By CNTV Panview editor team
Editor’s foreword: "Looking China" International Youth Film Project is co-organized by the Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture (AICCC), Beijing Normal University and Huilin Foundation, which aims to showcase the contrasting simplicity and glamour, the antiquity and fashion of China through unique perspectives of young foreign film makers.
As of the year 2016, 101 students from 25 countries were invited to participate in the project. They were stationed in 13 municipality, provinces and autonomous regions here in China. Every filmmaker has worked out a 10-minute short film about Chinese culture around the topic of “ethnic minority”.
The film, Kam Grand Choir, directed by Ritaban Basu, features the Dong people, one of China’s ethnic groups who mainly reside in rural villages of Southwestern China. They prefer to being free spirits, so much so that when they perform as a choir, they do not have a musical conductor to lead them.
Sometimes, lyrics can restrain them too, so they create many songs that imitate the sounds of nature as a replacement for words. Some say that those who feel closely-connected to water have free-style mindsets.
Well, the Dong People love water and the sound of it. Additionally, all members of the Kam Grand Choir are wearing traditional outfits, but the young and beautiful women are wearing mini-skirts style of outfits.
The choir’s elder, not a conductor, explains the unique musical form of the Kam Grand Choir. The Dong People love nature and its sounds. Their songs are often an imitation of their scenic surroundings, such as singing just like a cicada.
The choir appears very playful, more likely to smile and dance, while not taking themselves too seriously. Going to a Kam Grand Choir is more like attending a fun-filled party and worth a visit for those who admire free-spirited people.
( The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Panview or CCTV.com. )
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