Biology senior Marina Louzada writes a phrase in Chinese calligraphy during the Lunar New Year celebration Jan. 26, 2014, at McDonel Hall Cafeteria. Participants had the opportunity to make paper lanterns, taste Chinese food, and view several performances. Danyelle Morrow/The State News
A new on-campus series “Music in the Neighborhoods” launched Sunday evening at the Lunar New Year celebration in McDonel Hall.
The Lunar New Year is a Chinese celebration where families come together to celebrate the new year according to the lunar calendar, McDonel Hall Community Director Bristol Day said.
“Music in the Neighborhoods” started as an idea of how to showcase the talent of music students and be able to share them with the community, said Rhonda Buckley, who organized the music numbers at the event.
Buckley also is the associate dean for outreach and engagement for the College of Music and executive director of the MSU Community Music School.
She said she hopes the series will bring further attention to the talent in the school of music, as well as cultural awareness to other on-campus resources available for students.
“I think it’s a great experience when we have music and costumes and dance coming together for a total cultural experience for our students,” Buckley said.
Day, who played a large role in putting on the event, said that it was an attempt to engage domestic students in cultures that they might not know much about, as well as to help international students feel more at home on campus.
The event featured the Silk Road Chinese Orchestra, pianist Haobing Zhu and cellist Hong Hong, both of whom are musical performance doctoral students.
“It’s wonderful to be here and to celebrate the Chinese New Year,” Zhu said.
“It’s great to see so many traditional instruments,” she said, adding the traditional aspects of the event made her feel at home.
MSU Culinary Services featured several traditional Chinese dishes for guests, including dumplings, meatballs and a dish of piping hot broth with raw meat and vegetables known as “hot pot.”
Finance freshman and Chinese international student Lin Mu said the food tasted just like his mom’s cooking.
He said he also has an interest in music and looks forward to attending more music-oriented events in the future.
Staff members also passed out “passports” for the evening’s event and for the upcoming performances in the series.
Attending each performance and getting stamps will make students eligible to enter a drawing to potentially win a $200 Amazon gift card.
Upcoming performances include an Arabic fusions band, an opera performance, Jewish folk music and a salsa band.
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