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 Feng Mantian, a ruan musician, believes in Buddhism. Provided to China Daily |
On a summer night in August, 2,000 people filed into a concert hall in Hamburg, Germany, looking forward to a performance by a local jazz musician Joja Wendt. What they didn't expect, was to be blown away by a guest performer from China, Feng Mantian and his ruan, a Chinese plucked-string instrument with a history of over 2,000 years.
When Feng finished the last note of his original composition, Tian Gao Yun Dan, or Sky High Clouds Light, the audience paused for a moment, before erupting into applause, giving the musician a long standing ovation. Feng later jammed with the band and pianist Wendt, which had the crowd standing up and stamping their feet.
"It felt like the whole venue was about to collapse. I have never been so crazy onstage," recalls the 52-year-old ruan master. "I can speak neither English nor German so I screamed loudly onstage to express my gratitude and excitement."
Feng had been waiting for that moment for a long time. He has been a member of the China National Orchestra for 37 years and it has long been his dream to let Western audiences listen to traditional Chinese music with a modern twist.
"Many of my friends who are living abroad said traditional Chinese music is just the background music of restaurants in the West and tunes such as Jasmine Flower and Blossom on Spring Moonlight Night have been played there for decades," Feng says. "I felt ashamed when they asked me what traditional Chinese music sounds like today."
With a pair of round glasses and prayer beads around his neck, Feng, who is a Buddhist, is considered a "ruan addict". He sometimes waves his hands in air, as if he were playing an invisible ruan, without even knowing he is doing it.
For years, he has been striving to compose new works and experiment with the ruan, such as borrowing techniques from other plucked-string instruments, like guitar, sitar and dombra. He also visited luthiers to invent new type of ruan, which cost a lot of money.
Along with jazz pianist Kong Hongwei, founder member Chinese jazz band Golden Buddha, bass ruan player Chen Xiaohu and percussionist Shao Haha, Feng will perform in Beijing to display his works - of which he is particularly proud - including Sky High Clouds Light, 28 Years and Ji.
"Forget about the melancholy, conventional traditional Chinese music you've heard before. I have the modern traditional Chinese music for you," he says confidently.
He started learning yueqin, a traditional Chinese stringed instrument, which belongs to the same family of ruan, at 6 years old with his father, Feng Shaoxian, an accomplished performer of yueqin. Feng considers his dad "a major influence and inspiration in my life and work".
At 15, he joined China National Orchestra and started playing ruan. He didn't immediately love the instrument because the ruan was just an accompanying instrument in the orchestra and he felt his talent was constrained there.
Then he formed a rock band, White Angel, in 1987, along with Liu Yijun, and Zang Tianshuo. In 1989, the band released an album Rock in the Past and the same year, Cui Jian, the Chinese godfather of rock 'n' roll, became an iconic figure among Chinese rock fans.
"I had long hair and rushed to rehearse with the band after work every day and I was happy," he recalls. "I was totally unacceptable in the eyes of my father and my colleagues in the orchestra."
His pioneering practice in rock music also inspired his research on traditional Chinese music and ruan.
When he was invited to perform on a popular TV show on China Central Television, Amazing Chinese, he sang an iconic song by Cui Jian, Girl in The Flower Room, on his ruan. The performance was a big success and Feng joked that he became a star at age 52.
"I feel proud of my son. He has surpassed me," says his 75-year-old father.
"When I went backstage the first time, many people asked me what the instrument was. That made be feel like I had made the right choice," Feng says.
"Some of my friends doubted my decision to perform on an entertainment show. But my purpose was simple. I just want to let people see the instrument and know its sound. After that, they will be curious to know the history and hear more music from it."
After his Beijing performance, Feng will take a break in May and consider his next plan on how to further spread the instrument and his musical innovation.
"I want to keep the instrument alive and popularize it," he says.
