British Musician Summer: Why is Chinese folk music loved by the world?
China News Service Kunming, March 22 Title: British Musician Summer: Why is Chinese Folk Music Loved by the World?
Written by Han Shuainan Luo Jie
In recent years, song and dance performances containing Chinese ethnic elements have frequently appeared in international conferences such as the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the China International Import Expo. In the international music scene, a group of outstanding Chinese national musicians have emerged and are deeply loved by overseas music fans. Chinese national music is becoming a window for the world to understand China.
In October 2021, the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity opened in Kunming, Yunnan. The picture shows the Performance of Yunnan National Characteristics at the opening ceremony. Photo by Cui Nan, a reporter from China News Service
British musician Sam Debell has been rooted in China for more than 20 years and has long been committed to helping Chinese national music go international. What is the charm of Chinese folk music? How does the international community evaluate Chinese national music? Recently, summer was interviewed by China News Agency's "East and West Question" exclusive interview for interpretation.
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: How do you pay attention to Chinese national music? What are the characteristics of this type of music?
Summer: In the 1980s, the West formed a musical classification called world music. World music in a broad sense refers to all ethnic and traditional music in the world. Taking british record stores as an example, pop music, jazz, blues, etc. have separate zones, and other types of music from all over the world that are not English are divided into special sections for world music. Music lovers in the UK who love "Tao" records are thus exposed to traditional music from China.
Personally, I was very interested in Chinese culture as a student, and when I was studying at the University of Leeds in the UK, I studied Chinese major. At the same time, I also love music very much, and during my study of percussion in Cuba, I experienced the charm of local ethnic music, so after coming to Yunnan, China, I also wanted to understand the local ethnic music in depth.
There are 56 ethnic groups in China, with their own cultural heritage, national language, national instruments and singing forms, so China's national music is very rich. Some national music comes from the people's production and life, some serve dance, and some of them have a different style from popular music, there is no fixed main song and chorus, and the melody is relatively simple. Coupled with the fact that most of these songs are sung in the national language, the public will be very unaccustomed to hearing these music in the first place and will not accept them as quickly as they would accept pop music.
But these musics have a sense of history, from which you can hear the traditions of a nation that have been passed down for hundreds or even thousands of years. This is what makes traditional folk music fascinating.
In June 2021, kunming, Yunnan, Pumi youth from Yunnan Ethnic Village play traditional musical instruments and celebrate traditional Pumi Valentine's Day with tourists. Photo by Liu Ranyang, a reporter from China News Service
China News Service: Why did you choose to come to Yunnan, China? What is the development status of ethnic music in Yunnan?
Summer: Yunnan has many ethnic groups, retains a large number of original ecological music, and has also given birth to many excellent musicians, which is a fertile land rich in national music. After I came to China, I spent nearly 20 years in Yunnan, excavating and studying local music and working hard to promote it all over the world.
For now, yunnan still has a lot of original ecological music that is unknown, and it is difficult to understand or hear these music without going to the ethnic villages in the mountains. Although some musicians have been creating and promoting ethnic music, they have not yet formed a large-scale industry. Some outstanding young ethnic musicians are more willing to study and create popular music than to learn the traditional music of their own people. Therefore, Yunnan national music and most of china's national music have the same problems: it is difficult to form industrialization, the audience is small, it is difficult to promote, and the inheritance and development are also facing difficulties.
The villagers of Laodabao Village, Lancang County, Yunnan Province, are good at singing and dancing, and are good at lusheng dance, pendulum dance, and a cappella harmony singing. In May 2016, a young boy in the village practices the Reed Dance. Photo by Liu Ranyang, a reporter from China News Service
China News Service: What are the similarities and differences between the development of British national music and Chinese national music?
Summer: Folk music in many parts of the world has one thing in common, and a lot of it is dominated by the pentatonic scale. The same is true of many British folk songs, and many traditional British melodies, such as Christmas songs, are very popular in China. This is one of the reasons why British listeners are more receptive to Chinese music.
The United Kingdom and China also have a long history, and different ethnic groups such as English, Welsh, and Irish have formed their own unique music in the long course of history. Similar to Chinese national musical instruments such as reeds and gourd silk, the United Kingdom also has a well-known Scottish bagpipe.
When modern music began to become popular in Britain, it was more popular with the younger generation, and national music was gradually declining, and it was also facing difficulties in inheritance and development. But thanks to the birth of the "World Music" category, a small group of music lovers emerged in the UK. Some of them have been excavating and protecting ethnic music throughout the UK for a long time, and selecting repertoire for performance, so that national music can return to the public eye.
However, in China, relatively speaking, the dissemination of national music is relatively lacking in the mass base, and the protection and promotion of such music can be regarded as just beginning.
China News Service: How do you help Chinese national music to go global? How receptive is chinese folk music in other countries?
Summer: On the one hand, it is to excavate and protect, on the other hand, to help Chinese national musicians expand into the international market, to help them complete record distribution and touring.
After coming to Yunnan, I and local ethnic musicians jointly visited a large number of ethnic villages, collected local ethnic music, visited the inheritors of ethnic musical instruments, and recorded precious audio and video materials of the Yi, Miao, Lisu, Lahu, Wa, Nu, Kino, Brown, Hani, Dai and other ethnic groups.
The Wa old man Tian Kaizheng will make a variety of traditional Wa instruments such as monostrings, reeds, rice straw flutes, and horizontal flutes. In May 2017, Tian Kaizheng plays an improved rice stalk flute. Photo by Liu Ranyang, a reporter from China News Service
I helped the Shanren Band from Yunnan to participate in music festivals and tour performances in more than 20 countries and regions, and exchange music with the United States, Britain, France, Japan, South Korea and other countries. I have curated a world music compilation album called OST IN CHINA, which allows world music lovers to know and understand China's outstanding independent musicians.
In 2016, I set up a company in Kunming and signed nu folk musicians Jiang Xiaocun, Yi Sani band Brute Tiger Band, Puman Band, Wood Fire Orchestra, Meiluo Troupe and other musicians who like to use ethnic music elements to help them promote ethnic music together.
In January 2022, the Puman Band performed "Who is the Mountain Horse Gang Coming" for the recording of the "Spring Warm Flowers" transnational New Year literary and art party. Photo by Li Jiaxian, a reporter from China News Service
Because of the mass base of "world music" and the popularity of "Chinese style" around the world in recent years, Chinese national music has been welcomed in many countries. Many overseas listeners still have the main impression of Chinese music, such as pipa, guzheng, erhu, etc., when they come into contact with a variety of instruments and singing methods in Chinese national music, they will feel very fresh, very interesting, it is easy to pay attention to.
Both the Mountain Man and the Wild Tigers' albums have achieved very high numbers on the European World Music Charts. In 2019, when the Wild Tigers toured many colleges and universities in the United States, they were very popular with American students. At that time, the band not only performed, but also led the students to dance a cheerful Chinese folk dance together, and the scene was very warm.
I am currently planning the first global release of the Yunnan music collection The ROUGH GUIDE TO THE MUSIC OF YUNNAN. I look forward to a breakthrough in this record, hoping that it will make more overseas listeners pay attention to the hot land of Yunnan.
China News Service: What suggestions do you have for the development of Chinese national music?
Summer: I can't say it's advice, just a few of my hopes.
I hope that the Chinese people can pay more attention to national music, try to forget the melody and style of Western popular music, and then listen to music with Chinese national elements, and you will find the charm in it.
The first step of traditional Chinese folk music entering the world music market requires the emergence of some "bridge artists", so the leading role of artists such as the Mountain People Band, the Hanggai Band, and the Wild Tiger Band is more important. It is hoped that musicians who are committed to promoting Chinese national music can add musical elements such as rock, electronic or reggae to the creation of national music works, first try to make national music more acceptable to the public, and then focus on promoting its traditional parts.
At the same time, it is also hoped that the younger generation of ethnic minority musicians can learn more from the traditional music of their own ethnic group, so that Chinese national music can be inherited and carried forward. (End)
Respondent Profiles:
Sam Debell is debugging ethnic instruments. Photo by Du Xiaoxiao, a reporter of the China News Service
Sam Debell, Chinese "Summer", is a veteran British musician and percussion educator. Born in London, he loved music since childhood, mastered a variety of instruments, and went to Cuba to study percussion. In 1998, Sam Debell came to Yunnan, China, and began to study the local ethnic minority music culture, and has long been committed to promoting Chinese folk music to the world.