Banding together to change their tune

The production team, led by Wu and Fan, has produced Zhejiang Satellite TV's popular celebrity variety shows, I Am the Actor and Trump Card VS Trump Card.

"Musicians are relatively less sociable compared to actors and actresses, but they happily cooperated with us. We all enjoyed ourselves," Wu says.

He also highlights that the most important element of the program is the appeal of the music, and, he adds, participating artists with distinctive individual styles have got unexpected, yet astonishing ideas, when they are "forced" to work together.

The veteran producer recalls that pop singer Shang Wenjie and rock singer Zhang Chu gave a lot of thought before teaming up with Li Yugang, who's known for combining traditional operas with pop, because they wondered whether or not their respective styles would mix well.

"But they had to follow the rules. The unlikely team performed a breakthrough remake of the 1990s hit song Martian, which was one of the biggest surprises for both our crew and the on-site audience," Wu says.

Contact the writer at xulin@chinadaily.com.cn