song imitated fishermen reeling in their catch and there was good reason for it to be the last song we played. We were more or less worn out after that song." Nagata said before adding, “That's why we always stretch before playing!"

He just loves making music. The hard work paid off, as Nagata mentioned, the feeling when he performs is so hard to put into words. It goes somewhere along the lines of exhilarating, satisfying and fun. He wasn't the only person that thought it was fun, Tricia Evelya, an audience member who was sitting beside us was impressed with the drummers' power and strength.  

"What a wonderful performance! I like how the drummers play together in sync and how they explained the meaning of each song."

The drums came in all shapes and sizes, from the size of a plate to the size a flat-screen TV! All their recording, equipment and costumes were made in Japan. They also teach Taiko drumming in Scarborough for all skill levels.

"It would be cool to see a gong next time, but until then and I want to say a big thank you to Nagata Sachu," Evelya said.

Tea Dyeing Workshop

Next, the crew learned about dyeing fabrics using a natural process. Our instructor, Debbie Arruda, who studied textile design, gave us a peek into the world of tea dyeing. 

"The fun thing about tea dyeing is that it is an adventure. You never know how it will turn out and each time it will create something new,” Debbie said.  “Best of all, it's easy, something you can do at home within a few hours."

Here are the basic steps to tea dye: 

1. First, you make tea. Put a couple tea bags into boiling water; wait until the water gets dark, in tea colour. 
   
   
2. Then, you dip your white fabric into it. You can also test out many different methods. For example, bounding the cloth tightly with string before dipping in the dye, dipping some parts longer than others or just dunking it in!
   
   
3. Experiment with it and have fun. 

Shadow Puppet

Soon after, we participated in a form of storytelling that originated in Southeast Asia. 


It was invented by an emperor in Han Dynasty who was trying to remember his lover. The traditional puppets were made of leather. Our puppets were made out of black construction paper and wooden sticks. 

Our instructor, Alexandra Iglesias, is a visual arts teacher. She was the one, who explained all that we need to know about making shadow puppets.

We liked shadow puppets very much.

White Jade

After we finished, we ran to the WestJet stage for our last event for the evening.  But we found out that White Jade, the band we were expecting to watch, wasn't there. There was a notice saying that it has been transferred to the Redpath Stage. We moved fast to the Redpath Stage. We arrived right before the show start. 

White Jade is a unique Chinese band from Shanghai. The band is based in Shanghai and contains 8 members and this was their first trip to Canada and we think they made a great impression. Dressed in unusual yet fashionable black and white outfits, this band pulled off a new trend of music. They combined electronic rhythms with traditional instruments, such as the Pipa (Chinese lute), Guzheng (Chinese zither), Erhu (Chinese violin) and Dizi (Chinese flute). 

The performance lasted half an hour; they managed to play so many songs.  When it was time to interview, we rushed and chased down the band members. We were lucky that we caught them when they were hanging out outside the clubhouse. We got to interview the lead of the band, Tao Ye. 

“When did you start to play the lute?" we asked.

“I've been playing since I was 10," said Tao Ye. "I soon grew in love with the instrument and music. My dad is also a flute player. I saw him play all the time. He inspired me," said Tao Ye.

When we asked him what was his favourite part about performing. He said, “We love interacting with the audience!" 

That is true because they even came down from the stage and danced with the audience! After playing a remix of the popular Chinese song "Mo Li Hua", the band managed to execute a cover of the songs "Move Like Jagger" and "Oppa Gangnam Style".  Lots of people started dancing wildly during these popular songs.  

Tao also mentioned that Sunday at the Harbourfront was the last performance for the band in Canada. They will move on to tour Europe next. He says he hopes to come back to Canada again. If you ever see them perform in Canada again, listen to their performance and they will get your ears very satisfied!


We were really amazed at how they performed. It was great music! If anyone told us to rate them, we would give it a ten out of five! We even got a souvenir from them, which was a cute panda hat.  

From our missing member
By Angela Zhao (Age 12)


Voice K’s summer camp and members gathered enthusiastically at Harbourfront for the Fortune Cookie Festival. I wish I was there, but I couldn’t make it.  Though I was lucky that on Monday, my friends from the camp told me about the trip and showed me pictures of the all the events. 


I was introduced to the shadow puppets. The history of shadow puppets is very romantic. It all started in China by a king, who tried to make a shadow puppet for his lover. The other campers showed me the Shadow puppets that they made. Edward made a dinosaur, Tom made a fish and Wendy made a horse. 


If I was there, I would enjoy all of the events, but mostly the tea dying because it sounded like fun. The idea of dipping a fabric and making a pattern is very interesting.