The 36th Chamber of Shaolin - RZA live score

Martial Media, Culture and Other Arts Martial Media and Popular Culture
21

Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, Massachusetts, Sept. 20-21 2019

[URL=“https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/08/08/rza-tang-clan-perform-live-score-during-martial-arts-film-coolidge-corner-theatre/EzB32dxwcjIAlORIknBCAN/story.html”]
RZA of Wu-Tang Clan to perform live score during martial arts film at Coolidge Corner Theatre
By Steve Annear Globe Staff,August 8, 2019, 2:09 p.m.


RZA speaks onstage during the Hulu 2019 Summer TCA Press Tour at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 26, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. A founding member of Wu-Tang Clan, RZA will perform live scores at the Coolidge Corner Theatre during two showings of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin in September.(PHOTO BY PRESLEY ANN/GETTY IMAGES FOR HULU)

The plan came together faster than a few expertly delivered kung fu moves and its the most excited that Mark Anastasio, director of special programming at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, has been about an event in a very long time.

For two nights in September, RZA real-name Robert Fitzgerald Diggs a founding member of the legendary New York hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, will perform live scores at the Brookline venue during showings of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, the 1978 martial arts film that served as inspiration for the group.

We do a lot of cool things here, said Anastasio, who has worked at the Coolidge for more than a decade. But this is certainly a career highlight.

Anastasio said its long been on the theaters wish-list to get the noted producer, rapper, and director to bring his audio-visual performance, RZA: Live from the 36th Chamber of Shaolin in which he provides the soundtrack to the martial arts flick, from opening to closing credits to the area.

But pulling it all together always felt slightly out of reach.

It always seemed like this unattainable gig, he said in a telephone interview, something so big that we could never bring it to Boston.

Several months ago, however, the opportunity to carry out that fantasy finally presented itself.

In April, a colleague of Anastasios at the Hollywood Theatre, in Portland, Oregon, successfully brought RZA to the venue to perform for crowds, as the Lau Kar-leung-directed martial arts classic played on screen.

With the help and endorsement of staff from the Portland theater, Anastasio got in touch with the folks handling RZAs public engagements, and managed to book the rapper for an East Coast appearance.

We were off and running from there, Anastasio said. It came together fast.

RZA will perform two shows at the Coolidge, on Sept. 20 and 21. The first performance has already sold out, and tickets for the encore performance are going quickly.

During the events, Anastasio said people can expect everything from drum machines to keyboards and a baby grand piano to be played, as characters from the film appear on screen and the epic fight scenes unfold.

The award-winning musician, film composer, and director will be using a Wu-Tang catalog over two decades deep, as he drops beats from opening scene to closing credits, to amplify the action, a description on the theaters website says.

Anastasio added, these are the beats from all of the Wu-Tang records that RZA produced, but being played in a way that works for a kung-fu fight scene.

Following the shows, RZA will stick around and talk more about music, martial arts, and the history of the Wu-Tang, during question-and-answer sessions with attendees.

The first night will be moderated by music writer Brian Coleman, author of Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies.

Chris Faraone, editor of DigBoston and founder of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, will guide the discussion on the second night.

Anastasio said the choice of moderators was deliberate.

RZA specifically wanted people with deep hip-hop knowledge to be conducting these conversations with him, he said.

For Faraone, chatting with RZA will mark something of a homecoming. The seasoned hip-hop writer compiled the liner notes for a special vinyl edition of the groups 1993 debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), a project done in collaboration with the rapper that was released in 2016.

Hes looking forward to continuing that conversation.

Its always an incredible honor to travel down memory lane with him RZA has a remarkable ability to recall people and events, Faraone said in a message to the Globe. I will definitely be picking up on some of the loose threads that came up in our extensive interviews.

Steve Annear can be reached at steve.annear@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @steveannear.

I reached out to RZA when Wu-Tang came through last June but we missed. His agent gave me a courteous reply.

22

Return to Shaolin

RZA to perform at St. George Theatre in November; tickets on sale now
Updated Sep 5, 2:33 PM; Posted Sep 5, 12:05 PM


Wu-Tang Clan member RZA, an executive producer of the Hulu miniseries “Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” posing for a portrait during the 2019 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP*)

By Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – RZA returns to Shaolin in November for a special performance at the St. George Theatre.

The rapper, record producer, actor, director and founding member of the legendary hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan will re-score the martial arts film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin by Lau Kar-leung at the St. George Theatre on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 8 p.m. Tickets went on sale Thursday at noon.

RZA: Live from the 36th Chamber of Shaolin features the artist re-scoring the film live from opening sequence to closing credit, utilizing Wu-Tangs catalog. Wu-Tang buffs may know that Kar-leungs film was RZAs inspiration for the hip-hop group.

Beyond the kung-fu, it was the reality of the situation that hit me," RZA said. Growing up as a black kid in America, I didnt know that that kind of story had existed anywhere else.

[QUOTE]stgeorgetheatre’s profile picture
stgeorgetheatre
Staten Island! RZA wants to see YOU at the St. George Theatre on Saturday, November 9 for RZA: LIVE FROM THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN! Tickets go on sale today at 12PM #rza #wutangclan #wutang #thewutangclan #shaolin #the36thchamberofshaolin #36chambers #statenisland #stgeorgetheatre

RZAs score will feature more than 50 instrumental tracks, beats and vocals individually crafted and placed to amplify the narrative and action of Kar-leungs classic.

Wu-Tang Clan also has a new Hulu series, Wu-Tang: An American Saga," which revisits the groups beginnings. Fans gathered in the heart of the Wu-Tang Clan District on Wednesday for free ice cream and merchandise in support of the series premiere.

HOW TO ATTEND

RZA: Live from the 36th Chamber of Shaolin" will take place Saturday, Nov. 9, at 8 p.m. in the St. George Theatre, 35 Hyatt St. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $35-$45.[/QUOTE]

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23

No Return to Shaolin…

RZA performance at St. George Theatre canceled ‘due to production issues’
Posted Oct 22, 2019


Wu-Tang Clan member RZA, an executive producer of the Hulu miniseries “Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” posing for a portrait during the 2019 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP*)

By Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – RZA’s return to Shaolin has been put on hold for now.

The founding member of the legendary hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan was scheduled to perform Saturday, Nov. 9, at the St. George Theatre, but the show has been canceled.

“Due to production issues, ‘RZA: Live from the 36 Chambers’ on November 9 has been canceled,” said an official statement from the St. George Theatre. “Refunds are available at point of purchase.”

It was not immediately known if the show would be rescheduled.

The rapper has toured the country with “RZA: Live from the 36th Chamber of Shaolin,” in which he re-scores the martial arts film “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” by Lau Kar-leung with live music from Wu-Tang’s catalog.

Wu-Tang buffs may know that the film was RZA’s inspiration for forming the hip-hop group.

“Beyond the kung-fu, it was the reality of the situation that hit me," RZA said. “Growing up as a black kid in America, I didn’t know that that kind of story had existed anywhere else.”

Wu-Tang Clan has made quite the comeback this year. “Wu-Tang: An American Saga” is now streaming on Hulu. With it has come promotional MTA MetroCards, free ice cream and multiple film shoots on Staten Island.

In fact, one stop on the “RZA: Live from the 36th Chamber of Shaolin” tour included a sit-down conversation about the Hulu series at Coolidge Corner Theatre in Massachusetts.

RZA has not officially commented on the cancellation of the St. George Theatre show.

No show on the rugged grains of Shaolin soil…:frowning:

24

III Points 2020

Photo by Kyle Christy

Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA: III Points 2020 Will Mark “a New Display of Our Creativity and Talent”
KAT BEIN | JANUARY 30, 2020 | 8:40AM

RZA’s last great Miami memory includes a potent mixture of weed, ‘70s kung fu flicks, and tequila shots till sunrise. It was April 2018, and the Wu-Tang Clan figurehead had come to town to headline III Points’ annual 4/20-themed event, III Joints. For his performance, RZA crafted a live hip-hop soundtrack to The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, a Hong Kong cinema classic and seminal text in the Wu canon. It was half rap concert, half film screening, and all serious smoke-out.

Everybody was really smoking and sippin’, RZA remembers. There was moments where the audience was just engaged by what was on the screen, but there was moments where the audience gave in to the hip-hop performance that was happening, jumping up and down, throw your hands up in the air [stuff]. That was a very unique experience: outdoors, Miami, and the weather was beautiful.

When III Joints wrapped, RZA and crew took the party to the downtown Miami nightclub Floyd. Shortly after joining Call Super the DJ visiting that night behind the booth, the rapper, producer, and all-around creative force let the Miami spirit take over, found a mike, and began MC’ing over the house mix bumping through the venue. Soon enough, dancers were being invited up for free tequila shots from Bobby Digital himself.

I definitely was pouring a lot of shots into a lot of glasses, he recalls. One thing about me: When I party and I get loose, I just go with the flow.

Things will undoubtedly flow once again come May, when the full Wu-Tang Clan will join RZA for a headlining set at III Points’ full-fledged music festival. The Clan is preparing to mark the start of the 2020s as a new era for the group and will arrive in Miami armed with a whole new set list and stage production.

It’s a welcome return: Since 2015, a member of Wu-Tang has played at least one III Points event per year. Ghostface Killah was the first to come through in 2015, followed by a hyped-up performance from Method Man and Wu affiliate Redman in 2016. III Points brought the full Clan through for a standalone concert during Art Basel 2017 and then called upon RZA for the 2018 edition of III Joints. Last year’s festival saw a return from Ghostface, joined by Raekwon for a full performance of the 1995 classic Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…

I mean, we love Miami, right? RZA says. It’s always iconic to go there; we get that good Cuban food. Usually I don’t eat until after the show, but I eat twice before the show [in Miami]. When invitations come from that city, we’re trying to RSVP. If you guys want us to come, we want to come, and that’s what we do.

Wu-Tang Clan’s last performance in Miami was heavy on songs from the group’s seminal 1993 debut LP, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

It was sold-out to capacity, RZA recalls, and the energy was high. On that particular night, we actually brought in our stage set from New York, where we turned the stage to look like our neighborhood. What a night I mean, what a weekend.

This year, the group brought on a new creative developer, who, along with the long-term team, is designing a new stage production intended to bring the Wu-niverse into a new dimension. The set list is also getting a major face-lift, a treat for any Killer Bees looking for more solo Wu members and full Clan deep cuts during live shows.

There’s a lot of great songs in the catalog that don’t get a lot of concert play for whatever reason, RZA says. The first call we had this week was changing our set list in a more cinematic, dynamic way."

It makes sense that RZA and the Clan would want to update their presentation for a new decade: vivid imagery and a flair for the theatrical have always been cornerstones of the Wu-Tang aesthetic. Across the group’s discography, songs and albums are filled with movie samples and sound effects that help graft indelible imagery onto listeners’ minds.

Wu-Tang came out even before DVDs, RZA laughs. That may not sound like reality, but it is. There was no TV in your headrest; that didn’t happen 'till late '96, '97.

“When we made 36 Chambers, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, and Liquid Swords, Ironman, the goal was that the audience would have an audiovisual experience; I was trying to make movies with those albums,” he continues. "I’m from the generation of New Yorkers that, for good and bad reasons, used to travel out of state. Whether it was traveling down to Howard University to go to homecoming, on to Atlanta Freaknik, or going down to South Beach… I made [Wu-Tang Clan’s music] with the idea of helping that road trip be cool for you.

While the exact dimension and flavor of Wu-Tang’s 2020 III Points headline set can’t yet be defined, RZA is **** sure it’s gonna be a movie of its own.

We’re striving and I say ‘striving’ because you’ve got to strive, and if you get it, get it, he says, "but we are striving to make this a new display of our creativity and our talent through our concerts. You guys will be among some of the first to see it this year.

Indeed, the Wu hasn’t held a single stateside performance since its popular Hulu series Wu-Tang: An American Saga first aired late last year. Animated by all of the renewed hype, RZA and the Clan are ready to ride a wave of innovation into the next chapter of their ongoing story.

We have a lot of new fans getting engaged by us, he says. We’re just looking forward to getting in front of them with the crew. This is foundation, and [we want] people to understand why Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nothing to eff with.

III Points 2020. With Wu-Tang Clan, Robyn, the Strokes, Disclosure, and others. Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 2, at Mana Wynwood, 318 NW 23rd St., Miami; 305-573-0371; manawynwood.com. Tickets cost $99 to $249 via iiipoints.com.

They’re coming to the Oracle on February 21. Hopefully I can make that.

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The 36th Chamber of Shaolin - RZA live score

25

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Wow. I would love to see this. I’m very into orchestral music and am a member of our local symphony - have been for years.

Wu-Tang Clan to perform with Detroit Symphony Orchestra in tribute to classic album, film
Brian McCollum, Detroit Free PressPublished 11:00 a.m. ET Feb. 13, 2020


Closing act Wu-Tang Clan performs on the main stage during the Movement festival at Hart Plaza in Detroit on May 28, 2018. (Photo: Christopher M. Bjornberg, Special to the Free Press)

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is ready to bring the ruckus — and some cinematic kung-fu.

The venerable DSO will team with pioneering hip-hop outfit Wu-Tang Clan on March 21 in a celebration of the group’s groundbreaking 1993 debut album, “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).”

Conceived by Wu-Tang founder RZA, the event will also include a screening of the ‘70s kung-fu movie that inspired the album’s title — “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” — with the DSO performing the film’s score.

Tickets will go on sale at 11 a.m. Feb 20. Proceeds from the concert, which is being presented by Quicken Loans Community Fund, will go to the DSO’s educational programs.

Wu-Tang has incorporated symphonic elements in the past — notably at the Coachella fest in 2013 — but this will be the group’s first collaboration with a full orchestra. Enrico Lopez-Yañez, principal pops conductor with the Nashville Symphony, will conduct the program.

In a statement Thursday, group founder RZA called the pairing “historic and monumental.”

“This collaboration with the DSO is a great example of the bandwidth that hip-hop has and how its community stretches across the landscape of music,” said RZA.

For the DSO, this is the second straight year a hip-hop heavyweight has been welcomed onto the Orchestra Hall stage: Rapper Nas teamed with the DSO last March for a classical treatment of his album “Illmatic.”

“Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” remains one of hip-hop’s milestone records — an album that helped shape the sound of the '90s and influence a generation of producers. RZA and company celebrated the album’s anniversary with performances at Detroit’s Movement festival in 2018 and again at Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre last year.

Speaking backstage with the Free Press ahead of that 2018 Movement set, RZA reflected on the album’s mythic status:

“We definitely had an epiphany, an intuition, that what we were doing was something that would be groundbreaking, that would explode around the world. We wanted to be that entity. It’s a blessing that we were able to achieve that through hard work — to be here 25 years later displaying our music and having fun with kids, with people of all age, colors, creeds and genders.”

“We gave you a pure hip-hop album,” said RZA. "Taking nothing away from our great predecessors and peers like Tribe (Called Quest) and everybody, you couldn’t even trace us totally back to jazz or any other one thing. It became like, ‘There’s only one category for this … hip-hop!’ And even though we pulled from soul — we pulled from everything — just the way we manipulated it, and our lyrical approach, there was no other way to define it.”

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

26

Hollywood Theatre’s Archive

[URL=“https://www.wweek.com/arts/2020/02/19/hollywood-theatres-archive-is-home-to-a-kung-fu-film-collection-coveted-by-the-likes-of-quentin-tarantino-and-rza/”]Hollywood Theatre’s Archive is Home to a Kung Fu Film Collection Coveted by the Likes of Quentin Tarantino and RZA
“You have to hate film as much as you love it before you can truly appreciate it. It’s such a pain in the ass.”


(Rock Burnside)

By Shannon Gormley |Published 5:33 AM Updated 7:46 AM

Last March, at Hollywood Theatre, fans of Wu-Tang Clan were treated to a rare event: a live scoring of the 1978 martial arts classic The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, orchestrated by the group’s de facto leader, RZA.

But the legendary rapper and producer got something even better, and rarer, out of his appearance—a tour of the theater’s archive room.

“He lost his mind,” says Dan Halsted, the Hollywood’s head programmer.

Halsted, 41, is the owner of a coveted collection of kung fu films, which he stores in a dimly lit, subterranean space roughly the size of a small, one-bedroom apartment. What makes it so valuable and unique is not the quantity of the films but the quality. Some of the reels found in the cardboard boxes lining the room’s metal shelves are the only known prints in existence, including a few that are foundational to the Wu-Tang universe: The Mystery of Chessboxing, 7 Grand Masters and Shaolin vs. Wu Tang, which he scored for $25 from a film vault in L.A. that didn’t know what it had.

The archive is also what drew Quentin Tarantino to the theater three years ago, when he made a surprise appearance during a screening of The Hateful Eight. “He borrows my stuff all the time,” Halsted says.

The collection is so prized Halsted requested that its exact location be kept secret, and there were certain films WW wasn’t allowed to photograph. When you first walk in, though, the archive just looks like an archetypal stoner hideout: Movie posters line the walls, Christmas lights hang from the ceiling. Amid the packed shelves sits a worn-out couch.

But the details are jaw-dropping. Some of the collection was dug up through careful hunting, but a lot of it was found via “raids”—whenever an old theater closes, Halsted grabs whatever they’ll let him take. It’s all difficult to come by, and difficult to keep.

“You have to hate film as much as you love it before you can truly appreciate it,” says Halsted. “It’s such a pain in the ass.”

Edison Projector


(Rocky Burnside)

The Hollywood Theatre’s projector collection includes a kinetoscope, or Edison projector, made during the silent film era. Halsted has been told his projector works, but he’s never tried it for himself. The earliest commercial film stock has a nitrate base, which is highly flammable. “It kind of scares me a little bit,” he says. “When nitrate catches on fire, it just burns till it’s gone. You can throw it underwater and it still burns.”

Film Repair Desk


(Rocky Burnside)

Halsted often has to repair the sprockets on the movies in his archive—those are the square holes along the sides of a film that hook onto a projector’s winders. He repairs each one manually with a splicer, a tool that’s a little like a hole punch. Each frame has four sprockets on each side, and each film has about 24 frames per second. “It’s a nightmare,” Halsted says. “Some of those kung fu shows, people have no idea the work that went into it. That was days of work.”

Ku-Fang: Il Ciclone di Hong-Kong Poster


(Rocky Burnside)

When Tarantino visited the Hollywood in 2015, he gave Halsted a poster for the Italian version of Kung Fu Queen—a movie starring Angela Mao, one of the most famous female martial arts stars of all time—to thank him for his work as an archivist. The pair spent the rest of the night drinking across the street at the now-shuttered dive Blackwell’s.

2001: A Space Odyssey on 70 mm


(Rocky Burnside)

The Hollywood is the only theater in Oregon that can screen 70 mm film. In the age of digital projection and streaming services, it’s a luxury and inconvenience most theaters can’t afford: Collectively, the 10 reels that make up 2001, which Halsted began screening yearly in 2015, weigh about 400 pounds. The Hollywood had to rent the film for each screening until last year, when it raised $25,000 to buy its own, brand-new print from Warner Bros. Halsted hopes to add more 70 mm prints to Hollywood’s collection; his dream is to find Die Hard in wide format.

Moviola


(Rocky Burnside)

You can’t stop or rewind a projector without burning a hole in the film, so editors would use Moviolas to view their works-in-progress. Like many things in the archive, it ended up at the Hollywood because someone was looking to get rid of it, and reached out to Halsted out of the blue. The machine arrived in pieces. Halsted learned how to put it together by watching a scene in 1981’s Blow Out, in which John Travolta’s character assembles one.

Hollywood Theatre Spring Highlights

Come to Daddy, Feb. 21

The Wiz, Feb. 24

Godzilla vs. King Kong on 35 mm, Feb. 25

The Future Is Now: Film Noir Hybrids for the Nervous Generation with Elliot Lavine, March 15-29

I can totally imagine RZA nerding out here.

Wu-Tang is coming to our area this Friday but unfortunately I can’t make it. I’m rather bummed about that. I was thinking of reaching out to RZA, but he wasn’t available last time and I’d have to really work to make the time. He’s probably busy anyway. Maybe next time. :frowning:

27

Bobby Digital - Pugilism

//youtu.be/_sj3sVywp54

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36 Cinema - Heroes of the East Trailer

//youtu.be/5qTrUgqmprM

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36-Cinema

29

Wow

Friday, February 17, 2023 7:30PM — Saturday, February 18, 2023 7:30PM

RZA and the Colorado Symphony Present: 36 Chambers of Shaolin and A Ballet Through Mud
Description
From the mind of RZA – Colorado Symphony Imagination Artist and de facto leader of the Wu-Tang Clan – comes a symphonic double-feature that bridges the gap between classical and contemporary music. This February, don’t miss the 36 Chambers of Shaolin* alongside a brand-new work by RZA that highlights spoken word, live ballet, and rich orchestration with the Colorado Symphony.

*This concert does not include members of the Wu-Tang Clan other than RZA.

“This collaboration really came about at the perfect time for me. As an artist, I’m always striving for ways to grow and evolve and when you get a chance to hear your music translated by an orchestra, it’s so fulfilling, the vibration of it, the feel of it. As musicians we strive to inspire or give inspiration to our listeners. At the same time, I was inspired to take my own music in a new and different direction and having the opportunity to collaborate with the Colorado Symphony had a huge impact on this project. This music comes straight from my heart and I’m excited to finally share it with the world.” - RZA

Featured Artists
RZA
Christopher Dragon, conductor
Yusha-Marie Sorzano, choreographer
Sarah Lozoff, intimacy director
Natalie McCall, dancer
Andrea Soto, dancer
Emara Neymour, dancer
Myles Lavallee, dancer
Alve, dancer
Madison Moser, dancer

Repertoire
36 Chambers of Shaolin*
A Ballet Through Mud

*This concert does not include members of the Wu-Tang Clan other than RZA.

Get the 2-Pack!
RZA and the Colorado Symphony Present: 36 Chambers of Shaolin and A Ballet Through Mud
FEB 17-18 FRI-SAT 7:30

Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring with Peter Oundjian
MAY 26-27 FRI-SAT 7:30

Available Now! 2-Packs include the Imagination Artist concert of your choice and a paired Classics performance, chosen specifically by the Artist.

At the paired Classics performances, Pack holders will receive an over 80% discount on their tickets, best-available seats, and Imagination Lounge access with themed cocktails, giveaway items, and other special offers!

LEARN MORE
Select another date of this performance:
Saturday, February 18, 2023 7:30PM

Friday, February 17, 2023 7:30PM
Boettcher Concert Hall
RZA and the Colorado Symphony Present: 36 Chambers of Shaolin and A Ballet Through Mud
Pricing: $15 - $98+
Accessible seating is located in Orchestra 2, Dress Circle 1, and Mezzanine 7.
+Plus fees & taxes.
Not sure how 36 Chambers would pair with Rite of Spring, but this sounds really cool…