Feature: A granny inspiring children's choir from mountainous area to Olympic stage-Xinhua

Feature: A granny inspiring children's choir from mountainous area to Olympic stage

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2022-03-26 15:16:17

Deng Xiaolan (C), a retired music teacher of Malanhua Children's Choir, stayed with children before a rehearsal at the National Stadium in Beijing on Jan. 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Xu Yanan)

A granny passed away but her spirit lives on with the children's choir that she started 16 years ago.

By sportswriters Gao Meng, Ji Ye

BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- For students in Malan Primary School in Fuping County in north China's Hebei Province, the past 18 years went by along with music, which was quite a novelty to them before Deng Xiaolan became their music teacher.

They have got a chance of singing on the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Winter Games on what could be the biggest stage in their life.

The changes were attributed to Deng, the founder of the Malan village choir, who passed away at age 78 on Tuesday.

Children's folk rhymes once again resounded in Fuping. This time, it was sung to pay tribute to a beloved granny who has inspired children through the power of music.

BACK TO SECOND HOME

For Deng Xiaolan, life comes in a full circle.

Xiaolan's father Deng Tuo, a famous journalist and intellectual, used to run the Jinchaji Daily during the 1940s in Malan, a revolutionary base where Xiaolan was born. Amid heavy blockade of the Japanese enemy, Deng Tuo and his colleagues worked to spread the Communist Party of China's key policies.

Due to the chaos brought about by the war, Deng's parents could not stay with her and left their little daughter to an old couple in Malan until three years later when they settled down. That was why Xiaolan always regarded Malan as her second home.

In 2003, Malan village welcomed back the special guest. Deng Xiaolan returned for the tomb sweeping day to pay tribute to 19 courageous villagers who were killed by the Japanese army after refusing to reveal the whereabouts of Jinchaji Daily staff and printing facilities 60 years ago.

Deng Xiaolan (R2) watched children's performance. (Xinhua/Gao Meng)

This was when changes in Malan children's life took place.

A group of local students also did tomb sweeping there. Deng suggested them to sing a song for their deceased grandpas and grandmas, but they could not sing anything.

Feeling sad, Deng came up with an idea of teaching these kids to sing, determined to do something for her second home.

After retiring in 2004, Deng went back to Malan and volunteered as a music teacher in a local primary school.

She thought that songs were poetry, and the most beautiful and wonderful thing in human culture, and students would benefit from learning music both emotionally and personally.

In order to fulfill her promise, Deng spent a great deal of time and effort in Malan, teaching students how to sing. Because of her, children in Malan got chances to learn some Chinese traditional songs as well as international classical songs such as "Ode to Joy."

Deng Xiaolan (2nd L) taught kids music in Malan Village, Fuping County in north China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua)

Once the band went to Shanghai to attend an international youth music summer camp, there were many international student bands. The attendees all sang Auld Lang Syne together at the end of the concert.

Deng once said that she wanted her children to never be afraid wherever they were.

In 2006, Deng set up the first band to teach her students how to play instruments, which were too expensive for rural families at that time. Deng went around to raise the fund for her children, even giving away part of her pension to buy instruments like flutes and trumpets for them.

Deng had a standard of member selection, with key thing being that kids love the music.

The band had six members at first. Some of them have now graduated from universities. Year by year, even though the members changed, Deng was always there.

Deng Xiaolan took an interview. (Xinhua/Gao Meng)   

Deng came up with an idea in 2013 as she thought that a forest music festival would be a good way for people to enjoy it.

Deng and her students found a place on the mountainside and built a temporary stage. They called it the "pigeon stage."

The first "Malan Music Festival" was held that year, and the festival has been held annually since then.

The success of music festival offered Deng huge confidence and served as a catalyst for her to pursue a bigger dream.

She began to search a better place for her students to perform. Last year, when a permanent stage with a "moon" shape was nearly completed, a piece of breaking news came to Deng and her students.

LEADING CHILDREN TO OLYMPIC STAGE

The Beijing 2022 opening and closing ceremonies team heard about Malan children's story, and invited the chorus bearing the "fragrance of the earth" to sing the Olympic Anthem at the opening ceremony.

Some professional teachers gathered in Malan last November to instruct the students' training.

44 students were finally selected to sing on the opening ceremony in the National Stadium on February 4. Deng always accompanied her students, whether in their training, waiting for rehearsals or resting in hotel.

As Deng expected, her students displayed their confidence on the Olympic stage. At both opening and closing ceremonies, their pure voices touched the world.

 Malanhua Children's Choir perform during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games at the National Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 4, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Ga)

After the Winter Olympics, Deng went back to Malan to prepare for the yearly music festival, but the accident took place.

She fell near the "moon" stage and was rushed to hospital. After a few days in the ICU, she passed away less than seven weeks after her Malan choir performed at the Beijing 2022 opening ceremony.

Photo shows a moon-shaped stage located in Malan Village, Fuping County in north China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua/Gao Meng)

"When I heard about the accident that teacher Deng had, I was shocked. I can't believe that she has left us," said Gao Yue, a teacher of the chorus.

"Our mother spent most of her last 18 years in Malan. Being a volunteer music teacher brought her happiness and satisfaction," Deng's children said in her obituary.

"The chorus performed well at the Olympics and was praised by the world. That made her very happy. She left the world on a high note. This is the biggest comfort for our family." 

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