Author: Pu Xia
One month before the start of the second "Around the World" WeChat class organized by the International Esperanto Economic and Trade Union, the head teacher Huang Min contacted me through WeChat and invited me to compose a song for the opening ceremony. On the one hand, I was still in a foreign country and relied more on the piano at home for composing, and on the other hand, I felt that there was a certain degree of difficulty in composing this song, because Dr. Zamenhof created Esperanto in the hope that human beings would use this language to promote mutual understanding between peoples, eliminate hatred and war, and create an equal and fraternal human family. But with the repeated encouragement of Teacher Huang Min, I could only agree to try.
It was very hot in Beijing in August, and there was no piano, so I walked around the neighborhood under the moonlight, humming lyrics and tunes in search of inspiration. "Different countries, different faiths, thousands of miles, hearts and minds, different nationalities, different skin colors, a thousand words, the world is one family"...... After more than a month of conception and repeated revisions, the prototype of the song was basically completed. On September 28, 2023, at the opening ceremony of the Esperanto WeChat class, I, as a member of the class art committee, first made a statement, and then sang the song "The World is Family" on the spot. As soon as the song was released, it immediately attracted the enthusiastic attention of the students and was widely sung. Teacher Yang Haichun, an Esperanto teacher from Huainan, Anhui Province, and Professor Wei Yida, a translator, translated this song for my class in Esperanto, and included this song in the "One Hundred World Translated Chinese Songs" (second series) co-created by the two scholars, I was deeply moved and encouraged!
At that time, due to the new crown infection, I couldn't make a voice for a long time, so I could only entrust the martial arts teacher to present this original song in the form of playing and singing. On the evening of December 16, 2023, the playing and singing video of Mr. Wulin's "One Family in the World" appeared on the 2023 video evening to commemorate the 164th anniversary of Zamenhof's birth. As soon as the video was played, it won unanimous praise from everyone.
In the following time, I began to study systematically once a week in the Esperanto class, listening carefully to the lectures and completing the homework carefully. The main teacher of the course is Zhao Chenghua, a doctor of economics, vice chairman of the International Esperanto Economic and Trade Union, and a famous Chinese rural tourism research scholar. And trying to sing songs in Esperanto is due to the strong recommendation of Mr. Yang Haichun. The first song I learned to sing was "Green Island Serenade". I remember that at that time, Mr. Yang Haichun taught me to sing sentence by sentence on WeChat, correcting the pronunciation over and over again, and asked me not only to sing correctly, but also to have a strong voice.
In mid-January 2024, less than a week after the post-recording and production of my original song "Heart to Heart, We Are Together", I found a notice forwarded by Mr. Yi Shaomin in the Esperanto Song Sky Club learning group to solicit Esperanto Spring Festival Gala programs. I forwarded the original song video in the learning group as quickly as possible and expressed my willingness to participate, which was warmly replied and supported by Mr. Yi. But the Spring Festival Gala song requires that it must have Esperanto lyrics. So with the help of Mr. Yi, I quickly contacted Mr. Zhang Fude, the former deputy secretary general of the Gansu Esperanto Association and the director of the All-China Esperanto Association, to translate my original song "Heart to Heart, We Are Together". Mr. Zhang was preparing to go to Shenzhen at that time, and found time out of his busy schedule to translate the lyrics for me. His one-size-fits-all translations of Esperanto lyrics are both catchy and rhyming.
With Esperanto lyrics, the singing and pronunciation of the song was tutored by Mr. Yang Haichun sentence by sentence. After more than ten days of hard study, on January 27, when I sent the recording of the original song sung in Esperanto to Mr. Yi, I received his encouragement and appreciation. What is even more touching is that Mr. Yi also made a beautiful video for this original song of mine. He carefully collected some wonderful moments about the Paralympic Games, and injected more international elements into this song with the theme of public welfare and inspirational for the disabled. Love is always the eternal theme shared by all mankind.
At the same time, I have been preparing the Esperanto song "Green Island Serenade", the original song "Heart to Heart, We Are Together", and the cover songs "The Sea, Hometown" and "Ao Bao Rendezvous" to prepare for the Esperanto Spring Festival Gala program selection. It doesn't matter if I can be selected or not, what matters is my participation and hard work!
"Whoever says an inch is careless, he will be rewarded with three springs. "In the vast sea of Esperanto, I am just a moving wave. Although I have only been in the warm family of Esperanto for half a year, I have received guidance and help from so many teachers. As a music teacher and a lover of Esperanto, I will be more active in learning, promoting, promoting and using Esperanto in the future, and strive to compose and cover more Esperanto songs. My songs also continue to incorporate elements of Esperanto, contributing my wisdom and strength to telling China's story well, jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, and building a community with a shared future for mankind.
May my singing be able to take on the wings of Esperanto and fly to the wider world!
About the Author:
Pu Xia, female, born in 1972, is a member of the Communist Party of China, an original musician, a member of the Gansu Musicians Association, a member of the Gansu Calligraphers Association, and an executive director of the China Brush Double Hook Calligraphy Association.
In 2021, the Propaganda Department of the Lanzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China won the third prize of "Striving for a Hundred Years, Happiness and Well-off - Ode to the Party", in August 2021, he composed the public welfare village song "Old Hometown Langjie" for Langjie Village, Xiaokangying Township, Yuzhong County, Lanzhou City, and the song was published on the Learning Power Platform in September of the same year, causing good social repercussions, and in 2023, the original song "Li Jialong Palace" participated in the selection of China's first 100 outstanding contemporary works in "Lyrics and Songs" and won the bronze award.
(Source: All-China Esperanto Association)
Pu Xia's original: Inspirational song "Heart to Heart, We Are Together" for people with disabilities (Esperanto)
Does Esperanto work?