You moved from Shenyang, China to Paris, France, and now perform worldwide, collaborating with all genres of musicians and artists. What are your thoughts on cultural differences and their impact upon public reception towards erhu music?

Cultural differences is a vast subject. The fact that I live in France, in another culture other than my native one, opens me up. I’m willing to accept and confront differences, rather than looking for only similarities. To confess, I do not face discrimination problems in the music circle when it comes to erhu music. My colleagues do not just treat it as a Chinese music; it is music. Beyond that, public-wise, erhu music is part of the world music conversation. Yes, there is still the resistance in perceiving erhu music as Chinese music, rather than music free of social or national labels.

How would describe the evolution of your musical life?

Before the age of twenty-five, life seemed to be rather “pure” and carefree, though it was very rich — I met people from all walks of life, organized different music ensembles that performed both jazz and classical erhu, fell in love, etc. There wasn’t any career ambition when speaking of music. I enjoyed playing fast and technically invigorating music, and wasn’t quite inclined towards slow music, for example. Now that I am past forty, things are definitely different. Other than pragmatic concerns in life like raising a child, my music has matured. I look for profondity, meaning… and am able to invest myself in meditative or slow music. I am developing myself as a well-rounded erhu artist.

Experimenting with Jazz and New (Laser) Technology
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Now, I have three specific aims. First, to inherit and preserve my father’s erhu legacy; second, to shape and forge a performance style that is unique to me; lastly, to compose. Composing is new to me. I have started doing so in recent years.

As a genre, erhu music is only a small part of world music. You must remember that beyond Asia, classical European music dominates, next to pop music, rock-n-roll, jazz, new age, avant-garde, etc. World music is just one of these genres, and it consists further of Indian, Arabic, African, and Asian music. Asian music is then subcategorized into Japanese, Korean and Chinese music, among others. In France, Arabic and African dominates as far as world music is concerned, and next, Indian music. So as you can see, it is not easy, if not possible, to just play erhu as a soloist. I put aside the bias of playing erhu only as a soloist, which I feel is a problem often encountered by Chinese and Indian musicians wanting only to play solo because they are considered traditionally as maîtres (i.e. masters). I personally do not find this healthy, somehow a little too individualistic. This is why I venture vastly into other performing possibilities, like playing with different ensembles and groups of all sorts. It is much more meaningful to be able to dialogue with other musical voices. This is a dialogue beyond the one you typically foster between yourself and the instrument. To me, playing alone on the stage can be boring. I prefer a collaborative working process.

It is much more meaningful to be able to dialogue with other musical voices. This is a dialogue beyond the one you typically foster between yourself and the instrument.

When playing with classical chamber music groups, for example, I often take the part of the second violin. In chamber music, every voice is equal and crucial. I do not mind not playing solo. I learn a lot from different musicians of different cultures that way. There is a process of “give-and-take,” all in the spirit of mutual sharing. It is very humbling. Because of such enriching experiences, I am able to build up “moments” and vocabulary for improvisation. Obviously, all these didn’t just happen overnight. I took a long time too to find my way, by trial and error, and to getting used to playing with different people or in groups. It isn’t easy or straightforward to be able to fuse erhu with other music in a group, beyond the straightforward phase of other players liking erhu as an instrument, and their willingness to embrace it. It isn’t just collaboration right away. You need to be able to offer them something else beyond the initial “liking.”

Since 2001, I have performed in more than 1000 concerts of all kinds, big and small. I am proud of this, because I also worked hard at finding work for myself. I have also played with orchestras on thirty different occasions.