It's time for ocarinas--Old-school instruments get a new life
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"I grew up with Chinese traditional folk music so I was infatuated by the ocarina due to its special charm. From my original song 'Qiannian Fengya' (千年风雅), you might get to understand the history of this ancient instrument and my deep love of it."
Zhou Zilei started to learn a variety of instruments when he was 6 years old, such as the piano, Scottish bagpipes, Southern flute, Pau ... and went on to win lots of national and international awards such as the first prize of National Musical Instruments Competition, National Young Singer TV Grand Prix. He also took part in cultural performance in Belgium and Paris etc. However, when he got familiar with the ocarina from 2006, he finally committed himself to the world of the ocarina.
He established nine ocarina shops named Taodigongshe across Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Changchun. He trained shop assistants to be proficient performers so they in turn could teach visitors to play ocarina for free. In order to get the best quality of ocarina, he cooperated with its largest manufacturer, the Fengya Musical Instruments Factory. His first original ocarina album, Qianianfengya, was released in 2009. He also went to places such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Sydney, and Melbourne giving performances, which aimed to promote this ancient instrument to the general public.
"The ocarina is easy to learn for people even without any musical foundation … it's portable and relatively cheap since the price is generally no more than 1,000 yuan. That's also an obstacle for its popularity. Some people misunderstand that it's just a toy. I just want to prove that it isn't but is a wonderful music instrument."
According to Zhou, the ocarina is poised to be a major trend in China and in the world just as long as people hear about it. If the melodies are to be believed, just hearing it alone should be enough!
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