Songs from the valley

Singer-songwriter Xiao Juan is not prolific, but remains faithful to her own style and ideas about making music.

Love and sadness, smiles and frowns all converge with quiet sincerity whenever Wang Xiujuan, or Xiao Juan as she is known, performs on stage. During the past 15 years, she has sung about the pain of growing up, the tranquility of being alone, the passion of finding love and her longing for home in a voice that suggests intimate confessions.

Having released only four albums in the last decade, the singer-songwriter, from Wuhan, Hubei province, is far from prolific, but remains faithful to her own style and ideas about making music, which has secured the singer-songwriter a loyal fan base in the mainland.

However, such commitment to her music doesn't mean repeating herself, it means making music that is inspired by her travels and the changes in her life, as is apparent with the release of her fourth album, From Taiwan to Danshui.

The album is the fruit of her visit to Taiwan with her band Green Flowers last year. They stayed for months soaking up the local folk songs that are passed down from generation to generation.

"I listened to many Taiwan folk songs when I was a child and I love them," she explains. "I visited some places, which have been described in classic Taiwan folk songs, and met up with some famous local folk musicians. The trip was a process of fulfilling my childhood dream."

The band has selected 15 classic Taiwan folk songs, such as Hometown and Heart Song and refashioned them.

"When I sing those songs, I feel like I am murmuring poems, which have beautiful lyrics and profound meanings," she says. "Though all the songs from the album are not new songs, we have made our own creations by using different instruments and maybe a different chorus."

The band also took lots of photographs as they traveled around Taiwan, and some of the pictures have been used for the cover and inside pages of the album.

"The band's Chinese name is slightly different from Green Flowers, it translates literally into 'residents living in the valley'," she explains. "Everyone keeps a valley in his or her heart which is beautiful and peaceful. We are a team and a family. We are living in the same valley when we are singing and playing music together."

Music has always been her first career choice, even though she studied finance at university.

She was inspired to sing since she was 3, as her parents, both of whom worked in factories, played songs at home. Despite suffering a severe illness as a child and studying for a more secure profession, she was always determined to pursue her love of music .

"I studied finance and law because it helped me learn about society. But I didn't want to be an accountant or work for a financial company. My father said, 'If you like it, just go for it, but don't complain when you face bad things'."

She came to Beijing for the first time in 1993 as a university student and grew particularly fond of the Old Summer Palace, where she wrote the songs for her debut album.

"It's quiet and beautiful there, sitting in the sunshine and looking at the sky turning blue. Even the trees made me happy," she recalls. "I felt like I was finding inner peace."

One year later, she became a full-time singer/songwriter and got a job singing in a bar.

Talking about her career goal, she laughs and says that she doesn't want to aim for specific achievements at certain stages in her career.

"I just want to live my life every day and try my best to sing every song to people who love my songs. I'm already living my dream life," she says. "I enjoy singing on stage, whether it's a small venue and an audience of 100, or a stadium with 10,000 people."

She admits that she seldom makes public appearances to market her music. "It's not me. I'm not trying to promote my image. I am just fascinated by my current lifestyle, now that I have music with me."

Xiao Juan and her band - Xiaoguang, flute and harmonica, Xiaoqiang, guitar, and Huangjing, the drummer - will perform three small-scale concerts in Beijing.

China Daily

(China Daily 06/05/2010 page11)