Fiji and China’s cultural ties came alive through music as choirs from both countries performed to a packed audience at the Suva Civic Centre last night.
Fiji’s Primanavia and the visiting Shenzhen Star Bright Choir performed at the Mid-Autumn in Poetry: Harmony Across the Seas concert.
Audience members sang along and gave a standing ovation as the choirs took the audience through a selection of Fijian, Chinese and international songs including Masu ni Turaga, Vanua Domoni and Isa Isa, while the Shenzhen Star Bright Choir performed Chinese songs and international selections, including Greensleeves.
Primanavia was led by conductor and artistic director Sunia Soko Loga, while the Shenzhen Star Bright Choir was led by its founder and artistic director Chen Guanghui.
Interim Chinese Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Wang Yuan says the concert was being held on the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the most important and beloved traditional festivals in Chinese culture.
Wang says the festival is a time when people look up at the full moon, think of their loved ones and come together with family and friends.
He says China and Fiji are separated by vast oceans, but the two peoples have been connected by friendship and mutual understanding for more than a century.
The concert was organised by the China Cultural Centre in Fiji and Shenzhen, with support from the Suva City Council, Fiji Arts Council and Primanavia.
