Beats of the Heart: Number 17 Cotton Mill Shanghai Blues Music in China

In the early 1980s, China was emerging from the repressive Cultural Revolution, which attempted to destroy Chinese classical and folk music. Cautiously, musicians, singers, composers and conductors re-emerged, returning from exile and reviving the ancient music of a vast and ethnically diverse country. This film takes us to that very moment of regeneration, when director Jeremy Marre wove his way across China – from Shanghai to the Gobi desert – battling to avoid the ‘official’ ensembles and discover China’s real musical soul. In Beijing, he was able to film Want Wen Guang, master of the ancient ququin instrument, in a passionate performance any blues guitarist would be proud of; and later we encounter drummer and Taoist priest Mo Zhong, whose hands were broken during the Cultural Revolution in order to keep him from playing. Today, DJs pipe muzak to the workers and the Shanghai music halls echo to the rhythms of the Chinese Tango as China looks to combine past and future.