This article originally appeared on our sister website, Urban Family Shanghai.
By Natalie Foxwell
Liu Jian founded Hand in Hand International Children’s Music Festival, China’s first touring rock festival for families, along with his wife, American journalist Rebecca Kanthor. We sat down with the Henan-born musician to learn more before Sunday's debut.
That's: What are Hand in Hand music festivals? And what motivated you to create this concept?
LJ: Hand in Hand is China’s first international music festival created for the whole family. I developed this concept because I wanted to do something to help change the lives of children in China. After our daughter was born, I remember wanting to share children’s songs with her and, after searching, I could only find the same Chinese songs I had heard when I was a child.
Thinking that there needs to be new music for children in China, I was curious to hear what the music from other countries was like, and I found so many talented bands making really great music for children. That’s how I came up with the idea to bring the most innovative and fun bands for children from around the world to China. We want to give families a chance to enjoy the best children’s music and inspire Chinese musicians to start making better music for kids.
Who were your own musical inspirations when you were young?
I was 16 when I first heard rock music, and it changed my life – Tang Dynasty, Cui Jian and Nirvana to name a few. Hearing their music inspired me to follow my own dreams and showed me that I could choose the life I wanted.
How do you choose the artists for your concerts?
We’re very particular about the bands we invite to Hand in Hand. We only select the most innovative and talented groups that people of all ages can enjoy. We pay close attention to the content of their songs and only select bands who write songs with values that really speak to both parents and children. They all put on an energetic and engaging live show – this is crucial for creating the fun atmosphere we desire at our festivals.
[The message] we want our audiences to take away is: “Follow your own path.” I hope our young audience can realize that much earlier than I did. And we hope the parents who come to our shows feel they are still young, even though they have a family now.
How does your family contribute to the success of Hand in Hand?
Hand in Hand is a family effort. My wife Rebecca helps to find the bands and our kids [aged 2 and 5] also take part, giving us feedback on the bands we choose. All of us sing and dance in the music video we made for our theme song. Our parents and siblings have also been extremely supportive, lending us the funds we needed to put on our first music festival. It takes so much effort to put on the festival, but it’s fulfilling to work on this together and achieve such positive results.
Hand in Hand first toured China in 2017. What are some of your favorite memories from the shows?
For our first tour in June 2017, we brought two award-winning bands from Holland and the US to five cities. We really didn’t know what to expect. We weren’t sure our Chinese audiences would feel comfortable getting up and dancing during the performances. We even warned the bands ahead of time to be prepared. At our first show, within five minutes of Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band’s performance, all the parents and kids jumped up and were dancing together. Seeing families ‘rocking out’ to the music at our festivals has been so fulfilling, and at times we’ve seen three generations of a family all enjoying the music together! That feels really good.
We're giving away two tickets! Read more here on how to enter for your chance to win.
Sun Jun 3, 10am, 2pm and 5pm shows; RMB160-560; Beijing Exhibition Center, see event listing. Buy tickets here.
This article was originally published by our sister magazine Urban Family Shanghai. For more articles like this, visit the Urban Family website, or follow the Urban Family WeChat account (ID: urbanfamilyshanghai).
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