New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) will hold its International Chinese Vocal Competition in October in New York. The aim of this competition is to foster cultural exchange and promote traditional vocal arts of pure authenticity, pure goodness and pure beauty.
In an interview with The Epoch Times on September 20, alto Yang Jiansheng said that the International Chinese Vocal Competition has far-reaching significance and provides an international stage for those Chinese vocalists who really pursue orthodox arts both in China and overseas to display their abilities and promote all aspects of singing. It also opens a new road for those arts professionals who searched for a way to advance and enrich the classical arts of the East and West.
Regarding the current situation of Chinese folk songs, Yang Jiansheng said that China entered into a cultural desert after 1949, when traditional culture was cut off; there is no real art being produced in China besides that so-called art which has become the tool serving the political ends of the Chinese Communist Party.
Artists' Plight in China
Regarding the situation of vocalists in China, Yang Jiansheng said that real artists feel very stifled under the Chinese communist regime because they have no choices. Aspiring artists have to sing what the Party tells them to sing; they have to sing whatever it allows them to sing. Many artists are indulging in material interests; they are led by agents to use art to earn money.
She said, "I felt very lonely and heavy right after I joined the Central Philharmonic Orchestra because you have to exploit your connections to give a performance and get a promotion. I didn't do this sort of thing. I practiced singing in a practice room all day long. I had been a second-class stage singer for over 10 years and never got promoted until I went abroad in 1994."
Yang Jiansheng felt increasingly sad and depressed. Because of pop songs flooding the whole market, real vocalists have nowhere to go to earn money. Artists from the Central Philharmonic Orchestra become backing vocalists of or played accompaniment for those pop singers. There are also outstanding vocalists working as entertainers in hotels. Westerners once joked that going to China saved money on entertainment; they didn't need to buy opera tickets because they could hear world-class arias in any hotel. How sad, Yang Jiansheng thought, that professional singers had to sell themselves to make a living.
She said, "Overseas, even if I have to take a low-level job to make a living, I am still free to choose what I sing, and at least I have a free space to pursue real arts. It is very sad for an artist not to choose freely what he sings and to have to make money by selling arts and go against his conscience to sing what he should not. Doing that means destroying his career as an artist."
Difficulties Overseas Chinese Vocalists Face
As for the situation of Chinese vocalists overseas, she said, a lot of excellent Chinese singers living abroad are forced to take work in any field to make a living. Many colleagues changed their focus, some opening restaurants, some working as housekeepers or nurses, some even becoming street-performers in metros, food markets or streets. It is so miserable. One excellent tenor would rather bring a bag of potatoes than lower his status as an artist to accept a low-level labor job.
She said, "Only some top-notch singers are able to show up in the international arena and gain certain achievements. But what they sing does not belong to their culture, but that of the West. "
Yang Jiansheng added thatWestern society cherishes its own culture and Western governments fully support and financially sponsor some transitional vocal music. But due to the shock of modern music, traditional artists do not live easily, let alone these overseas actresses.
Hopes for Overseas Chinese Vocalists
According to the rules and regulations, the first International Chinese Vocal Competition is divided into two categories: Folk Singing and Bel Canto (Popular singing is excluded). The competition will comprise the following types of vocal works: Chinese traditional, folk and classical songs; theme songs from TV dramas and movies; arias and artistic songs.
Yang Jiansheng explained that the folk songs in the competition are really orthodox ones, which would help in reforming from the bottom up, discarding the Party culture's fake folk songs and laying a good foundation for reviving orthodox folk songs. NTDTV has played the role of popularizing pure Chinese traditional culture since it was founded in 2002. NTDV's Spectacular has become the biggest international event during the Chinese New Year, bringing the cream of Chinese classical performing arts into the international arena.
