Music Country Roads

These lyrics are from a song by Mark Levine, an American country musician and professor at the Minzu (Ethnic) University of China’s School of Foreign Studies in Beijing. He wrote it while boating down the Lijiang River in Southwest China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Levine said he was struck by the area’s beautiful rivers, lakes and mountains. Living in China for 18 years, Levine has traveled across the country and been impressed by the diversity of Chinese culture. 　

This diversity is epitomized by his colleague, Professor Wu Rina at the university’s School of Music. She is of Ewenki ethnicity, a group that settled across the areas of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China and Siberia in Russia. According to the China Population Census Yearbook 2020 published by the National Bureau of Statistics, there are 34,617 Ewenki in China, among whom are some of the few reindeer herders left in the world. 　

In their China News Service interview, Levine and Wu shared views on how music brings people from different cultures together, whether among Chinese ethnic groups or Chinese and Americans. 　

What about China attracts you most? 　

Mark Levine: 　

I think that what’s most attractive is learning the fact that while we are in China, actually there’s a great diversity of Chinese cultures. This is one of the things I believe that many people in my country are completely unaware of. If they think of China, they think there’s China and everybody is the same. No, it’s a very great and diverse country. I've written about this in my songs. I’ve written about it in my books. My focus is to tell the stories by speeches and books and songs in any way possible and to let the world know about the great diversity. 　

　

CNS: 　

How is song important to preserving Ewenki culture? 　

Wu Rina: 　

The Ewenki ethnic group has its own language. Its three tribes – the Suolun, the Tunguska and the Reindeer Ewenki – each has its own dialect. However, the Ewenki lack a written language. So, I believe that Ewenki folk songs indeed play a vital role in cultural inheritance. 　

Folk songs are the source of culture and music. They encompass ethnic languages, depicting our geography, the lives of our ancestors, as well as concepts of education, ecological conservation, and our gratitude toward nature. Folk songs encompass all aspects of life. 　

ML: 　

Throughout history, there have been situations where cultures that didn’t have a written language would carry on, passing on those stories, often through songs and poems. 　

I think music is a very good way to do that. And because the songs might teach about history, they’ll teach about culture, they’ll teach about different ways of life, of people who come from different backgrounds, from different countries. And all together, they can create something that is bigger than any of those ethnic groups. 　

CNS: 

Professor Wu Rina, many of your songs are about your hometown and its natural environment. What message do you intend to convey through your songs? 　

WR: 

This is also what our folk songs are about. Ewenki pay a lot of attention to our environment. A good environment brings better living standards, including beautiful blue skies, rivers, grasslands, flowers and other plants. We coexist with the animals we raise, such as reindeer, cattle, horses and sheep. This is why we praise and feel gratitude to nature, which provides us with such a good life. On the vast land of China, every region and ethnic group keeps and passes on its indigenous culture and lifestyle. And our environment has kept improving thanks to various efforts and policies. 　

ML: 

I saw a video of [Wu] singing with many instrumentalists. The most impressive thing is that some of them were Mongolians, some of them were from other Chinese ethnic groups, each playing their own particular instruments. So, part of what we have here is an Ewenki song, but everybody is participating. It’s not limited to the Ewenki people, but it can be shared by many different Chinese people of many different ethnic backgrounds. So that was part of what impressed me the most. It’s similar to me having a Chinese music partner. We sing in English. We sing in Chinese. When she plays the erhu (two-string violin), I play guitar. 　

So we have the mixture of thesecultures and you can create something new. And it’s very exciting to anybody who hears that. Just like I was excited as I watched that video. 　

　

CNS: 

Professor Levine once compared China to a songbook. How do you view this songbook? 　

ML: 

In my apartment, I have a music stand. And on that music stand is a notebook. It has the lyrics to my 80 or so songs in there. And if you look through the songs, you’ll find songs about Lijiang. You’ll find songs about Sanya. You’ll find songs about Zhangjiajie. You’ll find songs about Dalian. You’ll find songs about the (2022) Winter Olympics and the (2008) Summer Olympics, about the Wenchuan Earthquake, about the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, about the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. You’ll find songs about everything, terracotta warriors, peony flowers in Luoyang and so on. 　

WR: 

China is officially composed of 56 ethnic groups, which gives rise to diverse musical genres, including regional styles. Regional music constitutes a vast repertoire, with each region, ethnic group, language, mountain, sea, grassland and river showcasing distinct characteristics. This includes the music of the Ewenki who live in the northern part of China. The styles of music, languages and melodies of each ethnic group, along with depictions of mountains, seas, grasslands and deserts all contribute to a musical repertoire, which is unparalleled in richness and diversity worldwide. 　

　

CNS: 

What do you think China and the US can do to spread a message of friendship through better musical exchanges? 　

WR: 

Music knows no borders and it helps us communicate even though we don’t speak the same language. Listening to good music can relax you. So, music has a magical power. When I say music knows no borders, I mean there’s no need for us to actually talk, since humming alone can be evocative. Music is the most direct and immediate way for us to communicate. 　

Our folk songs and Levine’s country music have very profound cultural significance, which can help communication. 　

I once led a production of Aoluguya, a stage play about the life and culture of the Ewenki, at the 4th Folk Arts Festival in Santiago, Chile (in May 2011). The audience enjoyed it, including our reindeer dance, bear dance, wolf dance... We Ewenki live deep in the Great Khingan Mountains, so in most of our dances and songs we imitate animals. Our worship of nature and songs showing our gratitude to it, our love for animals, like bears, can strike a chord among people and evoke emotional responses. This is true for people from across the world. We didn’t say a word on stage. But with a single dance move, we resonate with our audience. That’s why I said our interactions through music know no borders. 　

ML: 

I was at an Yi ethnic festival at the Minzu University of China, and I was sitting next to one of my students and asked her to translate for me what a singer was singing. As she translated it, I realized I knew this song. I never heard this song before. It was in the Yi language. 　

The song was essentially the same as a very famous American song called “Take Me Home, Country Roads” [by John Denver]. It was talking about somebody that had to leave their home in the countryside and go to the city to work, but meanwhile they were missing home. And that’s the same song. 　

And there are a number of foreigners I know in China who play the guzheng (Chinese zither), who play erhu, who play suona (double-reed horn) and a variety of different [traditional Chinese] instruments because they heard them and they wanted to get closer to be able to experience that. 　

It’s absolutely necessary to give students an opportunity to see, to experience, to talk, to listen, to learn, so that they can then become ambassadors back to their own country, my country, and tell them about what they saw, right? 　

　

CNS: 

Both of you have many students from different ethnic groups across China. What have you seen from the interactions between these students? 　

WR: 

I’ve been teaching at the Minzu University of China for decades, at least 30 years. My students come from different ethnic groups across the country. I like them very much. The students have various backgrounds. Some are from cities and some are from grasslands. They bring their cultural backgrounds to the university. We sit together and communicate with each other, whether it’s Mongolian or Tibetan culture. I found there’s a lot to learn from each other. For example, what do songs sound like in Mongolian, Tibetan or Kazakh music? It also holds true for exchanges between Eastern and Western cultures. We enjoy mutual learning and communication. 　

ML: 

I’ve been teaching at the Minzu University of China for 16 years. One of the things that struck me the most was that in the US, we don’t really understand that China is a multi-ethnic country. If we hear about different ethnic groups, usually the US media refers to conflicts, which aren’t real. 　

And I look out at my class, and I see students from many different ethnic groups. What are they doing? Are they fighting? No, they’re studying. What happens after class? Maybe they’re studying together more or maybe they’re eating together or playing together or shopping together. And that, in fact, they understand that they are all Chinese, but at the same time, they’re proud of their own culture. 　

The best way for somebody to understand China is to come and see for themselves, right? Use their own eyes, talk to people, travel around, and they will find wherever you happen to be that people are very welcoming. 

I was in Kashgar (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region) before and there were Uyghur and Kyrgyz and Tajik living and working and getting along and children in schools together. But you need to see it. That’s really the best way for a lot of people to believe.