Why is Chinese folk music so popular around the world?
In recent years, 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 international music circles, a group of outstanding Chinese folk musicians have emerged and are deeply loved by overseas music fans. Chinese folk music is becoming a window for the world to better 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 Yunnan ethnic performance at the opening ceremony. Credit: China News, Nan Cui.
British musician Sam Debell has been living in China for more than 20 years and has long been committed to helping Chinese folk music go abroad. What is the charm of Chinese folk music? How does the international community evaluate Chinese folk music? Recently, he accepted an exclusive interview with the China News Agency's "East Meets West".
Sam Debell is tuning ethnic instruments. Credit: China News, Xiaoxiao Du.
Sam Debell, is a senior British musician and percussion music educator. Born in London, he found his passion in music from childhood and is proficient in a variety of musical instruments. He lived in Cuba to learn percussion music. In 1998, Sam Debell arrived in Yunnan, China, and began to study on the local ethnic music culture, and has since been committed to promoting Chinese ethnic music to the world.
How did you focus on Chinese folk music? What are the characteristics of this type of music?
In the 1980s, the West formed a music classification called world music. In a broad sense, world music generally refers to all ethnic music and traditional music in the world. Take the British record store as an example, there are separate sections for pop music, jazz, blues, etc., and other types of music from all over the world that are not in English are divided into the section for world music. Music lovers in the UK who love "hunting" records are thus exposed to traditional music from China.
Personally, I was very interested in Chinese culture when I was a student, and when I was studying at the University of Leeds in the UK, I studied Chinese. At the same time, I have always been a music lover. When I studied percussion music in Cuba, I experienced the charm of local folk music. So after coming to Yunnan, China, I especially wanted to know more about the local folk music.
There are 56 ethnic groups in China, with their own cultural heritage, ethnic language, ethnic musical instruments and singing forms, so China's folk music is very abundant. Some folk music comes from the lives of the people, and some accompanies dance. Some of these music has different styles from popular music. There are no fixed verses and choruses, and the melody is relatively simple. The fact that most of these songs are sung in the ethnic language means that the public may not be used to this type of music when they first hear it, and probably will not accept it as quickly as popular music.
But this music has a sense of history, from which one can hear the traditions of an ethnicity that has been passed down for hundreds or even thousands of years. This is the charm of traditional folk music.
In June 2021, Kunming, Yunnan, Pumi youths in Yunnan Minzu Village play traditional musical instruments and celebrate the traditional Pumi Valentine's Day with tourists. Credit: China News, Ranyang Liu.
Why did you choose to come to Yunnan, China? What is the development status of Yunnan folk music now?
The Yunnan region has many ethnic groups, retains a lot of original music, and is also the birthplace of many outstanding musicians. It is a holy land for ethnic music. After I came to China, I stayed in Yunnan for nearly 20 years, digging and researching local music, and trying to promote it to all around the world.
For now, Yunnan still has a lot of original ecology music that is yet to be uncovered. If you don't go to the ethnic villages in the rural mountains, it is difficult to understand or hear this music. Although some musicians have been creating and promoting folk music, they have not yet formed a large-scale industry. Some outstanding young ethnic musicians are more willing to study and create popular music that is more universal, rather than learn the traditional music of their own ethnic group. Therefore, Yunnan folk music has the same problems as most Chinese folk music, it is difficult to make it scalable, the audience is small, and it is difficult to promote, inherit and develop.
The villagers of Laodabao Village, Lancang County, Yunnan Province are all good at singing and dancing, and are good at Lu Sheng dance, swing dance, and cappella harmony singing. The picture shows that in May 2016, little boys in the village were practicing the Lu Sheng dance. Credit: China News, Ranyang Liu.
What are the similarities and differences in the development of British folk music and Chinese folk music?
Folk music in many parts of the world has one thing in common, many of which are based on the pentatonic scale. The same goes with many British folk songs. Many traditional British melodies, such as Christmas carols, are very popular in China. This is one of the reasons why British audiences are more receptive to Chinese music.
The UK and China both have long histories. English, Welsh, Irish and other ethnic groups have formed their own unique music in this long period of time. Similar to Chinese national musical instruments, such as the Lu Sheng (a reed-pipe wind instrument) and cucurbits flute, there are also well-known Scottish bagpipes in the UK.
When modern music became well-known in the United Kingdom, it became more popular with the younger generation, and ethnic music was declining day by day, and it also faced the difficulty of inheritance and development. But thanks to the birth of the "world music" category, a small group of music lovers has emerged in the UK. Some of them have been excavating and protecting folk music all over the UK for a long time, and they have selected repertoires to perform, bringing folk music back into the public eye.
However, in China, the dissemination of ethnic music lacks a large audience, and the protection and promotion of this kind of music can be regarded as just getting off the ground.
How did you help Chinese folk music go global? How well do people in other countries accept Chinese folk music?
After coming to Yunnan, I visited a large number of ethnic villages together with local ethnic musicians, collected local ethnic music, visited the inheritors of ethnic musical instruments, and recorded precious audio and video materials of various ethnic minorities.
The Wa ethnic old man Kaizheng Tian makes a variety of traditional Wa ethnic instruments, such as single-string instrument, Lu Sheng, rice straw flute, etc. The picture shows Kaizheng Tian playing the improved rice straw flute in May 2017. Credit: China News, Ranyang Liu.
I helped the Shanren band from Yunnan to participate in music festivals and touring performances in more than 20 countries and regions, such as the United States, Britain, France, Japan, South Korea and other countries. I have planned a world music compilation called LOST IN CHINA, which allows world music lovers to get to know the outstanding independent musicians in China.
In 2016, I set up a company in Kunming and signed a contract with the Nu ethnic folk musician Xiaocun Jiang of the Manhu Band from the Yi ethnic group and other musicians who like to create music with elements of ethnic music and help them promote folk music together.
In January 2022, the Puman Band performed Who Are the Caravans in the Mountains for for the recording of the Spring Blossoms International Spring Festival Gala. Credit: China News, Jiaxian Li.
In recent years, because of the mass reach of "world music" and the popularity of the "Chinese style" around the world, Chinese folk music has become popular in many countries. The main impression of many overseas listeners on Chinese music is classical musical instruments, such as the pipa, guzheng, erhu, etc. When they come into contact with various musical instruments and singing styles in Chinese folk music, they will find it very fresh and interesting. It’s easy for them to follow.
The Shanren band and Manhu band’s albums have achieved very high rankings in the European World Music Charts. In 2019, when the Shanren had a tour to many colleges and universities in the United States, they were very popular with American students. At that time, the band not only performed music, but also led the students to dance the cheerful Chinese folk dance together. It was a very lively scene.
Currently I am planning the first global release of the Yunnan music collection THE ROUGH GUIDE TO THE MUSIC OF YUNNAN. I look forward to the breakthrough of this record, and I hope it can attract more overseas listeners to Yunnan.
Do you have any suggestions for the development of Chinese folk music?
I dare not say it is a suggestion, just a wish.
I hope that the Chinese people will pay more attention to ethnic music, try to forget the melody and style of western pop music, and then listen to music with Chinese ethnic elements, and they will find the charm of it.
The first step for Chinese traditional folk music to enter the world music market requires the emergence of some "bridge artists", so the leading role of artists such as the Shanren Band, Hang Gai Band, and Manhu Band is more important. It is hoped that musicians who are working on promoting Chinese folk music can add musical elements such as rock, electronic or reggae to the creation of folk music works. The first attempt is to try to make folk music more acceptable to the public, and then focus on promoting its traditional parts.
Meanwhile, I also hope that the younger generation of ethnic minority musicians can learn more of their own traditional music, so that Chinese ethnic music can be inherited and carried forward.
blog comments powered by