Old sweet songs

Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily

The event was a part of an effort by Hou Dudu, 40, who worked as a violist in the symphony orchestra of the National Ballet of China for seven years after his graduation from the Central Conservatory of Music. In 2009, Hou quit his job and started traveling around the country, collecting music from China's ethnic groups. By early this year, he finished the project, successfully visiting all 56 ethnic groups of China.

His goal is to put that music together in an online library to share with music lovers. But getting it recorded has not been easy: Many old songs and singing techniques can only be performed by elderly people scattered in remote villages, since youth today seem more interested in karaoke than learning their ancestor's legacy. Traveling alone with his recording and video equipment, Hou got help from local governments, which connected him with those old artists.

Hou met A Benzhi five years ago, who took him to visit his village and interview singers who were more than 90 years old.

"Some of the music has been passed down orally through the generations, so we aren't sure how old it is," says A Benzhi. "The oral tradition, when the musicians die, they take along with them the knowledge and memory before it can be passed on, and then it's gone."

Lu Guohua, a 32-year-old singer, says that it has taken years for her to learn and memorize old ethnic tunes. "Young people today are easily distracted," says Lu, whose singing talent was discovered by A more than 15 years ago. "Some have left the village and work at bigger cities, like Kunming. They won't even return anymore, let alone learn the old songs," says Lu.