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Last year, 3,500 musicians interacted with crowds
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A year ago, eight cruise ships sailed to Dada Pier from World Expo Watergate, carrying more than 1,000 marching band musicians who performed to the crowd along the Huangpu River.
Their route passed the Bund and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, attracting numerous people stopping by the river banks.
The pioneering cruise performance tour will be repeated this year for the third time at the grand opening of the 2014 Shanghai Spring International Wind Music Festival.
Last year’s festival attracted more than 50 bands from China and overseas, with about 3,500 participating musicians.
The street marching performances are common abroad, but performing on cruise ships is pioneering, said Zou Rui, director of the Military Band of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, last year.
In 2013, the marching bands went on to Nanjing Road E. and Century Square to perform and interact with the crowds. Visitors and passengers got to enjoy the wind music close up.
The purpose of the annual wind music festival is not only to build a stage for world-class performances, but also to encourage public participation.
The Military Band of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army also staged a special concert at Shanghai Oriental Art Center during the festival in 2013. Zou said the band visits the festival and presents a concert every year.
The Military Band of the PLA Navy joined the festival with 80 musicians. Zhang Zuozhong, director of the band, said he brought the band to the festival himself four times and saw how quickly Yangpu has progressed every year. The festival’s presence there shows the district’s cultural development.
Four foreign bands — from Germany, Austria, Australia and South Korea — joined last year’s festival.
An exhibition featuring wind instruments was also hosted from April 20 to May 1 in 2003 at Fudan Zhengda Gymnasium.
Unlike other festivals that focus on the professional aspect of wind music, the Shanghai festival adds more community involvement and emphasizes how the art of wind music is rooted in people’s lives.
Twelve schools in Yangpu have regular marching bands, and about 1,200 students participate in the learning and performing of wind music. The festival encourages communication among the young musicians and helps their education.
Since founded in 2008, the festival has attracted more than 30 bands from 10 foreign countries, more than 270 bands from China, and more than 600,000 people have watched performances and attended events.
The festival has won the Professional Operation Award of Shanghai Significant Cultural Events and, for Yangpu, it is becoming a district brand.
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