Home > Specials> 2018 Summer in Yangzhou

Yangzhou presents traditional Chinese music feast

Updated: 2018-08-16

The traditional Chinese music festival, one of the highlights of the 2018 Summer in Yangzhou series, commenced Aug 12, presenting visual and audio feasts to local residents.

Over 20 groups of traditional Chinese musicians gathered in Yangzhou to showcase various musical forms, such as concerts and interactive workshops.

In 2017, Yangzhou held its first summer festival themed on world music, bringing different music genres and instruments to over 50,000 audience members, including Arabic percussion, flamenco and oud, a late-type instrument popular in Middle Eastern and North African music.

Lu Zhongqiang, the organizer of the event, said this year's festival would focus on traditional Chinese music to promote national culture.

The festival has introduced many innovative measures, such as inviting famous Chinese and foreign musicians and showcasing a variety of instruments, such as piano, erhu (two-stringed bowed instrument), and sheng (free-reed woodwind instrument). These measures are expected to attract more younger spectators.

Min Xiaofen, Wuwei and Xu Fengxia, three Chinese maestros who enjoy wide fame in Europe, were invited to the festival and formed an impromptu band.

"By introducing successful musicians, we hope to build up confidence in children and offer them more development possibilities," Lu said.

Erhu maestro Jia Pengfang will arrive in Yangzhou Aug 17. Jia is also known for playing the background music for Japanese animator Miyazaki Hayao's film Princess Mononoke.

"The real inheritance only comes when the younger generation starts to take active roles in appreciating and promoting traditional Chinese music. Chinese style music can open its border to mix with other music styles. When we finally achieve that, the younger generations will find a new world," Lu said.