To Sing Stories of Jiangxi to the World

"Hi, Nanchang!" Recently, the band named Belt and Road had a flashmob at the square in front of Tengwang Pavilion. They sang Chinese classics such as "Azalea" and "Jasmine", as well as their original song "Me and my Chinese teacher". The band's eye-catching performance attracted a lot of passersby and won their plaudits.

The band, formed by several international students from Nanchang Hangkong University (NCHU in short), have performed in quite a few places, singing the beautiful Jiangxi and wonderful life in China to the world.

Finding resonance far away from the home country

Speaking of how the band was initially formed, it could trace back to September 2013, when two international students—Naim Durjoy from Bangladesh and Singh from India—became friends after finding out they both love music.

In February 2015, knowing a conference was held in Beijing to promote the Belt and Road Initiative, Naim and Singh had the idea to form a band with the theme of this massive-scale international cooperation project. They invited a few other students from NCHU to join them, including Daniel on electric piano from Tanzania, Niyasha on drums from Zimbabwe, and Abel on bass from Zambia. The band made its debut at the 2015 NCHU Welcome Party with "Waka Waka", the theme song of the 2010 South Africa World Cup.

In the spring of 2016, the band was invited by China Nerin (one of China's Top 50 engineering companies) to perform "Right Here Waiting", "Sailing", and a Chinese hit song named "Come home often". After several rehearsals, Daniel was able to smoothly perform those classic English songs, but the Chinese one he sang was delivered in a bland and emotionless flavor. Focusing too much on imitating precisely the pronunciation of every Chinese character, he failed to express the sentiments hidden in the lyrics. Luckily, Xie Hua, the director of the International Cooperation and Exchange Office of NCHU, gave him and other band members some useful guidance. He told the band that China Nerin has businesses in 60 countries and regions, many of which are along the Belt and Road. The company has been doing large engineering projects for years, especially in the infrastructure sector in Africa (railways, bridges, roads, networks and mineral development), making significant contributions there. Its employees are working hard in every corner of the world, separated from their families for long periods of time, just like these band members studying in China. "Can you understand the joy of being home and the longing for your loved ones? Think about those mixed feelings you have missing your hometown and parents, and sing the song with them." said Xie. After the talk, he took the band on a tour of Nerin and let them watch the videos of the employees working overseas on those Belt and Road projects. Seeing the construction work of railroads, highways, ports and hydropower stations in their hometown triggered their longing for home and their emotional resonance. Naturally, they knew how they should perform the Chinese song and gave an outstanding show in the end.

In the spring of 2020, when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out, the band was invited by Jiangxi China Coal Construction Group to perform there. This time the members were able to well relate withe the song without outside help, as they had all volunteered on campus to fight the epidemic and visited the company for field trips before. In more than a decade, Jiangxi China Coal has grown from a local company based in Jiangxi to an international company with multinational operations, with two-thirds of the group's employees working overseas and unable to return home for the Chinese New Year because of the epidemic. Daniel and the rest of the band realized that the epidemic had made human beings, regardless of nationality or race, unite with each other, so they purposely chose to present the audience two widely popular songs "Storm Is Over" and "We Are The World", the show of which was highly praised by all the staff attended. The band also selected another Chinese hit song called "We Are All Dreamers", initiating a crowd-sing-along. "We are all dreamers, running towards our future under the boundless sky and on the promising path, between a thousand mountains and waters." The song, which is full of youth and aspiration, speaks right to these international students. Daniel was so moved and inspired by the song that he mastered it after only following its soundtrack three times.

Learning more about Chinese culture in Jiangxi

"We all like China a lot and want to express our love through music." said the members of the band. They've done tour shows for years, witnessing the phenomenal changes that took place both on the country's vast land and in its people's daily life.

On May 20, 2019, Daniel's Chinese friend Daxiong, who had worked in Ghana, held a wedding in Nanchang. The band did a live show of English songs including "My Heart Will Go On", "Only You" and "Marry You", as well as Chinese songs "China in the Lights", "Very Sweet"(Tian mimi) and "The Moon Represents My Heart" until late at night, over which all of the guests had a blast.

The traditional Chinese wedding was an eye-opener for the band members and gave them a better understanding of what the aesthetics of a typical Chinese life style is all about. At the wedding, the features of the Chinese tradition were distinctive and could be seen everywhere, like those big red lanterns hung up high and the lively and festive wedding activities. The banquet table was filled with a wide variety of cuisines, all of which had auspicious names and were so full of flavors that Daniel and Abel thought the Chinese wedding banquet must be the legendary Man-Han Chinese banquet (the most famous Chinese banquet in history formed by collecting the essence of Man and Han dishes).  

Studying in Jiangxi, the band members have their own views on local food. Among them, Niyasha loves the spicy, savory Jiangxi food best and he obviously knows what he's talking about. Just for the roast chicken alone, he said he had eaten a couple of different kinds. He has also learned that there's a deep and long-lasting cultural bond and connotations behind the Chinese people's strong love of food. Thanks to those tours in different regions in Jiangxi, he had the opportunity to taste Nanchang Hongdu chicken, Yichun Laobiao chicken soup, and Ningdu stewed chicken with three cups of sauce, each of which, he understands, has an interesting episode of history. While Niyasha enjoys spicy food, Daniel and Abel, who are not so into chilies, love the local foods of other flavors, like the Nanchang soup stewed in pottery jar, Ganzhou steamed fish fillets with rice flour and four appetizers, Guixi royal walnut cake, lamp wick cake, Fengcheng crispy candy of glutinous rice, and Jiujiang tea cake. "Dinning in China" is definitely one of the best ways for the international students to have a deeper understanding of how Chinese lead their everyday life.

Daniel also felt the warmth and sincerity of Chinese people here. He and Tumpale Zimba, a master's student from Malawi majored in clinical medicine at Nanchang University, met and got to know each other because they both love Haidilao hotpot, and finally tied the knot. Unable to return home due to the epidemic, they got married in Nanchang on October 2, 2021. His teachers, classmates and friends including Daxiong and his wife, all helped them set up the wedding in a festive and elegant way, making Daniel feel at home.

Enjoying more loveliness here in Jiangxi

There's an old Chinese saying that goes"the barracks are forever there with soldiers coming and going all the time." However the old band members leave and the newcomers join, the band stays there as always, so does their motto— To sing the stories of Jiangxi to the world. On social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook, the band keep telling what they see, feel and experience in China and promoting Jiangxi to the world.

Naim went off to UK for graduate studies in aeronautical engineering, while backup singers Mwanza Chebukayi and Lyatuu Charles Jameck went to the US for graduate studies in aeronautical engineering, leaving the band temporarily. But the band soon took on new blood: Tanzanian students Tanaka and Zubeda, Pakistani student Muheet and Turkish student Nazif.

In September 2018, the band was invited to the 12th Moon Culture and Tourism Festival in Yichun. From the Gala Night to the concert to the Gujing Music Festival at Mingyue Mountain, the band did not miss a single chance of performing. The international students marveled at the imagination and creativity of the Chinese people. They praised the gorgeous landscape and fascinating cultural vibe at Mingyue Mountain, where the ridges, the moon, the Zen spirit and the springs, all of which just perfectly complemented each other. At one of the improvised performances, the band sang quite a number of classic songs containing the theme of the moon from both ancient and modern times: "Under A Violet Moon", "Shepherd Moons", "O Silver Moon", "Look at the Face of the Moon", "The Curved Moon", "The Moon on Day Fifteen", "The Bright Moon Delivers Love for a Thousand Miles", "The Colorful Clouds Chase the Moon", and "The Moon Fills the Western Tower". Enjoying the magical night in the silver moonlight, surrounded by the sublime mountains, the audiences were full of joy and excitement.

Over the years, the band Belt N' Road has performed at various places, during which they've understood more about Jiangxi culture. Before they went to Fuzhou to learn about Tang Xianzu of the Yuan Dynasty, an opera playwright as great as Shakespeare. Then in July this year, they went to Jingdezhen. "The world gets to know China from the word China; and they learn china from Jingdezhen." Yonas said, "A thousand years ago foreigners got to know Chinese ceramics through the Silk Road, and today I'm very lucky to be here to experience first-hand the development of ceramic art in contemporary times." And Patrick said he didn't expect Jingdezhen to be such an open and inclusive city, with ceramists and dream followers from all over the world going there to fulfill their visions. Jingdezhen lies the future of living ceramic art. (written by Yiqing)

The Belt and Road band participates in Porcelain's Journey Along the Silk Road. [Photo via Nanchang Hangkong University]