Plenty of confidence

Gong Linna and her husband Robert Zollitsch rehearse for Gong's Spring Festival performances. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

For Lao Luo, everything in his life is about creating something new, from songwriting to cooking for his children.

A month after Fahai, You Don't Understand Love, they will release another song, Jin Gu Bang ("Golden Stick"), which depicts the Monkey King, a main character in the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West.

The fast-paced song, Gong says, is even harder to sing than Tan Te, which requires long breaths and repeating high-pitched sounds. She has been practicing for a month to capture the correct tempo.

According to Lao Luo, the composition is based on the Monkey King, who can magically transform himself into various animals and objects.

Gong will perform Jin Gu Bang at Hunan Satellite TV Station's Spring Festival gala. The song is also a part of Gong's new mini-musical, which will be performed at Jiangsu Satellite TV Station's Spring Festival gala.

The seven-minute musical will contain three songs, the folk song Jin Gu Bang, pop song Big Idiot and A Dream, which is adapted from one of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) poet Li Qingzhao's works.

"Because Lao Luo grew up in the West," Gong says, "he is not constrained by any rules in China. I have no idea where he will lead me to on the musical road, but I am looking forward to it."

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Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn.