A Multigenerational Musical Journey | Yijia Tu | TED

Overview

Yijia Tu explores the intersection of tradition and innovation in music, sharing her journey from pop stardom to rediscovering her cultural roots through the guzheng, an ancient Chinese instrument. She demonstrates how blending traditional and modern sounds can preserve cultural heritage while making it relevant for new generations.

Notable Quotes

- Tradition is not the worship of ashes but the preservation of fire. – Yijia Tu, quoting Gustav Mahler to emphasize the living essence of tradition.

- Music can build a bridge between the East and the West, the past and the present, and between you and me. – Yijia Tu, on the unifying power of music.

- How can we preserve a tradition if we don't feel a personal connection to it? – Yijia Tu, reflecting on the challenge of cultural preservation.

🎶 The Journey from Pop Stardom to Cultural Rediscovery

- At 16, Yijia Tu became a pop sensation in China, with her debut album winning the prestigious Chinese Music Awards.

- Despite her success, her music was heavily Westernized, and she felt disconnected from traditional Chinese music, which she once considered not cool or backwards.

- This disconnect led her to explore the guzheng and traditional folk music, seeking to reconnect with her roots.

🌏 The Global Decline of Musical Traditions

- Yijia highlights a universal issue: the fading of traditional music in modern generations.

- She attributes this to a lack of personal connection to cultural heritage, exacerbated by the perception of traditional music as outdated.

- Her solution: creatively blending traditional and contemporary styles to make heritage relevant and engaging.

🔥 Tradition as a Living Fire

- Drawing on Gustav Mahler’s quote, Yijia argues that tradition should evolve rather than remain static.

- She performs a piece combining a traditional folk song with her own composition, illustrating how innovation can breathe new life into heritage.

- Her approach bridges cultural and temporal divides, making tradition accessible to modern audiences.

👵 Music as a Multigenerational Bridge

- Yijia shares a poignant story about her grandmother, who had Alzheimer’s. Despite losing the ability to communicate verbally, her grandmother recognized and sang along to a family lullaby passed down for four generations.

- This experience underscored music’s power to transcend memory, time, and even consciousness, creating deep emotional connections.

- She performs the lullaby, demonstrating how music preserves familial and cultural bonds across generations.