A world of sounds

"Turtle Island aspires to integrate traditional and modern Japanese culture into their music so that people pay more attention to the past," Ilchi says.

"China hosts various ethnic cultures. Many young Chinese musicians have been working to preserve traditional folk music. We want to show them some successful foreign counterparts through the festival."

The festival is not only a place for music exchanges but also a platform for emerging performers to showcase their talents.

The five-member band Marmota has been devoted to discovering and preserving Mongolian folk music since 2009. Its lyrics are in Mongolian and Tuvan.

"I got to know some excellent world-music performers here," the lead singer Danpel says.

"It's a great platform to discover world-music talent in China and promote the county's ethnic music."

Chinese musician Dangih Nurlan from the Kazak ethnic group performed a solo show on the first day.

Dangih Nurlan hails from Tacheng in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and plays ethnic Kazak music that has been passed down over centuries.

"My music depicts traditional nomadic herders' lives and such natural splendors as grasslands, mountains and bodies of water," Dangih Nurlan says.