When a song made a difference

Another one of Li's hits, Unforgettable Tonight, a song which has been used as the closing song for the annual Spring Festival Gala for 32 years, also proves that people's views about music changed after the reform and opening-up.

"Traditionally, the closing song for a national TV gala is magnificent and the singers perform with high-pitched voices to big orchestras. However, Unforgettable Tonight is slow, smooth and my singing is soft and light," says Li, adding that the song, written by Qiao Yu and Wang Min, was born when the 1984 CCTV Spring Festival Gala invited artists from Hong Kong and Taiwan. The songwriters then used the song to celebrate the new year like a big family's reunion.

Li, who was born in Kunming, Yunnan province, began her music and theater career at the age of 15, when she started studying huaguxi opera, a folk music and dance art form in Hunan, at the Hunan Art Institute.

She then worked with the Hunan Huaguxi Opera Theater from 1961 to 1974 as an actress.

When she moved to Beijing to join in the then Central Symphony Orchestra in 1974, Li learned Western singing techniques and Peking Opera. Inevitably, the different ways of singing later merged into her own style.

In 1975, Li who was among the first group of Chinese musicians to perform abroad, sang in Australia and New Zealand, and in 1978, she performed with Central Symphony Orchestra in the United States.

During the past 40 years, the Chinese music scene has blossomed, and she says that the younger generation of musicians, who are often influenced by the West, should base their music on their Chinese roots.

Now, Li promotes original Chinese songs featuring musical elements from Chinese folk operas and ethnic groups.

She revealed that here are over 300 forms of Chinese opera and different techniques of singing used by Chinese ethnic groups. The art forms are unique treasures, she says, which deserve further study and promotion.

Li said the lyrics of Chinese songs written during the 1980s are poetic and the melodies are often inspired by Chinese tradition.