On all of our adoptions, I have tried to broaden my horizons. Before the adoption, I only listened to English music. Maybe a little Spanish, like Pitbull. I did not go out of my way to listen to foreign music. I do think there was one artist from France, but I can't remember when I discovered his music.
Our first adoption, we stayed at the White Swan in Guangzhou, China. For those who have adopted, it is usually the last stop before coming home. The American consulate is located there, or one of them. They handle the final stage in the adoption process, in China. I will discuss this in a later post.
Around the hotel are shops. Most of them have knickknacks for people to take home to their families. The prices are reasonable and you can haggle. Next to the White Swan was a CD/DVD store. Being a lover of movies, I had to go. They had a big collection of western music and movies. I will discuss the movie side later, but I found some music that interested me. It was a group called The 12 Girl Band. This band consists of 12 women who each play a traditional Chinese instrument. I decided to give it a try.
The music is instrumental, no singing. Besides traditional Chinese tunes, they also do renditions of American pop music. They have a rendition of Coldplay's Clocks and the theme to Titanic. At home, I discovered that I really liked their music. I looked online and at the music stores. To my dismay, they either did not have it, or they were charging a lot of money due to Import fees. I thought that would be it.
We decided to go back to adopt a 7 year old. On this adoption, I thought that I needed to get some music that my new daughter could listen to. I knew it would take time for her to understand English. So, I found myself at the music shop next to the White Swan. This is a small boutique. Not much bigger than the shops at an airport, well the small ones that sell books and magazines. I was on the Chinese side of the store. The clerk was looking at me bewildered. I guess she thought I was lost.
"Sir, the Western music is on this side", she said pointing to the opposite side of the store.
"I am looking for Chinese music, but I don't know what to get. Could you give me suggestions of popular music".
She gives me two artists: Janice and Soulboy. I thank her and purchase the discs. I was also able to find a bunch of the 12 Girls Band. Once I got home, I popped the music in the CD player. I found that I liked it. Just like a lot of our music, I did not like everything on the disc, but I did find songs to hum to, if not sing to. Janice does use English in some of her songs. Soulboy is like a Chinese version of Justin Timberlake. I listened to his music for awhile, till I got board with it. I'm not much of a fan of soul music.
The girls liked Janice, but that seem to wear off once Kiersten learned English. Then she was into Taylor Swift and music like that. At this same time, our library stared to offer free downloads from Sony Music. I discovered more Chinese artists. One of my favorites is Fiona Fung. She sings in Mandarin and English. I would describe her as a Chinese Sarah Mclachlan. Another artist I found is named Jolin Tsai. She is a mix of pop/rap/dance.
With a knowledge of Chinese artists, I was prepared for our third visit, or so I thought. I went into a music shop and searched for Fiona Fung. The first thing that I noticed was that most of the titles were in Pinyin, the characters that represent the written Mandarin. It was either that or that the artists are called by one name for Western consumption and by another for the Asian audiences. So I went back to the hotel and got on the internet. I found her Asian name and went to another store. The clerks did not know who she was.
I thought the issue was that she was more of a Cantonese singer. I can not tell the difference. I knew Guangzhou had a large population of Cantonese. I waited. The White Swan shop was gone. The hotel was going through a major renovation. They actually closed the hotel for more than a year and redid the whole hotel. Due to this loss of visitors, many of the stores on the island were closed. It was becoming a ghost town.
Going inland from the island, we found another shop. I asked again. To no avail. No one knew who she was. We did find one person. At the Tee Mall, I went into a music shop. I found a clerk who knew of her music. Unfortunately, I would have to order it. It seems she was out of circulation. So much for the great search. I did find another artist to discover. His name was Jay Chou. I did not really know his music, but I did remember that he had collaborated on a song with Jolin Tsai.
On the plane home, I went past Neil Diamond's Coming to America, which must be a requirement for every international flight I have been on, and looked for Chinese artists. I found one that looked interesting. I don't remember what they had as the artists name, but I remembered the music. It was like a Chinese country song. When I got home, I discovered it was Jay Chou and the song was Cowboy on the Run. I found that I liked a lot of his music.
When I tell people that I listen to this music, they ask why because I don't speak the language. I tell them it is because I listen to the melody and repetition of words, or what I can make out. I liken it to an English song that you can understand the lyrics, but still like the song. I feel it has broadened my appeal to music. After this, I found it easy to get into Kpop and Jpop songs. I try to get the girls to listen or watch the videos. I want them to see singers that look like them. At first, they like groups like The Wonder Girls, but they are back to English pop. I still like the music. Until recently, I was getting board with our music. I still look out for new artists to listen to.
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