Singer-songwriters draw on tradition

According to Tencent Music, more than 1 million videos with a guo feng theme have been streamed on the online platform Bilibili, attracting over 136 million views, while more than 100,000 videos related to guo feng have been played 2.6 billion times on the platform.

Li Liang, head of the Tencent Musician program, which boasts some 300,000 registered Chinese singer-songwriters sharing their music online, said: "Young people grow up with the internet and are open to different cultures. They are now embracing their own cultural aesthetics, which is meaningful."

Zeng Ting, 26, who graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2020 with a master's in music technology, also joined the Beijing workshop. By the end of the event, she had completed a song titled A Moonlit Night in the Spring, which has lyrics in English.

Born and raised in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Zeng said: "Guo feng songs are usually in narrative form and conjure up images that are easy for listeners to understand. The melodies are also catchy."

Jay Chou is one of the pop stars who helped popularize guo feng. He released songs such as East Wind Breaks in 2003 and Chrysanthemum Terrace three years later, working with his lyricist Vincent Fang. The songs became chart-toppers at a time when the nation's music market was full of Western-style numbers. The lyrics for both songs conjure up visions of Chinese poetry, and the melodies flow smoothly.

In 2005, singer-songwriter David Tao released Susan Says, combining rhythm and blues with Peking Opera.

Ten years later, Wukong, written and performed by singer-songwriter Dai Quan, also became a hit with its mix of pop and Peking Opera. The song portrays the Monkey King, or Sun Wukong, a legendary figure from the 16th-century novel Journey to the West, and features traditional Chinese instruments such as the erhu and bamboo flute.

Meanwhile, songwriter Zhou Mingcong, 26, is keen on creating "hybrid pop music", especially blending pop with music from traditional Chinese operas.

In 2016, when he was a student at the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts with a major in composition, Zhou founded his own label, Yi Ke Xiao Cong (One Green Onion), with a group of like-minded young musicians. The label has since become popular among young Chinese music lovers.

Introduced to music by his mother, who is a professor in the subject, Zhou, who was born and raised in Dandong, Liaoning province, learned to play piano at a young age. He grew up listening to classical music and Western opera.

Zhou became interested in traditional Chinese opera, as the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts attracts top artists and experts in traditional Chinese theater. He has been introduced to different forms of Chinese opera, including Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera and Quju Opera.

"I gradually fell in love with those ancient sounds after watching performances of traditional Chinese operas," Zhou said. "People who may never have seen such operas will appreciate these old art forms, and I want to present them creatively through music."

Zhou's first song combining pop music with Peking Opera was released in 2017. Titled Kuang Lang Sheng, it depicts the loneliness and dream of a young man. It took Zhou about 10 minutes to write.

"The night I released the song, I turned off my phone and went to bed after sharing it on my social media accounts. I was very nervous about the feedback from my classmates and teachers," Zhou said.

When he woke, Zhou found that the song had become a hit. His classmates and teachers shared it on their social media accounts, giving him the confidence to write more compositions in a similar style.

Zhou's team comprises young musicians specializing in various styles. For example, Wang Houyi, 20, a singer and Quju Opera performer, has appeared in a China Central Television show and has gained a large fan base with his original song Antique.

"Chinese music and traditional Chinese operas have unique charm, which is like a cultural DNA in our blood. On hearing traditional Chinese music, we naturally understand it and feel connected," Zhou said.

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn