Thierry Joulin now lives in Shaanxi, a northwestern province that sits on the country's vast loess plateau. For thousands of years, the area's strong northwestern winds and countless ravines and gullies have mothered its distinctive folk song culture??the northern Shaanxi folk songs widely sung by locals and now a national intangible cultural heritage.

 

　　Among the many themes of northern Shaanxi folk songs, love among young people has been the most popular. These love songs are usually high-pitched and colloquial and sung with great force. In the widely circulated love song "Going to the West Gate," a young man who is forced to leave home to earn a living in the North expresses his sentiments to his girlfriend. The strong wind blowing across the plateau sends his affections to the girl who is waving good-bye to the young man from far, far away.

 

　　The affection and desire embroiled in northern Shaanxi folk songs have swept China since the 1980s. Some folk singers, however, have recently decided to hit the world stage. In Vienna in 2010 and Berlin and Warsaw in 2012, New Year's concerts of northern Shaanxi folk songs were held in the grandest halls. Singers from both northern Shaanxi and western countries co-staged a celebration of the folk music of the loess plateau.

 

　　Mi Zhuo is a young singer from Suide, a small county in northern Shaanxi where the folk songs were born. He says it was a privilege for him to sing in 2010 in the Wiener Musikverein, a stage he never envisioned himself standing on.

 

　　"I was rather nervous because it was my first time abroad, not to mention singing in the Wiener Musikverein, a place so holy and grand for us singers."

 

　　What added to Mi Zhuo's happiness was the local audience's sincere and enthusiastic response.

 

　　"Although I did not speak their language, I could tell their enthusiasm from the applause and the screaming. Also, I could see the sincerity in their eyes."

 

　　A pleasant surprise to Mi Zhuo at the concert was seeing western singers singing songs from northern Shaanxi.

 

　　"There were two foreign singers singing our folk songs at the concert, a male and a female, and they did an excellent job."

 

　　But did northern Shaanxi folk songs really tug at the heartstrings of audiences in Vienna, Berlin or Warsaw?

 

　　Shang Feilin, chairman of Shaanxi Musicians Association and a liaison for the three concerts, is confident about the emotional chords that northern Shaanxi folk songs can strike with western audiences.

 

　　"I think people around the world all have emotions, and they all desire beauty. We all want to live a good life. Northern Shaanxi folk songs just express people's pursuit of beauty and a happy life. The best pieces of northern Shaanxi folk songs are love songs because they voice people's longing for love. In some northern Shaanxi love songs, the bachelor hurries home and even cries on the way because he wants to see his beloved."

 

　　Wang Xiangrong, a famous singer of northern Shaanxi folk songs in the 1980s who is known as "the king of northern Shaanxi folk songs," explains from his own perspective about how his songs might move western listeners.

 

　　"Northern Shaanxi folk songs are the reflections of the true life of people living in the area, about their happiness and sorrow, and those things that go beyond borders. The pursuit of happiness, kindness and truth is shared by all nations. I am a folk singer from China, and I don't speak English, but I do understand the soul music of African-Americans. Their music has touched my soul because I feel the intense feelings in it."

 

　　Thierry Joulin, the Frenchman who sings the northern Shaanxi folk song "Nanniwan," recently sung the song at a northern Shaanxi folk song concert in Xi'an, capital city of Shaanxi Province. He says singing the song at the concert was an enjoyable experience for him, although that may not always be the case with other foreigners.

 

　　"The song was very beautiful, so I did it with pleasure. Because it comes from Shaanxi Province, so it belongs to the land and the nation. Actually, western people partly know the meaning, but they don't know the real matter."

 

　　Gou Bin, an associate professor of translation studies at the Xi'an Conservatory of Music and a seasoned translator of northern Shaanxi folk songs into English, is not so optimistic about western audiences' understanding of the songs.

 

　　"I think this is a very serious problem. To be universal is not very easy. We usually say that western art, or western music, is universal; that is, it is very popular around the world. For northern Shaanxi folk songs, we want to take them abroad and see them accepted by English speakers. It is not only a problem of language. It is a problem of culture, mentality and psychology."

 

　　Whether northern Shaanxi folk songs can captivate western music lovers on a large scale still remains to be seen, those who sing the songs face other challenges.

 

　　For young singers such as Mi Zhuo, who is dedicated yet feels a lack of impetus for progress, further education is the first priority.

 

　　"I plan to study in Italy. I have some fellow singers who have studied there before. I think it is good to study there for a while. And I myself still have much to learn to improve."

 

　　Immediate promoters of this indigenous culture such as Shang Feilin consider the most pressing issue to be fostering the development of local talented singers.

 

　　"The first thing we need to do is set up independent groups of performing artists. Folk singers are becoming extinct in local villages and counties."

 

　　Senior artists see a bigger picture for the songs' prospects. For Wang Xiangrong, the singer now already in his 60s, the globalization of northern Shaanxi folk songs is a task for the next generation and beyond.

 

　　"To be perfect, we need a long process. Many things can't be done overnight. And maybe we need the efforts of several generations. We need to be patient about it."

 

　　As an old saying in northern Shaanxi goes, "A hungry man sings for food and a laboring man sings for land." Northern Shaanxi folk songs bring to the world the laughter and tears of these kind, industrious and persistent people.

 

　　Shang Feilin says he hopes the performance of northern Shaanxi folk songs abroad will help people in other countries realize the beauty of Shaanxi folk songs.

 

　　For CRI, this is Shen Ting.