Folk songs and nursery melodies provide a unique insight into culture and what has gone before, Chen Nan reports.

Musician Xiao He (first from left) and friends perform live in the courtyard of Yong Foo Elite club in Shanghai on June 14, led by Zhang Ruishi (third from right), 90, who sings lullabies and children's rhymes that she learned as a child. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

At first utterance, they may not seem like cultural treasures. Harmless ditties, a part of growing up, to be discarded quickly. However, nursery rhymes and folk songs play an important but often overlooked role in children's development.

Reciting Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, The Itsy Bitsy Spider or Row, Row, Row Your Boat provides an entertaining entree into developing language skills. They also give an insight into a time before, a peep into yesteryear.

Ni Mingsheng is 80 years old and understands the significance of preserving childhood favorites. When he was about to sing a folk song, Jiu Ku Miao ("saving withered seedlings"), in an open space on the roof of the Power Station of Art, a contemporary museum in Shanghai, on June 27, dark rain clouds were disgorging heavy rain.

When the outdoor performance was moved indoors, the rain stopped. This scenario resembled a scene portrayed in the song, Jiu Ku Miao: "Rain showers come and go quickly and it saves the withered seedlings. In the southwestern corner appears the rainbow."

"The villagers sang those songs and rhymes while working on the farmland," recalls Ni. "Now, few people sing these folk songs or rhymes and fewer people work on the farmland."

Born in a village in Jinze town, Qingpu district, Shanghai, the octogenarian never completed primary school, but he can still recall the folk songs and rhymes he listened to and sang as a child.

Recently, he was approached by a group of musicians, who wanted to learn to sing and record those songs. They invited Ni to perform in front of an audience.

"I was surprised that they wanted to listen to the old songs and wanted to learn to sing with me," Ni adds.

The musicians, led by singer-songwriter Xiao He, 45, whose real name is He Guofeng, are working on a music project, titled Nursery Rhyme Program, which aims to preserve old Chinese children's songs. One of the musicians involved is hip-hop star Jfever, whose real name is Zhao Hong. He rapped the song, Jiu Ku Miao, after Ni performed it.

(From left) Ni Mingsheng, 80, sings a folk song during a live concert which was organized by Xiao He, at a museum in Shanghai on June 27; Young people at the concert sing along with him. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Since 2018, He traveled with his musician friends to cities, including Beijing, Changsha in Hunan province and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.

They have discussed their project with people, mostly over 65, and collected more than 200 nursery rhymes. These were primarily local folk songs that had been the soundtrack to their childhood.

Besides recording and interviewing local people, they also held live performances to introduce the songs to a younger audience.

"Those old songs are full of memories for the elderly people we interviewed," says He, the former lead vocalist of Chinese rock band Glamorous Pharmacy. He has also written music for theatrical productions and movies.

In 2016, he joined in a music program for children with special needs and was inspired to search for more songs.

"It's not only about reminding people of their childhood memories but also about recording memories and sharing the histories of different generations via music," he says.

In August 2018, for example, He visited an 80-year-old man who lives nearby Yuyuantan Park in Beijing, who taught him to sing a folk song he sang as a child, titled Lugou Qiao, a famous place near the Wanping Fortress in Beijing's Fengtai district, often referred to as the Marco Polo Bridge. The song depicts the scenes of the camels traveling on the bridge which is adorned with hundreds of lion figurines.

"The song hit me. Though it is simple and short, I want to adapt it into a new song and let more people listen to it," He says, adding that his little daughter was the song's first listener.

To collect songs, he wakes up early in the morning and goes to local parks to meet elderly people, who are doing their morning exercises. He also carries his ruan (a traditional Chinese plucked stringed instrument). He invites the people in the park to play music with him. But building up trust can be a hit-and-miss affair.

"It's a process of looking for a needle in a haystack but it's interesting and worthwhile," he says. "Sometimes the elderly people are very interested in me and they tell me lots of stories, but sometimes they turn my requests down. It usually takes months to stay in one city to collect songs before we head to another city.

"What I am looking for is beyond music. I want to discover the connection between the songs and the listeners," He says.

His friend, singer-songwriter Sun Dasi, introduced He to his grandmother when he was in Shanghai to collect children's songs.

Sun's grandmother, Yang Junwen, who was born in Shanghai in 1930, sang the song, titled Row a Boat, to Sun when he was a child. She learned to sing the song when she was about 7 years old, and the song portrays the people who traveled to Shanghai by boat to make a living in the 1930s.

"My grandmother is very beautiful and independent. She had worked in a textile factory and took care of her three children," says Sun, who took He and a few other musician friends to visit his grandmother this June.

"When we sang the song together, she sang with us. Though she is 90 years old, she still remembers the song."

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn