Chinese folk music has a long history and can be traced back to the Jiahu bone flute, which dates back 7,800 to 9,000 years ago. Folk music changes with the times, and continues to develop and innovate in the integration of multiculturalism. It is the common pursuit of Chinese folk music people to not forget the original, absorb the outside world, keep the same frequency with the times, resonate with life, and dedicate more and better spiritual food to the people. Today, the development of folk music is faced with new historical opportunities. How to open up new realms of literature and art in maintaining integrity and innovation, and play the "national style and elegance" of the new era?

In an ancient tradition, find the code for innovation

In recent years, "national boom" and "folk music style" have flourished. More and more young audiences love folk music, and more and more children are learning folk instrumental music. This not only reflects the high recognition of the outstanding traditional culture among young people today, but also stems from the high cultural confidence of the public.

Based on such changes, the Central Chinese Orchestra and the National Centre for the Performing Arts jointly launched the first "Spring of Chinese Music", echoing the 7th "Spring of Chinese Symphony" held by the National Centre for the Performing Arts. Including the Central Chinese Orchestra, many Chinese orchestras in Beijing presented high-level performances to the audience. Now that the "Spring of Chinese Music" has come to an end, many viewers are still watching it through multiple video platforms and giving it a thumbs up. This practice made us personally feel that to promote the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese excellent traditional culture requires continuous exploration by artists, as well as building high-quality brands and expanding communication platforms.

The "out of the circle" of folk music is inseparable from the integrity and innovation. This year's CCTV Lantern Festival Gala's opening program "Qi Tianle" achieved a "phenomenal" spread. The program is less than 4 minutes long. How to show the characteristics of different ethnic musical instruments in a limited time, so that it sounds good and looks good, has created a difficult problem for us. Although Qi Tianle is a creative program, it has always been nourished by the excellent traditional Chinese culture. After refining, we strive to make every image and musical instrument on the stage fit with the historical background. The performers are like "wearing" a "textbook" of traditional Chinese costume culture, and staged a condensed history of the development of Chinese folk music. In the program, "God Thirteen" astronaut Wang Yaping played "Jasmine Flower" with the guzheng, and the performers "reproduced" Zhuge Liang, Ruan Xian, Ji Letian, Han Xiangzi and other characters came across time and space, and the instrumental music was harmonious and the ancient and modern reflected.

Inheritance and innovation have always been imprinted in the artistic genes of Chinese instrumental music, and also run through the development of the Central Chinese Orchestra. The Central Chinese Orchestra attaches great importance to inheritance, and is also willing to embrace new things. The old leader Xi Qiang and other seniors have tried to innovate in folk music. After graduating from university, I worked in the group and grew up step by step, deeply influenced by this atmosphere. I have tried cross-border combinations of musical instruments, transformed the knapsack pipa that can be played standing up, and launched the crystal pipa inspired by the crystal violin, but I have never stopped learning and drawing nourishment from the fine art traditions. When I was learning Nanyin Pipa in Fujian, I once thought the technique was simple, but then I suddenly realized that the "competition" is slow rather than fast, it is the inner charm. This is the unique beauty of Chinese culture and the unique taste of folk music.

In ancient traditions, we can always find innovative codes. Because tradition and innovation are never separated, tradition is the "root" of innovation, and without tradition, innovation is floating and empty. Only with the seeds of innovation in the heart and the roots of tradition under the feet can it grow into a towering tree.

Looking for "confidants" for folk music, and using the Internet as a new place for gathering

The 80th anniversary of the publication of Comrade Mao Zedong's "Speech at the Yan'an Symposium on Literature and Art". A few days ago, I revisited the fond memories of Li Huanzhi, the first head of the Central Chinese Orchestra in Yan'an, in the orchestra's art archives, and learned how they went from "Little Luyi" to "Great Luyi", to the broad masses of the people. The masses are humbly learning.

Literature and art workers insist on creative transformation and innovative development in order to make literary and artistic works better meet the cultural needs of the people and enhance the spiritual strength of the people. Literature and art creators should unify their artistic pursuits with the cultural needs of the people, pay attention to the "call of the people", and repay the people with good works.

The people are the objects of literary and artistic services, and they are real and concrete "people", including today's young people of course. In an era of constantly changing media and technologies, literary and art workers need to go deep into life and among the people, not only in the fields, but also in a wider range of "interview places" and "investigation places".

The online game "Honor of Kings" Yunying's theme music "Ying of Red Flame" was launched, and many young people paid attention to and fell in love with folk music. In the early stage of creation, we did a lot of "field collection", but the location of "collection" was on the Internet, on platforms such as Bilibili, Douyin, and Kuaishou. We are in the same platform and context as young people. Through listening, interviewing, participating and observing, we explore the expressions that young people like, and then create works that are both acceptable to young people and artistic quality. Through this practice, I understand that in order to win public sympathy, we must first generate empathy.

For folk music to develop, it cannot remain the same, and it is necessary to constantly seek innovative expressions that are in line with this era. Folk musicians should use contemporary expressions to introduce traditions and classics to today's audience, especially young people, and make them like it. As literary and artistic creators, we should also be soberly aware that "circling fans" is only the first step, "fans" are easy to get, but "confidants" are hard to find. We must let the younger generation truly understand folk music, understand traditional culture, and integrate folk music " There is still a long way to go from "fans" to "friends". Fortunately, we are firmly on the road.

Polishing the golden business card for the international dissemination of Chinese culture

The fusion of technology and art is an important trend of the moment. Recently, many art troupes have enriched the presentation methods of online performances, trying to increase the online reach, popularity and influence. We have also been groping for practice on this road.

In 2020, the Central Chinese Orchestra and the Palace Museum jointly launched the theme audio-visual concert "World Yongle China Festival". In 2021, the opening ceremony of the "Happy Chinese New Year" event will be broadcast online to meet global audiences. To celebrate the 100th birthday of the Communist Party of China, the orchestra launched a national concert "Sing a Song of Support for the Party". The event jointly launched with the Kuaishou short video platform has so far received 3,611 video works from netizens from all over the world, with more than 250 million views. This year's Lantern Festival, the "Ren Yin Hu Xiao" Central Chinese Orchestra Lantern Festival Concert for the Year of the Tiger and the 24th Anniversary of the Golden Hall in Vienna was held at the National Grand Theater. Netizens interact enthusiastically online. In addition, this year's "Great Wall", "National Style and Elegance" and "The First "Spring of Chinese Music" Opening Specially Planned Concert" also met the audience online, with more than 20 million hits. On the one hand, these data show the power of folk music and tell us not to underestimate the perception and comprehension of young audiences for folk music. On the other hand, it also shows that folk music still has a broad space for development.

With its unique charm and cultural identity, folk music has always been an important medium for telling Chinese stories well. Our folk music is not only unique, but also world-leading in pitch, organization and technology. Today, in the face of new challenges and new changes, we are still actively expanding the circle of friends of folk music overseas and striving to polish the golden name card of the international dissemination of Chinese culture.

It is very important for international communication to do a good job of refining the cultural identity. We have a chamber ensemble of 12 girls named "Li Renxing", inspired by the white stone painted Sanle relief sculptures of the Five Dynasties period. The ancient style and ancient rhyme are the distinctive cultural symbols of "Li Ren Xing", and their performances have aroused the attention and admiration of young people and overseas audiences. Recently, this chamber ensemble has reached a cooperation agreement with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonic Brass Chamber Orchestra to record "Raise Your Hijab", which is a youthful expression, and we are looking forward to the feedback from the audience. Through the "online connection" cooperation method, we collaborated with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra on "Spring Festival Overture". We are also actively establishing our own communication matrix on overseas streaming media. Up to now, the Central Chinese Orchestra has more than 1.28 million Facebook followers, ranking among the top among the overseas social media accounts of many national art troupes.

Telling Chinese stories with folk music is our mission. In the future, we will continue to expand the modern expression and effective communication channels of folk music while inheriting the tradition and polishing the ancient songs, and play the "national style and elegant rhyme" that belongs to our era.