Chen Yimiao: Played the "Z Generation" national style music at the Chengdu Universiade

Dazzling stage lighting, cheerful electronic dance music, accompanied by melodious erhu tunes... On the evening of October 29, at the youth song meeting of the 31st Summer Universiade (hereinafter referred to as the "Chengdu Universiade") in Chengdu, the "Jincheng Youth Walk" sung by the Berkeley Conservatory of Music and Chengdu university students ignited the atmosphere of the scene.

The composition of this work was Chen Yimiao, a Chinese student from The Berkeley School of Music. "I hope that this song created for the Chengdu Universiade will become such a song – no matter where you come from or what language you speak, you can feel the warm hopes and dreams from it." Chen Yimiao said.

In November 2020, the Executive Committee of the Chengdu Universiade launched a song collection activity, collecting more than 2,700 musical works from all over the world. After several rounds of public voting and expert committee review, the song "Jincheng Youth Line" became one of the 20 theme promotion songs of the Chengdu Universiade.

Chen Yimiao said, "When I got this theme, I thought about how to combine music with the University Games, so I chose to use the rhythm of rhythm to express the youthful feeling of college students. ”

After the rhythm is determined, the melody follows. It only took a day or two for Chen Yimiao to complete the creation. The song combines traditional erhu performance, opera singing and popular electronic music, allowing traditional Chinese music to collide with popular elements to create a new spark.

Chen Yimiao was born into an Erhu family. Her great-grandfather was a folk artist who played Jiangnan silk bamboo, and her grandfather Chen Yaoxing and father Chen Jun were both famous erhu players in China. Immersed in traditional Chinese culture, Chen Yimiao gradually grew up and began to be exposed to different types of music from all over the world. She tried to integrate erhu and Western music, hoping to innovate the erhu performance repertoire like her grandfather and father, and create a national style music belonging to the "Z generation".

In her many attempts, she found that traditional Chinese music has many similarities with Modern Western music. "For example, erhu is a 'five-tone style', jazz music is the same, and the two have many similarities in terms of scales. At the same time, the sound and tone of the erhu are also very suitable for playing jazz, so I can try to play some jazz tunes with the erhu. ”

In Chen Yimiao's view, traditional Chinese music, which has been passed down for thousands of years, exudes different charms in different eras.

"Grandpa used erhu to compose and play military music during the war years. Dad combined some Western music and played a lot of violin works with erhu. I should also create voices that fit our time. The genes of national music are buried in our blood, and all we have to do is to unearth its shining points. ”

"The appeal of traditional Chinese music to young people has always been there." Chen Yimiao said that on the campus of the Berkeley College of Music, she hopes to introduce erhu to classmates around the world.

Chen Yimiao said that as more inheritors of traditional music move to the world stage, more and more people gradually understand and learn traditional Chinese music. She hopes to create more musical works that everyone likes, spread traditional Chinese music and traditional culture more widely, and make Chinese music a popular musical language around the world.

"During the Chengdu Universiade, university students from all over the world will come to China and Chengdu, so I want to create a song that meets the listening habits of young people around the world." Chen Yimiao said that the Chengdu Universiade is not only a sports competition, but also a cultural exchange event for young people around the world.

On this international stage, she hopes to combine the performance of erhu with avant-garde and popular melodies to show the charm of traditional Chinese culture to young people around the world.

Intern Ma Xiaoqing China Youth Daily , China Youth Network reporter Wang Xinxin Source: China Youth Daily