China innovates traditional music with revival campaign

BEIJING - Folk music in China has been promoted in a more innovative way thanks to a national music revival campaign to rejuvenate traditional Chinese music.

In a concert recently held in the Cuban embassy in Beijing to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Cuba, Cuban band Vocal Sampling and Chinese folk musician Zhang Gasong performed the famous Chinese folk tune "Bu Bu Gao".

The a capella interpretation is part of the revival campaign launched by China Record Group and local record company 13-Month C&C in collaboration with the National Center for the Performing Arts.

The project seeks to modernize traditional Chinese music and attract more young audiences through innovative creations and interpretations at the international level.

Lu Zhongqiang, founder of 13-Month, said the company has cooperated with more than 40 artists from around the world with 40-plus albums finished under the campaign. The total view counts of the albums online surpassed 1.5 billion.

One album combining storytelling and ballad singing in Suzhou dialect by Grammy Award-winner Daniel Ho won the gold award of the Global Music Award in 2019.

Another album by French band DuOud, in which three blind Chinese artists around 70 years old sang and talked to the rhythm of a big drum, made a sensation in the international music expo MIDEM in 2019 in Cannes, France.

This year, 13-Month C&C plans to step up the promotion of the campaign in the overseas market and will continue participating in activities such as MIDEM and the World Music Expo (WOMEX), the biggest music expo on earth.

"Now people from around the world, especially young people are paying attention to traditional Chinese culture. We would like to deepen our cooperation with artists from home and abroad and cultivate more young people who are interested in traditional Chinese music," said Lu.