In tune with China
An 87-year-old US jazz star is ensuring his legacy in China by training a blind 13-year-old piano prodigy. Xu Jingxi speaks with Bob Bellows in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.
US jazz pianist builds a legacy in his adopted home.
American jazz singer Bob Bellows is delighted to spend the rest of his career in China, but his retirement won’t be the end of his musical legacy. It will live on in his 13-year-old visually impaired piano student Deng Peitong.
The 87-year-old musician, who has made the country his second home for 13 years, has been training the Chinese girl since hemet her eight years ago. He became her tutor after the girl’s mother saw his website and invited him to her performance.
“I was impressed that she played so well despite being blind,” Bellows says. “I think she is a child prodigy.” Deng was born without eyesight but has learned piano since age 3. Even then, she possessed an uncanny ability to play a song after listening to it once or twice.
“I see light when I play piano,” the girl says. “Music ismy sun.” The otherwise quiet and lethargic girl radiates resounding energy behind the keyboard.
The piece Deng played for Bellows upon their first meeting was French pianist Richard Clayderman’s Starry
Sky.
Bellows not only teaches the girl but also performs with her.
“Niko (Deng’s English name) belongs to the stage,” Bellows says.
“She has got the talent. I want to help her. I believe everyone should be given a chance to show their abilities and artistry. I can be the one to give them the opportunity.”
The duo presented a touching performance at the annual award ceremony of Tianjin Satellite Channel’s China
Right Here, a TV program about foreigners in China, in Beijing’s Water Cube on Nov 8. Bellows was this year honored among the Top 10 figures who’ve “made China more beautiful”.
Bellows says that he isn’t planning to teach more children like Deng. “I’mtoo old for that,” he says. He walks with a cane. His thigh hurts because of lumbar vertebra problems.
“I hope my story with Niko will prompt more people to care about those kids who are struggling for opportunities to showcase their talents.”
As Bellows writes in his autobiography, All of Me, he hopes to go beyond merely performing to helping others.
“My wish is that I have brought something to China with my music (and) to be able to give in return for the kindness we have received,” Bellows explains.
He moved to China in 2000 at age 74 after his wife bought an apartment in Guangdong province’s Zhuhai in 1998.
He has spent the years since embracing “one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. My dream is always about music. I would like to live as an active performing artist on the stage as long as possible.”
He says China has presented him with premium performance opportunities, while rejuvenating his thinking as he witnesses the country’s rapid development.
“China has done much for me to keep my mind active and my youthful ways in action. This country is booming. I can feel the energy as it grows,” Bellows says in his book.
His wife Jene says the couple has fallen in love with China.
“We visit our families in the US once a year, but neither of us wants to go back to the US yet,” she says.
“We see something to be improved both in the US and in China, but we think that we can do more to help in China. Here we stand out with his music and with my abilities to change people’s ways of thinking.”
She has been helping overseas Chinese students blend into foreign communities since 1984. She helped establish an English-teaching center in Zhuhai with a Chinese friend in 1998, which led the couple to settle in the city.
The Bellows don’t have children in China — just a cat — but never feel lonely because they have so many Chinese friends and “families”.
“China has shown me so much love, respect, adulation plus has given me a chance to finalize my career in this great land,” Bellows writes in his autobiography.
“Small children come by to greet me. My manager and bodyguard hover over me. I ama star inChina. If I do not have it all together now, when (will I)?”
He says, smiling: “Chinese audiences are wonderful. They will shout ‘ Wo ai ni (I love you)’ to me.” He believes “a good performer is having a love affair with the audience while onstage”. So he practices flashing grins at the mirror.
“Jazz makes people happy. Yet it is still not popular in China,” Bellows says.
“I want to promote jazz to Chinese people.”
He has made TV appearances on China Central Television’s Channel 3 and the Shanghai-based Dragon TV’s 2012 Spring Festival gala. He also lectures Chinese college students.
Bellows’ mellow voice and jovial stage presence have made him popular on his international tours through the United States, Russia, Europe, Mongolia, Japan and Africa. But it’s in China that he finds the most devoted fans.
“I’ve got more opportunities to perform on a big stage in China and thus received louder claps and cheers,” he says. Contact the writer at xujingxi@chinadaily.com.cn.