Music for a new dawn

In the warm piano melodies and the melancholic cello performance, Hu Defu, a pioneer of Taiwan folk music, better known as Ara Kimbo, was reciting Rabindranath Tagore's Stray Birds: "The world kisses me with pain and asks me to repay with song."

That was the 2024 Xiami Music & Arts Festival's special performance at sunrise, which took place along the seaside community of Aranya in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, on Sunday. It's exactly 5 o'clock; the sky was still dark. Thousands of music fans, dressed in raincoats and holding umbrellas, were so quiet they seemed to merge with the night.

After the first song ends, long applause and cheers erupted from the audience. The fatigue of the early morning and the discomfort in the rain instantly vanished.

Thanking his fans, the 73-year-old singer then performed the popular song, Olive Tree, with lyrics by San Mao and music by Li Tai-Hsiang. Following songs like Hastily, Endless, and Blowin' in the Wind — all familiar classics to the fans — the singer's profound voice and the gently played piano created a sense of tranquil certainty.

At 6 o'clock, as the song, The Wind of the Pacific, finished, dawn broke, and in just an hour, the sky transited from complete darkness to a dim light and finally to full brightness.

From Friday to Sunday, the Xiami Music & Arts Festival brought together more than 20 groups of musicians from home and abroad. With the theme of "Life is about living a few moments", fans gathered to celebrate music and arts with a diversity of programs staged at day and night.