"After I graduated from college, I was lost," Gong told the Global Times in a face-to-face interview in her studio in Beijing, "because I could not find my roots."

Gong thinks what she learned at college could not be called folk songs but only used the folk singing style to sing songs that were a combination of China and the West.

A major contributor to Gong's stylistic change is Robert Zollitsch, better known as Lao Luo, who is Gong's husband and a German composer. Lao Luo came to China to study traditional Chinese music at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1993. Now, he composes almost all of Gong's songs including her big hit "Tante."

Gong said that what Lao Luo gave her the most was spiritual courage. "He encouraged me to find the real me, to follow my heart and do what I wanted most, not for fame, or money or for parent's wishes." Chinese new art music

Together with Lao Luo, Gong went to the folk groups to study their songs, which they sing when doing farm chores, feeding pigs, or looking for a mate.

"Only then did I feel I was gradually getting grounded, but not as an original singer. I had to plant my own roots and grow the tree myself," she said. And that's how she and Lao Luo came up with their Chinese new art music – a kind of music based on Han music but completely original.

Though most know Gong only for her four shenqu songs, she and Lao Luo have also created many more different works.

She categories all their new works into three types: those having an ethnic flavor; those composed from ancient Chinese poetry; and those that represent the current living status of Chinese people like "Tante."

As for the way they perform and dress, Gong said she and Lao Luo do not like being hedged in by rules and regulations.

"We don't think [there is a fixed way of] what classic or serious music should be like or what pop music should be like. We perform in the way we think best for that song," she said.

Gong thinks when a new thing occurs it is natural for it to stir up controversy.

Strange to the Chinese ear

In a later telephone interview with Tian Yimiao, associated professor at the Department of Composition, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, she agreed that for a song that needs to be spread quickly, having an easy-to-remember melody like "Fahai Ni Budong Ai" is important, and making "Jingubang" into a comedic performance is interesting and suitable for a gala.

"But the problem is that the combination of lyrics and melody do not blend well [in some of Lao Luo's songs], making it sound a little funny to the Chinese audience," Tian commented. "The Chinese audience cares much more about the lyrics of a song. That's why while many of the ancient songs have lost their melodies over the [centuries], their lyrics remain until today."

She also noted that in "Tante," Lao Luo uses musical arrangements that rarely occur in Chinese music. Therefore, it sounds strange to many Chinese listeners.

Source: Global Times