Chinese Singer's Celestial View
(Epoch Times November 12 2005) Viewers have become familiar with the Nine Commentaries
television series’ theme song and the voice of singer Jiang Min.
Boda Publishing has released the CD “Celestial Melody Album,” a collection of Chinese vocalist Jiang Min’s songs. Radio Free Asia special reporter Zi Jing interviewed Jiang Min recently in New York City.
Jiang Min has a naturally beautiful and fluid voice. Growing up in Heilongjiang Province in northeast China, Jiang Min developed a feel for country music. In her early songs, she could sing the subtle but beautiful folk songs of northeastern China, and excelled at singing the more robust and resonant Mongolian and Hezhe folk songs. At 17, Jiang Min was selected to join the Heilongjiang Province Song and Dance Troupe. To enhance her skills, she studied at China Central Music Conservatory in Beijing and later studied abroad to learn European vocal styles. After years of studying and performing, Jiang Min realized that techniques are just tools to assist the performance; a good singer is not about demonstrating vocal skill but injecting life into a song.
According to the ancients, images come from poetry and poetry contains many beautiful images; literature gives people space to imagine. Jiang Min says that singing is to use one’s voice to express a feeling based upon one’s interpretation of the lyric. A singer could perform a song with her own understanding and move the audience to another level of understanding, to where they feel wonderful. The ideal performance requires not only professional skill; it also requires the singer has a solid educational background and strong moral character.
Jiang Min was the host of an art appreciation show called, “Cruising the Ocean of Art.” She believes that ancient music was composed to praise God. Classical music first appeared in the church and the best of those works were passed down from one generation to the next and became popular through the passage of time. Today’s popular music has a short lifespan, she feels, and rarely describes the highest aspirations of human life. Instead, most songs today express uncontrolled emotions and unsatisfied desires.
During the recording, a scene from the television show registered in her mind: a man was tied up at a criticizing section; he has no clue about what has happened as if he just arrived from Mars. He did not know what was going on in the world.
When she sang, “Red dragon dances in dark cloud, brought numerous disasters to China,” she added a weeping sound to sing “China” because the communist party had destroyed traditional Chinese civilization, morals, decorum and values in a bloody overnight crackdown.
She added, “In the Korean TV drama ‘Dashangjin,’ all of the civilized manners and rituals came from China, but now they are considered Korean values. Now China has nothing left, we have imported from other countries. I feel very sad.”
The music book "Celestial Melody Album" is a compilation, with three songs on the CD from the book. She believes that each song in the book is a collectors' item with long lasting impact on the society.
She saw some Internet comments on modern music that reflected how some Chinese people are concerned about the loss of traditional values. They feel powerless to reverse the downward trend, and fear that if China continues to move in the same direction, then traditional values will disappear.
The Galas, however, present authentic, classic Chinese and Western performances from world-class artists, and Ms. Jiang is thrilled to be a part of these shows. They will provide a unique experience to a culturally diverse audience worldwide.