"I have been inspired by their craft. They have used folk arts as a vehicle to express themselves and as popular form of rural entertainment," Su says.

In 2016, Su launched a project titled Yellow River Runs Forth which showcased the sound and visual materials he has gathered during the past two decades of travelling in Northwest China, as well as the paintings he created based on the areas he visited.

That year, after performing at the Modern Sky Music Festival in New York, he held a four-day exhibition featuring works of the Yellow River Runs Forth project at Cloud Gallery in New York. He also gave two lectures at Columbia University and Harvard University.

This March, upon invitation by the Confucius Institute, Su brought the project to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he performed at Ibirapuera Park. He opened the show with his song Pearl Roll Shutter, accompanied by guitar, Chinese drums and his paintings based on the ancient rock paintings of Helan Mountains.

"Su Yang displays distinct melodic patterns and structures as well as unique accents while performing those songs," says Sun Xintang, deputy director of the regional center of Confucius Institutes for Latin America. "The show was exotic and fresh to audiences of South America, who are born with the talent of singing and dancing."

Nearly a month after returning to Beijing, where Su is now based, the singer-songwriter says that he will continue traveling to gather new folk art materials that he would present in his own unique style.

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