Singer's Nursery Rhyme Program becomes a book
Musician Xiao He, who launched a unique Nursery Rhyme Program in several cities around China in 2018, made a return to Shanghai this week.
He brought with him painter Wang Shuo, who turned the story of the program into a book entitled “China’s Old Folks and Their Nursery Rhymes.”
Xiao, a Hebei Province native, used to dabble in different music genres from rock to experimental. His hunger for reaching out to other people and their pasts led to the birth of the program, a project to find and compile nursery rhymes from cities around the country.
At the end of each trip, local nursery rhymes were selected and showcased in small performances. The project reached Shanghai at the beginning of the year. Xiao and his musician friends staged a concert at SAIC Shanghai Culture Square in August to perform some of the songs they found.
The book launch is held at Shanghai's Power Station of Art.
The program is still underway, while the stories and materials collected along the way were already rich enough for Wang to create a book.
Wang began his career as an engraving artist, but shifted to illustration as he felt the need to tell stories.
“I have always been drawing what I have in mind. This is the first time I have cooperated with another person to draw his stories,” Wang said at the book’s launch in Shanghai.
Wang used Chinese brush instead of pen or pencil for his creations.
“The touch by a Chinese brush is more random and vivid even when they are printed out,” he said.
Artist Wang Shuo used Chinese brush instead of pen or pencil for his creations.
Wang spent over six months on the book, during which he visited some of the people who had provided the nursery rhymes to dig out more background information for the book.
Xiao performed a few of his songs at the launch.
“Nursery rhymes never disappeared, but their poetic beauty is fading away,” he said. “This program helped me build connections with a lot of people. I believe everyone who took part in the program found it meaningful in a way.”
Some of the illustrations from “China’s Old Folks and Their Nursery Rhymes”
