“The most beautiful Chinese songs are those of their ethnic minorities”
Jean-François Maljean, pianist and composer between jazz and pop, former accomplice of the late Pierre Rapsat, assumes a loving eclecticism nourished by curiosity and research … In this regard, since 2002, China has been its 2nd musical homeland, enthusiastically mediating its Art FUSION between variety and folklore of ethnic minorities. After the resounding success of a planetary anthem in support of the COVID-stricken city of Wuhan, he is preparing an album with zen touches to allay our anxieties of the moment.
In the midst of COVID, a musician received us warmly with a cup of coffee and chocolates in his house in Genval.
LHCH: First of all, we would like to thank you for the very beautiful song “Chime of the dawn bells” written in tribute to Wuhan. 100 million views on Youtube!
Jean-François Maljean: My first hit at 67! But without the desire to seek personal profit. Basically, it was an idea from my Chinese editor Kevin He, an idea linked to the impossibility for me to go to China at this time: to make a little video like “Wuhan, JIA YOU” (Wuhan, courage in Chinese). A little embarrassed at first, clumsy, I got caught up in the game later, while wanting to avoid clichés.
LHCH: Hundreds of millions of views also direct in China thanks to Hunan TV loving your work. And here ?
J-F. M: Surprisingly, the Flemish press was quickly informed. Wallonia only then. But my career in China is not really followed in Belgium …
LHCH: A small country that does not often recognize its own talents. Besides, China is huge and far away.
J-F M: Less far for the Flemings apparently… More interested in China. But it is nevertheless thanks to the know-how and a kind of Belgian humility that I have success in Shanghai or Beijing.
LHCH: What has been your approach to Chinese culture, five thousand years old and so different from province to province?
J-F M: As early as 2002, while riding my hump, I learned to understand that the Chinese love music and, above all, sing popular songs. Very often those of their ethnic minorities. A follower of “small is beautiful”, I was passionate about these minorities so colorful, so charming, so joyful.
LHCH: There are 56 officially!
J-F M: Yes, but in my opinion, when it comes to folk songs, the most interesting is the Dong minority with whom I worked for the album “Dong Fusion” in 2009. Did you know that the Dong dialect is made up of 15 tones? It’s already music! So I immersed myself in the “Sea of Songs”, the other name of the land of the Dong who have a melody for every moment of the day. The Dong are found in the southern provinces of China, Hunan, Guangxi, and especially in the beautiful and wild province of Guizhou.
LHCH: The European media often present the Han majority as practicing the acculturation of other Chinese ethnicities. Tibet, etc …
J-F M: Not at all! The Chinese government protects minorities like treasures. A whole wealth of heritage to safeguard! It was the Chinese authorities who turned me into “Guizhou cultural ambassador”.
LHCH: Why this passion for Chinese minority music?
J-F M: The Chinese variety is very inspired by the Anglo-Saxon variety. But even star producer Shang Wenjie offered me a cover of the songs “Dong”. We collaborated differently. I also create fusions of European melodies with typical Chinese instruments. At a big New 2019 concert hosted by a Chinese TV, I played the piano with a Pipa player, friend of Lang Lang.
LHCH: What do you think of current Chinese pianists?
J-F M: I know them well because the greatest are like me artists of the Steinway piano brands. In this regard, I know the Chinese team that organizes the “Stenway” concerts in Germany where I play often.
LHCH: How do you set out to conquer the former Middle Kingdom?
J-F M: A lot of Europeans want a career in China, but they think like Europeans… You have to get to know the Chinese. By rolling his bump in the bus, in small hotels, from town to town. We must neither believe that we are going there like a messiah we are already expecting, nor play it opportunist and fit the mold of the expectations of the Chinese people. The Chinese are sentimental, even if they hide it, and love romantic melodies. Yes. In China, everyone plays the piano! All mothers want their child to learn the piano. Yes. So yes it is my piano melodies that I liked because they included pentatonic scales, from jazz for me, but so appreciated in Asia. I adapted while remaining myself. I have travelled a lot ; studied the use of intervals such as fourths, coma, “portamento” which link notes differently, etc. I met my producer Kevin He in a project related to the use of the oldest carillons in the world, from Hubei! At the same time, you have to resist the idea of always playing Chinese melodies to please the audience.
LHCH: And the Chinese way of working?
J-F M: Sometimes strange for us. The concerts or the projects are not planned a year in advance like with us. We call you a week before a concert; the idea of an exciting project is thrown at you in a passionate way, then it is constantly delayed or suspended … You have to understand the mentality, tell yourself if it works ok, otherwise too bad! It’s full of surprises. I love !
LHCH: What about logistics?
J-F M: In the early 2000s, the pianos and the sound of concert halls were not yet on top. All the piano works were “classic” from the start. But today the quality far exceeds that of here.
LHCH: When will your next opus be?
J-F M: It will be released at the end of September in China. Then we’ll see. It will integrate different versions of “Chime of the dawn bells” in English and Chinese with a beautiful video clip shot on a lake. Different quite hovering, zen instrumental pieces with minority voices will appease our difficult times in Europe…. It will obviously be available for streaming on Spotify
LHCH: A project or a dream that is still close to your heart?
J-F. M: I have been asked to do so, but it has also been a dream for me for a long time: to compose a musical. With songs from the Dong minority…
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