Hao Ge and Jane Zhang: Comparing Afro-Sino Musical Mixtures
Enobong Etteh
The musical genres that we now associate as “African-American music” in the present day have evolved over the course of centuries, if not millenia, depending on the geography chosen as the music’s point of origin. Within the sacred tradition of African-American music, the slave spiritual of the early 1800s evolved into the arranged spiritual, which in turn spawned the development of the gospel quartet of the 1930s (Burnim and Maultsby, fig. 1). Within the secular tradition of African-American music, work songs and field hollers of the 1700s evolved into the rural blues of the 1890s, which were integral in the development of the Rhythm & Blues of the 1940s. This segued into Rock n’ Roll of the 1950s, which would in turn be fundamental to the development of R&B in the 1980’s (Burnim and Maultsby, fig. 1). These forms of musical expression were all the result of years of social, political, and economic changes, and the unwavering human spirit of African-Americans generating high levels of creativity despite several generations of struggle (Burnim and Maultsby, 18). Through the proliferation of recording and broadcasting technology, African-American music has spread globally over the past century (Salamone, 45). As African-American music has globalized, so must the specific constraints of the vocabularies and performance practices associated with the music. Artists from countries as disparate as Nigeria and China have imbibed the sounds of African-American music and appropriated these sounds as their own. In doing so, these artists have forged unique musical identities and found global audiences. Two prominent examples are Hao Ge and Jane Zhang. Through appropriation of African-American vocabularies and performance practices, these artists create unique Afro-Sino musical amalgamations, thus forging new identities for themselves.
At 33 years old and hailing from Nigeria, Hao Ge (pronounced “How Guh”) is an unlikely Chinese pop star. Born Emmanuel Uwechue, Hao Ge first garnered national attention at the Spring Festival in Beijing China, an event that was televised for over 100 million Chinese viewers (Wang). His unique take on Chinese popular music blends soul and R&B musical elements with elements that are distinctively Chinese. This eclectic flavor, though novel, arose after years of struggle pursuing a music career in China (Wang).
Like many black artists, Mr. Uwechue began singing in the church choir, in the House of Rock Pentecostal church in Lagos, Nigeria (Wang). It was there that he developed a profound love of singing and performing. After completing an engineering degree in Nigeria, Mr. Uwechue told his father that he wanted to forgo engineering in order to pursue a career in music. Mr. Uwechue recounts in interviews that his father disowned him at the time, stating that he was throwing his life away (Wang). In 2001, Mr. Uwechue received an invitation from a Chinese friend, Mr. Li, to visit him and perform at his hotel in the Henan province of China. In 2002, Mr. Uwechue accepted, and began performing in hotels and bars in China's Hebei and Henan provinces (Wang). Over the next few years, Mr. Uwechue would rise and transform from the ordinary Emmanuel into the pop cultural figure, Hao Ge. Liu Huan, a top Chinese music producer, took interest in Uwechue while he was performing at a bar in Beijing. With Liu Huan’s guidance, Uwechue became a devoted Mandarin student and garnered multiple high-profile appearances. The big break for Mr. Uwechue occurred when he appeared in 2007 at the Lunar New Year Gala, a television event akin to America’s Superbowl, with a viewership in the hundreds of millions. Appearing at the Gala cemented Uwechue’s status as a singing star, “Hao Ge” (Wang).
Hao Ge has a unique musical style that blends elements of gospel and R&B with elements of Chinese music, which help shape his artistic identity. Traditional gospel developed around the early 1900s as a form of religious music that developed in urban cities following the Great Migration (Burnim and Maultsby, 189). One singer who rose to prominence in the 1920’s is Mahalia Jackson, a woman whose sound has become synonymous with gospel music (Burnim and Maultsby, 201). In order to analyze Hao Ge’s style appropriately, it is therefore necessary to analyze Jackson’s style in order to bridge between the gospel of the 1900s and present day Afro-Sino musical amalgamations.
Mahalia Jackson’s style is influenced by her embracing of both sacred and secular music from childhood (Burnim and Maultsby, 201). Jackson was exposed to Pentecostal church worship, which included a variety of movement, stomping of the feet, clapping of the hands, and singing in response to interactions with the “Holy Spirit,” a term used to describe the entity of God that moved freely throughout the church congregation and could take control of the individual (Burnim and Maultsby, 203). “Jackson moved when she sang, using her face, hands, body and feet to convey the message of a song. When she became totally enraptured with the spirit, her voice could express a quality closely akin to shouting” (Burnim and Maultsby, 203).
One prominent element of Jackson’s musical style is her melismatic treatment of text, singing several pitches on a single syllable. This can be evinced through examining a recording of “Amazing Grace.”
In Mahalia Jackson’s interpretation of the text, no word is sung on just one pitch, and few syllables are sung on just one pitch. Jackson adds melisma to every word in the phrase. Upon listening to the recording one can hear the deliberate way in which Jackson savors every word and every note, adding melisma where she chooses and holding out notes where she chooses. Her voice is supple and never shouting, and her melodic interpretation serves to further the meaning of the text. The melisma at the end of the word “amazing” highlights the fervor and excitement behind that word. The straight tone of “grace” provides a resting place, musically demonstrating the peace and tranquility found in the grace of God. The straight tone of “how,” followed by melisma highlights the extent of the word “sweet,” suggesting a length or a depth of sweetness, and the melisma connotes an added sense of excitement. Hao Ge uses similar characteristics to Mahalia Jackson in his vocalization, but differs in many ways and is ultimately less sophisticated in his use of vocal technique.
Hao Ge sings in a contemporary gospel style with Mandarin as the main language. When giving a video interview to the New York Times in March of 2011, he gave a demonstration of his distinct musical style by performing the song, “Love Can Be Repeated.” The original melody is straightforward, and is typically sung without ornamentation.
(Transcribed by Enobong Etteh)
In the New York Times interview Hao Ge states that he feels restricted in what he can sing, and that the Chinese want to hear a specific musical aesthetic. However, he states defiantly, “I like to sing like this” (Wang). Hao Ge’s version of “Love Can Be Repeated” is highly melismatic and diverges greatly from the original.
One can compare Hao Ge’s melodic interpretation of “Love Can Be Repeated” to that of Mahalia Jackson’s interpretation of “Amazing Grace.” Both interpretations utilize melisma, which is characteristic of the gospel style. However, Mahalia Jackson has a sophistication in her approach that Hao Ge lacks. As discussed, Mahalia’s use of melisma has a specificity to it that amplifies the text. Some portions of the text have melisma, whereas other portions are left bare with longer held tones. In Hao Ge’s interpretation, he colors the entire text with melisma, distorting the melodic content in the process. While some of the original melody is preserved, at the beginning of the third measure Hao Ge leaps a major-sixth interval above the original intended melody. The raised interval suggests a certain soulful fervor and a desire to ascend to a higher plane emotionally than originally intended in the music. This is an example of an artist trying to assert himself, his own soul and identity, over the music. Hao Ge’s attempt is musically valiant, but emotionally falls short of the authenticity of soulful expression epitomized by Mahalia Jackson.
Another case study is Jane Zhang, a Chinese-born artist who, similarly to Hao Ge, has utilized elements of African-American music in her performance practice. Born Zhang Liangying, Jane Zhang rose to prominence after placing second in the Chinese reality TV competition “Super Girls” in 2005 (Yardley, China Daily). Zhang routinely performs her music internationally, even garnering an appearance on the Oprah show. Of particular interest, however, is a performance she did on the show ”我是歌手” or “I am a Singer,” in 2015. This performance of the song, “Bang Bang,” showcases the singer’s vocal technique as well as the interaction between African-American musical style and a Chinese audience.
Jane Zhang steps out onto the stage at Henan Studios wearing a blue jumpsuit, flanked by two columns of percussionists playing a marching rhythm. A saxophonist performs a brief solo as the band enters, and Zhang delivers a powerful vocal melisma using the full strength of her upper register as she sings the opening line, “She got a body like an hourglass” against the band’s rubato swing groove. She moves even higher into her upper tessitura on the second line, “She’s like a model of a Cadillac.” Jane is flanked by four harmonizing back-up singers; the tempo picks up as the chorus enters. The performance is highly energized with a full band comprising percussion, guitar, brass, and horns. Jane’s powerful vocal is like the master of ceremonies conducting the entire affair. Her tone and timbre are very reminiscent of the proverbial ‘shouting’ style of singing central to gospel music. After the first chorus, Zhang even performs the rap that the hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj performed on the original recording of the track.
It is highly unusual for a Chinese artist to so fully embody the music of the African-American tradition, and Zhang’s doing so addresses her desire to express a unique identity. I use the word ‘embody’ due to Zhang demonstrating a mastery of rhythmic and melodic concepts of contemporary R&B music, seemingly developed through concerted vocal study. The melismas she performs to open the piece are powerful, using a full clear tone, and delineated in an articulate manner. Ms. Zhang consistently delivers melismas in the style of R&B singers such as Beyoncé and with a melodic accuracy superlative to that of Hao Ge. Rhythmically, Jane stays in tempo against highly syncopated rhythms being played by the band, even as the groove switches into a swing feel.
As a performer with millions of fans in China, Zhang could have sung any song on national television. However, her decision to sing “Bang Bang,” demonstrates her desire to be unique and stand out from other artists. China’s popular music industry is saturated with artists doing a monolithic brand of C-pop. Jane Zhang is breaking away from this mold by bringing in musical and performative elements from a R&B/gospel style. In a way, Zhang is more successful than Hao Ge in her musical amalgamation because she has mastered the melodic and rhythmic concepts of gospel more fully than her Nigerian counterpart. Where Hao Ge’s stylings seem overzealous, Zhang’s vocals are refined and filled with a dynamic energy. However, both artists succeed at establishing unique identities for themselves and setting themselves apart in the landscape of Chinese popular music.
Through using African-American performance practice and vocabularies, Jane Zhang and Hao Ge forge new musical identities for themselves that defy both genre and nationality. It has yet to be seen how well these new cultural forms will resonate with a global audience. There are many variables that will determine whether these artists will be singular anomalies, or the start of a broader movement. These variables include audience preferences, trends in ticket sales, as well as the emergence of new artists willing to innovate with musical and cultural forms. With a population of over one billion people, China is a large and dynamic market for live and recorded music, representing a wide array of potential tastes and preferences. If new artists continue to emerge who are willing to push boundaries and experiment musically, then musical manifestations such as Hao Ge and Jane Zhang will continue to proliferate.
Works Cited
Burnim, Mellonee V., and Portia K. Maultsby. African American Music: An Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.
"Jane Zhang "Bang Bang" I Am a Singer." YouTube. YouTube, 30 Jan. 2015. Web. 27 Dec. 2015.
Salamone, Frank A. The culture of jazz: jazz as critical culture. University Press of America, 2008.
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Wang, Jimmy. "Nigerian Finds Pop Stardom in Beijing." The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Mar. 2011. Web. 20 Dec. 2015.
Yardley, Jimmy. "Popularly-voted 'Super Girls' Sizzle China so." Popularly-voted 'Super Girls' Sizzle China so. China Daily, 05 Sept. 2005. Web. 25 Dec. 2015.