The Book of Songs, also known as Shi Jing, is the oldest existing (collect) of Chinese poetry. Three years ago, when Chinese musician Fang Jinlong read Shi Jing, he was interested the stories told through the poems. Because he couldn't (full) understand the ancient Chinese language used in the poems, he turned to experts whose elaboration further attracted him to explore the poems.
Then he decided to portray the poems with musical language by inviting composer Ma Jiuyue (create) an album. Titled Music and the Book of Songs, the album was released on Jan 18, (feature) 10 original songs composed by Ma. They (perform) by Fang and won great popularity.
The 10 songs are based on 10 poems from Shi Jing, including Qiong Yao, which conveys gratitude to people who are eager to help others; Swallows, which (send) farewell messages to friends and Jia Yu, which portrays the scenes of a joyful banquet.
"Young people gave warm feedback about traditional Chinese music they had watched my performance. It inspired me to create more works for them, which helps popularise traditional Chinese music," says Fang.
"The 10 pieces sound (enjoy) and easy. For the listeners, it's a fresh way to comprehend poems from Shi Jing," says Ma. "We spent three years working on project. There are so many meanings in the poems and we want to display them as deep as possible with music," Ma says. "It's our mutual goal to have traditional Chinese music reach a wider audience."
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