Interview: Introducing Chinese folk songs to UN, U.S. audiences is a dream come true: Chinese mezzo soprano

Classically trained in Western opera, Yixuan Pang, a mezzo soprano, has found increasing interest and happiness in Chinese folk songs when she sang them in English to foreigners at the United Nations and in the United States.

"My interest started from my vocal solo concert at the music hall of my college about four years ago when I was in the second year into my graduate program," Pang said in a recent interview with Xinhua, referring to Manhattan School of Music in New York City.

The concert, staged in 2011, was originally intended to show her teachers and fellow students her love for the Chinese folk songs.

"To my great surprise, I learned that some Chinese students were moved to tears by my performance because my songs reminded them of their beautiful hometowns back in China," Pang said. " However, some American friends came to me after my curtain call to tell me that they felt charming tunes and pleasant music in the songs, but they did not know their real meanings."

The puzzle in the eyes of her American audience prompted Pang to do something to help them because she had the similar experience -- she felt tired when listening to French operas in New York, even when English captions were provided.

ENGLISH HELPS A LOT

"Therefore, I made up my mind to sing Chinese folk songs in English in order to drive it home to more and more American audiences," she said. "This was one of my dreams at that time."

Pang made her debut in turning her dream into reality in September 2014 when she began her presentation "China: A Lyrical Journey," which featured songs and lectures at New York University, thanks to assistance of Wen Xuejun, a veteran Chinese translator at the United Nations who helped translate many popular folk songs into English.

She worked like both a tourist guide with a map of China and a professor in a classroom, singing and lecturing to help foreigners better understand the famous folk songs from China's different provinces.

She picked up a folk song from a province she marked on a map of China, which was flashed on a big television screen, singing the song in English after or before introducing customs and conventions of the province where the song was originated.

"To spread the knowledge of Chinese folk song and fine traditional Chinese culture, I selected seven of the most representative Chinese folk songs from different regions of China to demonstrate their historical backgrounds, geographical features, customs, singing styles and language characteristics," she said.

These selected folk songs are from Chinese provinces rich in folk culture, such as "Rippling river" from Yunnan in southwest China, "Jasmine flower" of Jiangsu in east China, "Dragon boat song" from Hunan in central China and "A lovely rose" from Xinjiang in northwest China.

"I can see enjoyment from the expressions of my foreign audience during my presentation," Pang said. "English really helps in this regard."

MOST DIFFICULT JOB

Pang said that in introducing Chinese folk songs to American people, "the most difficult part of the job is to enable English translations to match the rhythm and genuine meanings of the original Chinese folk songs."

Chinese folk songs, which contain some dialect in its original region and sound more like a poem, are the most difficult to translate into a foreign language as the English versions should fit well into its original tune and rhythm, she said. "This requires painstaking efforts."

After getting translations of a few folk songs into English by a learned translator and a veteran interpreter, who are both serving the United Nations, Pang began her rehearsal, and she first sang them to her relatives and friends, who encouraged her to carry on.

Her great efforts paid off. The Chinese folk songs sang in English were well received by American audiences.

In April, Pang brought foreign diplomats and UN staff to join her lyrical journey through China as the United Nations marked the Chinese Language Day. The celebration is held around the same time in April each year on Guyu, which literally means "grain rain," referring the sixth of the 24 solar terms created by ancient Chinese to carry out agricultural activities.

Her presentation won enthusiastic applause from her audience at UN headquarters in New York.

"I am very happy that my foreign audience understands my presentation. You see, I enjoy nodding approval from them," she said. "I will continue this work to enable more and more American and UN staff to better understand Chinese folk songs and Chinese culture." Endite