Feast your ears on the musical classics of the east with MUSIC TALKS, the Middle Kingdom’s mashup of classical music and in-depth discussions with some of China’s most celebrated orchestral professionals. Experience the instruments, get some perspective, feel the pulse of antiquity.
Liu Peiyi has 10-year experience in learning the saxophone and Jazz composition in the US. His second album "Flow of Soul" reflects upon his experience of learning Jazz, understanding of Jazz and ways to promote the popularity of the genre. Recently, I met Liu in person. We talked about the album and stories behind the scene.
Deng Weibiao is a leading figure of Chinese New Age Music. Today, we continue with Deng's other distinctive works that reflect the marvelous musical expressions of Chinese instruments, bringing to mind the magnificent rivers, an endless desert known as the place of no return, flame-like flowers and havoc in the Heavenly Palace.
Previously, we've introduced a leading figure of New Age Music——Deng Weibiao. Deng says music has no boundaries, and combining diverse musical styles together to make something new is essential in the development of music. Today, he brings us several of his works inspired by ancient tunes from ethnic communities in China and around the globe.
New Age music emphasizes tranquility, relaxation, and positive energy transference, which may be acoustic, electronic, or a mixture of both. Deng Weibiao is one of the four masters of the genre in the nation. Today, we bring you five representative pieces of Deng's New Age music.
We get up-close with an innovative composer called Yan Minmin. Yan talks about how she contributes to rejuvenating the country's classical instruments and increasing their popularity around the world.
The Start of Winter is the first solar term of winter, which falls on November 7th this year. A Chinese saying goes “Eat dumplings on the Start of Winter or your ears will be frostbitten.” Find out more about the origins of this custom for this special day with melodic songs about winter.
A Chinese saying goes that "an accomplished disciple owes his accomplishments to his great teacher". The famed yangqin master Shi Yue shares with us some intriguing and memorable stories from when she was learning the instrument with her mentors, all influential masters of this genre.
If you enjoy the world renowned piece “The Lonely Shepherd”, you are probably curious about the intriguing instrument used in the work. It is the pan flute and can be found in many places around the globe. Today, we will give you a glimpse of the Chinese pan flute and bring you remarkable songs in the genre.
Although He Yuan is a celebrated sheng performer, he is fascinated by an iconic ethnic instrument called the hulusi, which is gentle and delicate, like a whisper in your ear. He shares with us why he has special attachment to the instrument and presents his latest hulusi pieces.
“Deep at Night” is a musical tune used in two famed scenarios of Peking Opera, which include Beating the Drum to Condemn Cao and Ancient Beauty Yu Ji’s Sword Dance. We will share with you the intriguing storyline of these celebrated plays and unveil how the same melody sounds distinctively in different stories.
To accompany you during the National Day holiday, several celebrated musicians in the country join us to bring you some melodic songs. We will also review China's achievements so far this year in areas such as space exploration, sports, health care, and environmental protection.
Music for Love is a unique band, which mainly consists of four young adults living with autism. We will get up close with the zither performer of the band and find out how music has influenced her life, and share with you some of their remarkable songs, which express what they wish to convey to the world.
The Chinese Moon Festival symbolizes family reunion. To boost the celebratory atmosphere in advance, several famed musicians in the nation join us to bring you melodic songs related to this festival. We'll also tell you fascinating folk tales behind it.
Ancient Chinese philosophy has it that water has many virtues. It is an important element in all states of matter across the universe, nurturing every living thing that it comes across. In this edition, Cen Jiawei, a guzheng player with the Yuan Sha Zither Orchestra in Beijing, will be bringing us several famous classical and contemporary guzheng pieces, which portray the sounds produced by water in various scenarios. Let's find out how water is represented in Chinese music.
Many say the song "Slow, Slow Tune: A Salute to Civilization" melts their heart and soul. It is the theme song of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations, held in Beijing in 2019. Seven teenagers from different parts of Asia came together to sing it and create the choreography for the music video. The conference was held in a bid to spread the idea that the diversity of civilizations is an essential feature of the world, and that every civilization, with its unique roots and appeal, is...
In this edition, we will recommend certain types of food and lifestyles that can help with the transition to fall. In addition, we will share with you some remarkable songs from Liu Ziwei's repertoire of health and wellness music. They contain the rhythms and tempo of Western dance music and the emblematic features of Latin, Jazz and Afro-Cuban music.
Many of us have had some sort of summer depression, including loss of appetite, constant fatigue, increased irritability, sore throats, and swollen gums. If you have developed some of these symptoms, Traditional Chinese Medicine believes you have excessive heat in your body. TCM states that several factors may lead you to produce more heat, including hot temperatures, staying for too long in an air-conditioned room, sleeping late at night, having a spicy, salty, or meaty diet, or simply working ...
Do you usually celebrate Valentine’s Day? I believe that some of the sweetest memories that many of us have of our significant others are associated with this day. If by any chance you missed the opportunity to mark this special day earlier in the year, not to worry. We are all getting a second chance to make up for it, because China’s equivalent of Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, which is called Qixi Festival. In this episode, we will share with you the story behind the origins of th...
Zhang Dianying is one of the most influential composers in China, which has witnessed, taken part in and helped guide the development of classical music in the nation over the past half century. During a career spanning nearly 50 years, Zhang took on various roles including teaching at one of the country's most prestigious conservatories of music and composing soundtracks for documentaries, films and television. In this edition, we revisit Zhang's childhood to find out how it shaped his choice o...
Guangzhou or Canton is the capital city of Guangdong province and the metropolis in southern China. Located on the Pearl River, Guangzhou has over 2,200 years of history and was a central terminus of the maritime Silk Road. Today, let's join Mr Huang Yicheng, producer and songwriter of the album 'Songs of Canton', and embark on a musical tour in Guangzhou.
What does it mean to be ‘Punk, Indie, or Underground’ in music today? To find out, listen in on a candid conversation with Music Dish owner Eric, as he shares his insights on China’s New Age music industry and emerging musical trajectory.
“Hào-zǐ” is the shout that naturally comes out of the mouths of manual laborers as they exert themselves in the course of their work. There are different haozi depending on the places of work. The songs we are about to hear are traditional haozi sung by fishermen in the Zhoushan area of Zhejiang Province, in eastern China. Today, we have Hong Guozhuang, lead vocalist and an inheritor of the haozi tradition, talking about the life, work, and songs of the fishermen of Zhoushan.
Situated in an oasis in the northwestern China’s Gansu-Xinjiang desert region, for over a millennia, Dunhuang has been a major stop for weary Silk Road travellers. It was the first town of trade encountered by foreign merchants entering China from the west. Dunhuang is best known for its Mogao Caves, which contains arts of various genres, such as architecture, paintings, literature, and music etc. Ye Yunchuan, music producer and founder of Rhymoi Music, said that in terms of Chinese art and cult...
Zhang Dianying is the influential composer in the nation that has witnessed, taken part in and helped guide the development of classical music in China over the past half century. Born in 1939, Zhang is one of the earliest composers to become active in the years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, which has written over 200 works during a career spanning over 40 years. Many of his compositions remain great favorites with the music-loving public. In this episode, we'll get up cl...
Do you know which festival it is when people race boats and have glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves and stuffed with fillings? It is the Dragon Boat Festival, one of the grandest traditional festivals in China and the first festival in the country to be put on UNESCO's List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Outside of China, the festival is observed in many other countries across the world—such as Japan, Germany, the U.K., the U.S. and Canada, just to name a few. In this spec...
Guo Yazhi is widely known as THE best suona player in Asia. Apart from the Suona, he can also play more than ten instruments, including the guanzi, piccolo, ocarina, saxophone ... and even a ‘leaf’. In 2018, he performed with a team of world-class instrumentalists and composers, and covered internationally recognised songs for the album ‘Endless Journey’.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas, also known as Shan Hai Jing, is a fabled geographical account of pre-Qin Dynasty China as well as a collection of mythologies. Music producer Ye Yunchuan and composer Zhang Zhao turned some of the most well-known tales into beautiful musical narrative. Today, we are exploring “the Myths of China". Song Lists: 1. Pangu Separates Heaven and Earth 盘古开天 2. Yao and Shun Discuss Morality 尧舜论道 3. The War on Chiyou 战蚩尤 4. The Peach Banquet 蟠桃会喜宴 5. Kuafu Chases the Sun...
Ye Yunchuan, executive producer of Rhyomi Music, takes us on a musical journey to southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region to explore its sacred landscape, fascinating culture, and wealth of music.
We have previously introduced several classic Chinese instruments. Many are famous for their unique tonality, texture and flavor, and are able to portray certain scenarios that can’t be reflected by others. Some good examples are the birdlike chirps made by the Chinese flute, imitations of flowing water by the 21-stringed zither and horse gallops as recreated by the two-stringed bowed fiddle. In this episode, Yang Chunlin, famed conductor and composer with the China Oriental Performing Arts Grou...
In our last episode, we had Mr Ye Yunchuan on our show. He is an award-winning music producer and founder of one of China's most prestigious recording labels, Rhymoi Music. Since starting Rhymoi in 2003, Ye has aimed to produce first-class Chinese music with distinctive national and ethnic characteristics. In addition, his years of cooperation with international music production and publication circles have given him with a truly global perspective. Previously, we enjoyed some amazing pieces fro...
