While my guitar gently speaks
By Chen Nan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-27 09:36
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Singer-songwriter Li Jian says nothing about him has changed despite his recent surge in popularity, thanks to Faye Wong. Chen Nan reports
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Li Jian was in the spotlight after Faye |
Even though Li Jian has been writing music since he was 20, the flashbulbs were never brighter than they were when pop diva Faye Wong sang his Chuan Qi, or Legend, at 2010's CCTV Spring Festival Gala.
This single event, which draws audiences in the hundreds of millions across the country, brought Li back into the spotlight.
When asked once if he felt embarrassed about being noticed because of someone else's radiance, he merely chuckled and said, "I've been in a cave and now I have a chance to come out of it."
"I might have been unhappy if someone else had sung the song and made it successful. But this was Faye Wong, a good friend of mine, who has been supporting and inspiring me all along," he explains on a recent afternoon in Beijing.
Basking in the warm rays of an August sun streaming in through the window of a second-story guest room, in a high-end club in the east side of the capital owned by a friend of Li's, the 36-year-old singer-songwriter cuts a cozy figure.
The interview about his sold-out concert 20 days later in Beijing, following his equally successful Guangzhou stop earlier in August, stretches into a friendly chat.
"I am still adjusting to my overnight fame. I have seldom done interviews and concerts in the past 10 years," he says.
"I prefer to play the guitar and to sing at home instead of on the stage. But now that I have the opportunity to have my own concert, it is my responsibility to do it well."
The concert, titled Music Poet - Li Jian, Live in Beijing, will feature 30 of his songs, chosen from his four albums.
Like his mini-concert held at Starlive, Beijing, in 2008, which attracted many of his friends, including Faye Wong, Li wants his upcoming concert too to be more like a party than a commercial show.
"No exaggerated stage design, dances or acrobatics, (it will only have) my singing and guitar-playing," he says.
"I've got absolutely no talent in promoting myself properly as a showbiz singer. But I can sing and write songs. I want the concert to be all about getting back the basics. I want to tell my audience that I am still myself and have not changed," says Li earnestly.
Born in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, northeastern China, Li took to music at a young age. He inherited his clear and smooth voice from his Peking Opera singer father. He won numerous singing competitions in his hometown, that eventually took him to prestigious Tsinghua University.
He landed a decent job as a Web designer after graduation, but gave it all up for his passion - music.
He joined hands with his classmate, Lu Gengxu, to form the popular duo, Shui Mu Nian Hua, in 2001.
"Music has always been an important part of my life and I received great support from my family. No matter what I do, I can never forget music," he says.
The duo's hits like Always Having You, The Story of April, and Youth were frequently on not just radio and TV, but also at restaurants and clubs.
But at their peak, Li decided to go solo and in 2003 embarked on his own musical journey. His decision, which he seldom talked about, left his fans confused.
Li disappeared from the limelight but when he released the album How Time Flies, featuring Legend, later that year, his fans felt reassured.
Songs such as Ten Minutes in a Lifetime and Shi Sha Hai were again on everyone's lips.
"Many pop stars and their record companies think that they need maximum media exposure to sustain a career. But I disagree," Li says.
He releases just one album over two years, taking a half-year break in between. But while absent from the stage, magazines and promotional events, he continues contributing songs to other mainland singers who are his friends.
Li is glad for the boost to his career from Faye Wong, but insists the surge in his popularity and visibility on the mainland pop scene has not brought any changes to his life, other than giving him more freedom to write songs.
"Some complain that all my songs are in the same style. I say to them, 'Yes, I am this type of songwriter who sticks to what I am good at'," he says.
Li ascribes his shy and quiet nature to his slow, soothing tunes and poetic lyrics.
"In my younger days, music was like therapy," he says. "Now that I am grown up and confident, I need to learn how to be a performer."
