Wu Tong and Silk Road Ensemble’s celebration of world music
- By staff reporter Zhang Hui
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Crossover Musician
Most Chinese people heard of Wu Tong in his capacity as vocalist in the Lunhui (samsara) rock band. The group rocked the country with its famous song The Flames of Yangzhou Road in the early 1990s, when Wu was still a student specializing in Chinese folk wind instruments at the Central Conservatory of Music.
Wu was the first Chinese musician to fuse rock and Chinese folk music by playing his Sheng to rock music. He adapted The Flames of Yangzhou Road from a famous poem of 1205. "I intended to bring out through rock the essential masculinity and heroism of ancient generals as expressed in the Song Dynasty poem. There is actually an affinity between the poem and rock music, because rock evokes the full power, grandeur and belligerence of combat. My later works, like Man Jiang Hong (The River All Red), have a similarly martial flavor," Wu said.
Although Wu earned his fame as a rock musician, he has also sung folk songs on the grand CCTV annual Spring Festival Gala stage.
"I don't like being confined to a specific style," Wu explained. He once observed, "People encounter countless appealing scenery in their lives. There are many pretty and splendid flowers, and each one is gorgeous. We don't have to appreciate just one and ignore the rest. What I like is naturalness." He feels the same about styles of music.
After he joined the Silk Road Ensemble, rapt as he was in Sheng playing, many doubted Wu Tong could ever forsake rock music. Then, in January 2016, came the release of a new version of The Flames of Yangzhou Road.
"I've never said I'd leave rock music, and never regarded any style of music as unsuitable for me. I think elements of folk music can be incorporated into rock, and vice versa. Rock doesn't necessarily denote cynicism or rebellion. I think it can be positive and bright, even gentle. Rock has brought me freedom and individuality as well as power. It is important to give it proper employment and expression, once I master this language. I could use any style in my music because all are the fruits of human wisdom. Blending them and creating melodious music is both my job and interest," Wu said.
Bringing Chinese Music to the World
Wu's career is closely associated with the traditional Chinese Sheng wind instrument. Wu was born into an old and illustrious family of Chinese folk musicians. He started learning the Sheng from his father when he was five.
"First I played a cute little Sheng, a gift from my grandfather. Half a year later, my father replaced it with a bigger one he had made from rosewood. It's very heavy, with 21 pipes and metal tubes. Holding it for at least four hours a day is actually torture for a six-year-old."
Wu began to become fond of the Sheng when he was around 12. "Then, having got through the difficult beginner's stage, I mastered all the basic Sheng skills, and was able to perform some pleasing tunes and songs. I even won first prize in a national competition."
Later Wu enrolled in the middle school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music, and later the conservatory itself, majoring in traditional Chinese folk music. "I had been one of the top three in my class. There was no longer any mystery about Sheng playing techniques for me, and I became aware of a growing feeling of dissatisfaction. Actually in those days, I had not apprehended the true beauty of the Sheng because I lacked the necessary accumulation of life knowledge."
The history of the Sheng can be traced back to the pre-Qin period (c. 2100 – 221 BC), as an important instrument for courtly music.
"The Sheng is rooted in traditional Chinese culture. Its physical structure is actually an imitation of growing, living things. The Sheng correlates with springtime, when everything grows. So its music evokes a pleasantly uplifting feeling. It's extremely melodious and elegant when heard at the Spring Festival. It never makes people feel sad. Yet the joy it conveys is moderate and refined, never over the top. It thus accords with the Confucian concept of the ‘golden mean,'" Wu said.
Wu spoke of how he dabbled in rock at college in efforts to find a new way of musical expression. He so summarized his musical life: continuous addition until the age of 40, subtraction thereafter. Before he reached 40, Wu was obsessed with learning different forms of musical expression, including instruments. Then one day he came across The Ode to the Sheng, by Pan Yue (247-300) of the Jin Dynasty (266-420), which spoke of the Sheng aesthetic.
"It applauds the Sheng as a wonderful instrument, because the sound it produces is straightforward but not stiff, and can be melodious and mellifluous, but not too ornate. The ode emphasizes the beauty of the Sheng as existing in its simplicity. Suddenly I knew what I had failed to apprehend about Sheng and why I was dissatisfied. This led the way for my better tapping and appreciating the beauty of this instrument," Wu said.
For the next two years or so, Wu turned down all invitations to perform and devoted himself to reading and delving into ancient books that made reference to the Sheng. He strove to delineate the evolution of the Sheng and its spiritual essence.
"The sound the Sheng makes is harmonious but simple. Its spiritual essence lies in the harmony between human beings and nature. However, differences in musical scores make it hard to adapt ancient music to modern sounds. Even though people are trying to re-create ancient classical music works like High Mountains and Flowing Waters, these are no more than modern replications according to conjecture. So when I perform classical works on the Sheng, I simply focus on its spirit, and try to generate a sound that reflects the harmony between humankind and nature. But to do that I need first to find my inner peace, and only then can I convey the harmonious sound that might bring people a measure of solace," Wu said.
So, since turning 40, Wu has attempted to simplify his form of musical expression. "However it's not easy to attain the power of simplicity, or stick to the simple. First of all, you need to be confident about your culture, and aware that simplicity can help you find peace of mind. This requires attainment of a certain degree of self-cultivation," Wu explained.
Over the past few years, Wu has been thinking about how to promote traditional Chinese music through the Silk Road Ensemble. "I think what's most important is that we should dare to be ourselves. Imitation will not make you surpass others. When you are able to present your particular unique beauty, others will then start to appreciate you. Our culture imbues so much wisdom and fine arts which we need to discover. If they could be employed in our music and lyrics, it would help shape our unique beauty and refinement. Garnering global awards will then be just a matter of course," Wu concluded.
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