HK musician starts Beijing World Music Week

Swing Shine, with Chinese pipa player Lin Di and French musician Jeremy Lasry, is known for its interpretation of 1930s Shanghai swing music. Photo provided to China Daily

Showing their brass

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Though he was born in the former Kingdom of Kongo and wanted to become a priest, Lema stumbled into a career playing European classical music, before moving onto American rock music and Congolese rumba. His appointment as musical director of the Congolese National Ballet took him back to study his traditional roots.

"Musicians tend to love more than one type of music and look forward to meeting musicians from different trends to enrich their playing skills," says the 68-year-old pianist.

Lema also established African Musical University, which he hopes will become a kind of "Berklee College of Music" for Africa, since "the African continent and its musicians deserve a top-level music school".

"I hope China will become one of our partners in this project because it becomes more evident that China and Africa are bound to share a lot together in the near future," he says.

Lee strongly believes the world music market is huge in China, both import and export wise.

"I could say this country has the richest ethnic music culture in the world," says Lee. "I encountered quite a few amazing singers from remote areas of Yunnan province, with voices like angels from heaven. They aren't trained musicians, but definitely gems in the world music arena. We saw them as farmers who sing work songs, but for many Western musicians, the new and exotic 'sound' usually plays an important part in creative simulation, which is a gold mine for them. Chemistry will sparkle and new ground will be broken when this happens."

If you go

8 pm, April 15-20. T8, North Area of Dangdai MOMA, 1 Xiangheyuan Lu (Road), Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-8400-4774.