The sound of tradition

One day, his father took him to a wedding and allowed him to play in the band. His grandfather saw his talent compared to other Gong family boys, and decided to train him seriously.

At the age of 16, Gong Yuhong was sent to the Lyuliang Art School to further his studies of the suona and other musical instruments, among them the sheng (a mouth-blown free-reed instrument) and percussion instruments, after his grandfather died in 1996. He's been the only one from the Gong family who received academic music training from an art school. In 2002, his father retired and he became the band's head.

"It almost stopped performing after my grandfather died, because traditional music faced a challenge from contemporary music, like pop songs. People wanted pop songs during weddings and temple fairs," says Gong Yuhong.

"In my father's generation, there were six people playing in the band, and in my generation, there are seven," he says, adding that, as an old tradition, only men were allowed to learn to play instruments in the Gong family."When I decided to restart the band, I called my relatives and they liked the idea. However, they all have regular jobs, so we have little time to rehearse and perform together."