Tuning in to the past

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fangs released a song, Illuminate, for which the younger Fang composed the instrumental piece, while his father played nine instruments, such as the pipa, guqin, and shakuhachi (a Japanese flute).

"Music can bridge cultures and connect generations," the father says, adding that they hope to introduce traditional Chinese musical instruments with a contemporary touch, by conducting livestreams and playing pop songs from the East and the West.

One's two worlds

Fang Songping, born and raised in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, learned to play piano and the pipa at 4 and also developed an interest in Western music as a child. He was exposed to a diverse array of Western genres, like R&B and rock, at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California, where he began studying in 2012.

Like many youngsters, he used to play "loud music" in his room at home, which his father didn't understand and had no idea what he was listening to.

He inherited his father's musical gene and can play various kinds of instruments, like the guqin and zhongruan (a traditional four-stringed plucked instrument), but he didn't enjoy traditional Chinese music that much until he pursued his music studies in the United States.

When leaving China, he took with him the hulusi, a kind of Chinese wind instrument made from a gourd, and played it recreationally in the college. The exotic sound of the instrument won him lots of fans and requests to perform on stage. Then he started researching about traditional Chinese music and combining elements of it into his own compositions. In 2015, he returned to China and started his career as an indie musician.

Now, Fang Songping works as the music director of a popular reality show, Gems of Chinese Poetry, which centers on traditional Chinese arts, such as poetry, music, dance and paintings. He composed eight original instrumental pieces, inspired by traditional Chinese culture, like music, chess, calligraphy and paintings.

The Fangs say they will collaborate on music pieces composed and played for video games.

The younger Fang, who plans to release an EP of his own compositions this year, says: "I am drawn to both Chinese and Western music since I am influenced by both of them."

Group influencers

According to the report, there are also lots of young pop stars combining traditional Chinese music elements into their creations, which are offering their young fans opportunities to enjoy traditional music as well as inspiring them to discover more about Chinese arts.

Chinese pop idol Zhang Yixing released his latest album, Lit, on May 29, which sold over 1.5 million copies within eight minutes through major domestic music streaming platforms. The 29-year-old singer-songwriter has demonstrated his ability to sing and rap, and also to express his lyrics in different languages, such as Chinese and English. He combined traditional Chinese and Western styles of music. The instruments used for the songs are also a fusion of old and new. The classic Peking Opera piece, Farewell My Concubine, featuring the love story of Xiang Yu, a warlord in the late Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) and his concubine Yu Ji, was featured in his music video of the title song, which has been viewed over 7 million times on YouTube.

The report also gave an example of Kunqu Opera, one of the oldest traditional Chinese operas, which attracts over 100 million listeners who were born after 1990. The listeners play Kunqu Opera melodies for about 275,000 times.

On May 16, the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe, together with Zhejiang Kunqu Opera Troupe and the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Troupe, co-launched an online show as part of a series of events to mark the 19th anniversary of the art being listed as a UNESCO "oral and intangible heritage of humanity" in 2001. More than 600,000 viewers watched the livestreamed performance, mostly their long-term followers who haven't had much chance to watch performances in theaters since the COVID-19 outbreak.

"We have achieved popularity among a young audience, especially those aged between 25 and 35," says Gu Haohao, 47, president of the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe.