When a guitar speaks to Chinese poetry

Chen Zezhao plays the guitar amid a mountainous landscape that makes the CD cover of his latest album, Landscape of Chinese Ink IV.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Low clouds and mist shroud the Simingshan mountain area in Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province. The long-haired guitarist, Chen Zezhao, wearing a light blue gown and loose pants, sits near a river and strums away.

This scene is pictured on the CD cover of Chen's latest album, Landscape of Chinese Ink IV, which was released in Ningbo on Saturday.

The guitarist started the music series Landscape of Chinese Ink in 2007 with the aim of interpreting traditional Chinese poetry using the guitar.

His first two albums, Landscape of Chinese Ink I and Landscape of Chinese Ink II, adapted some well-known ancient Chinese musical works that were inspired by Chinese poetry, such as Spring River in the Flower Moon Night by Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) poet Zhang Ruoxu.

His third album, Landscape of Chinese Ink III, featured original compositions based on Chinese poems and incorporated a number of Chinese instruments like the pipa (four-stringed lute), Chinese flute and morin khuur (horse-head fiddle).

Some critics say that Chen's guitar sounds similar to Chinese instruments like the guqin and guzheng.

For his fourth album, Chen has composed four works and used only the guitar. He has also produced four short films based on the tracks.

"The ultimate goal of my music is to present a comprehensive work which promotes traditional Chinese culture. My music is like a conversation between a guitar and Chinese poetry," says Chen, adding that he doesn't use other instruments to keep this dialogue unaffected.

One of the traditional Chinese poems selected for the new CD is Autumn Thoughts, which was written by Chinese poet and playwright, Ma Zhiyuan of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). The poem expresses the poet's feelings in late fall and one of its most well-known lines is: "On the horizon at sunset is a heart-broken man far, far from home".