About 10 years ago, rock musician Su Yang was inspired by a CD of blues to begin making his own music. One of his first works, however, was an adaptation of hua'er, a kind of traditional folk song from Northwest China.
"If Western musicians can turn blues to pop and rock, we can use hua'er to create contemporary Chinese music," says Su, who is from Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui autonomous region. "Hua'er is a very unique and down-to-earth kind of song that has its distinct melodic patterns, structures and rhetoric systems."
In his second album, released in 2010, Su covered a traditional hua'er titled The Night Journey (Xia Ye Chuan), which tells a man's secret rendezvous with his lover.
The song begins with depictions of the scenery from the mountain to the plain, which was later disclosed to be underlining the difficulty of the meeting.
Hua'er, which literally means flower, is said to have got its name from the image of a flower symbolizing one's beloved woman.
For local people, hua'er is an important vehicle for expressing personal feelings and a popular rural entertainment.
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