(Continues from Chinese Music Classics of 20th Century – II/VI: Songs)

Xian Xinghai, condcuting Yellow River Cantata at Yan'An

But the organizers made a fatal mistake to use the “classic” word. “Classic” has the meaning of artistic value. “Classics” are naturally formed. It is obvious that to generate “classics” by ballot would be impractical. Who votes? What criteria? In what way? there are endless questions. If we only selected “the most representative works of each era”, perhaps we can have a more objective identification criteria.

The jury in fact was clear about this issue, but the Foundation was very insistent on the “classic”  word because that it is “loud and clear”. “If replaced by ‘representative’, I am afraid the reputation of this ballot would be impaired even before publishing”, presiding judge Wu Zuqiang explained, ” ‘classic’ shows public support for Chinese music with good intentions; the assessment is also in a half-hearted case —  in the name of ‘classic’ doing the real selection of ‘representative’ ” . For example,  “Plum Blossom” ( by Liu Chia-chang), does represent its era, but calling it a “classic” is far from the truth!

It was clearly foreseeable that the word “classic” would bring adverse effect. For the music industry, it increases the difficulty to agree on the list; for the public, it is apparently misleading; for future generations,  there will be a false impression to “follow the law”, etc. Unfortunately, the Chinese people’s bad habits – “Idol deification”  defeated reason.  When the list was not yet awarded, oppositional voices were everywhere from north to south. Musicians either fought hard in order to get in, or turn up their noses. For a word, good intentions become malicious causes. China has numerous examples!

(… to be continued …)

Choir

Opera

White Hair Girl Ballet | by {link:http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/4005079055/}xieqiang.li{/link}

Please stay tuned and other parts will be posted soon!

[Chinese Keyword]
二十世纪华人音乐经典