Revisiting classics

Composer Zou Hang creates music in various genres, ranging from classical to rock to traditional Chinese

operas.

In 2008, he was one of the composers of the piano concerto, Starry Sky, which was performed by pianist Lang Lang at the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing. In 2010 and 2011, Zou was the music director for crossover concerts by rock musician Cui Jian along with symphony orchestras.

Early last year, when he was approached by producer Dai Xiaolan to write music for a musical, Zou says he wanted to give it a try although the project — inspired by a collection of Chinese poems from the 11th to the sixth centuries BC, known as Shi Jing, or Classics of Poetry — was challenging.

“Shi Jing is written in traditional Chinese, and we spent a long time working on the script,” says Zou, adding that some words in the ancient text were even difficult to pronounce.

“Chinese words have four main tones that are rhythmic. The music has to fit the pronunciations of the lyrics, too.”

Finally, the musical, entitled Shi Jing Cai Wei, or A Homesick Warrior, premiered at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in Beijing on Oct 20, attracting about 4,000 people. A new, revised version will run at the same venue on May 18 and 19 as part of the ongoing Meet in Beijing Arts Festival, the Chinese capital’s largest annual cultural event.

According to the producer, the theme of Shi Jing will be developed into a trilogy of musicals, showcasing traditional Chinese culture from different aspects, such as farming, customs and etiquette. The musical also aims to attract young audiences.

Singers Li Weipeng, Jiang Shuai and Jiang Qianru play the leading roles in the musical, which tells the story of three childhood friends, one of whom grows up to become a military general.

“It is a story of sacrifice and love for family and the country,” Zou, 44, says.

Over 20 original songs have been written for the musical. They are accompanied by a symphony orchestra and traditional musical instruments, such as the pipa (fourstringed Chinese lute) and guzheng (Chinese zither).

The composer “poetic”.

Born in Changsha, Hunan province, Zou was introduced to music by his father, Zou Shuliang, a pipa calls the musical player, and it became natural for the son to use traditional music in the pieces he composed.

Zou Hang learned to play the pipa with his father for 10 years before he trained classically at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with renowned composer Ye Xiaogang in 1993. “The sounds of traditional musical instruments exist in my DNA,” Zou Hang says.

In 2001, he obtained a master’s degree from the Central Conservatory of Music and now teaches at an affiliated middle school.

Zou also fell in love with rock music as a teenager, especially after he moved to Beijing in the 1980s, when the city was regarded as a center of Chinese rock.

“Musicals are a Western art form, but when it is localized here, I want it to have distinct Chinese sounds,” Zou Hang says, adding that he is a big fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals and the French musical, Notre-Dame de Paris, by Riccardo Cocciante.

In the second chapter of Shi Jing Cai Wei, Zou also borrows dancing elements of Nuoxi, a popular folk opera in China’s south and east. Originating in the 16th century as a form of totem worship, the genre features performers wearing heavy costumes and face masks, symbolizing different gods.

Zou uses Chinese percussion instruments to portray the scenes of worshiping the gods and praying for the dead, especially after wars.