"Xian Xinghai has built a bridge of friendship between the two peoples with his music. May his name be remembered forever, and the China-Kazakhstan companionship be passed on from generation to generation."
by Xinhua writers Ren Jun, Zhang Jiye
NUR-SULTAN, June 17 (Xinhua) -- "Sons and daughters of China, who among you is willing to be slaughtered like pigs and sheep? We must resolve to be victorious, to defend the Yellow River! To defend northern China! To defend all of China!"
"The Yellow River Cantata," written by legendary Chinese composer Xian Xinghai, inspired tens of millions during World War II (WWII) to fight against fascist invaders after it was first performed on April 13, 1939 in northwest China's Yan'an.
Music knows no borders. Xian, who was stranded in the southern part of what was then the Soviet Union, and today belongs to Kazakhstan, for the last two years of his life, gave local people courage and strength through his music amid the brutal war.
When war broke out between Nazi Germany and the former Soviet Union in 1941, the composer was working on a documentary for the Communist Party of China under the alias of Huang Xun in Moscow. Forced to abort his mission and evacuate, he was left alone in the Kazakh city of Almaty where he knew no one, had no place to stay and couldn't return home.
File photo of Chinese composer Xian Xinghai. (Xinhua)
During the most difficult moment in Xian's life, it was Kazakh musician Bakhitzhan Baikadamov and his family who provided Xian with accommodations and food despite their limited food rations.
"It was sometime in the middle of November 1942. When my father was passing by a fence, he saw a thin man sitting on his suitcase, wearing a light sweater and holding a violin," Baldyrgan Baikadamova, Baikadamov's daughter, said about the fateful encounter.
"My father spoke Kazakh and Russian, the composer responded in English and French. But it was obvious that the Chinese musician really needed help and had nowhere to go. So my father just took his hand and led him to us," she said.
Baikadamova recalled that Xian was never treated like an outsider in the family. Everybody loved him and took care of him.
As a Kazakh saying goes, "in times of trouble, people share the last piece of bread." This is the spirit behind the story between Xian and Baikadamov's family.
Ding Haijia served as the first secretary of the cultural department of the Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan during the late 1990s. He was the Chinese official who "discovered" Xian's story and conducted research about his life in Kazakhstan.
File photo taken on April 1, 2018, shows a sculpture of Chinese composer Xian Xinghai at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, China. (Xinhua)
"It was widely known that Xian Xinghai went to the Soviet Union in 1940 and died in Moscow in 1945. When I came to Kazakhstan in 1996, I was so surprised to find that Xian had stayed in the cities of Almaty and Kostanai for two and a half years. Then I decided to make it clear how Xian spent his last years in Kazakhstan and began collecting clues and meeting insiders," Ding told Xinhua at his home in Beijing.
After arduous efforts, Ding met Kalamkas Arislanova, a cousin of Baldyrgan Baikadamova. She is the only person still alive who had met Xian at that time.
"The first time when I met Kalamkas was in the late 1990s. Recalling Xian, she burst into tears and even was unable to talk. Kalamkas told me how Xian warmed her feet in the chilly winter and treated her as his own daughter," said Ding.
Ding said the generosity of the Kazakh people made it possible for Xian to continue composing. Some of his most famous works were composed during that time, including "Amangeldy," a symphony in honor of Kazakh national hero Amangeldy Imanov, which served as a rallying call to fight the fascists and proved immensely popular with locals.
"Xian and my father always sat together. My father played the dombra, and Xian took notes for the melody. Then Xian played the violin and my father checked whether Xian was right or not. That's how they learned the Kazakh national folklore and culture together," Baikadamova said.
File photo taken on May 24, 2016, shows a wax sculpture of Chinese composer Xian Xinghai at the wax museum of the National Museum of China in Beijing, China. (Xinhua)
Xian was finally overcome with homesickness and suffered from lung disease. He died in a hospital in Moscow at the age of 40 in October 1945. Xian did not have the chance to return to China although WWII had ended.
In today's Almaty, two boulevards are named after Baikadamov and Xian. Visitors to Baikadamov's old house can find letters Xian wrote to his daughter in China's Yan'an, which were never mailed.
A monument has been erected to commemorate the Chinese composer. The words engraved on it read: "Xian Xinghai has built a bridge of friendship between the two peoples with his music. May his name be remembered forever, and the China-Kazakhstan companionship be passed on from generation to generation."
Now the strong friendship between Xian and his Kazakh friends has been made the subject of a movie named "The Composer," the first film co-produced by China and Kazakhstan and screened in 2019.
Concerts performing works of Xian and Baikadamov, especially "The Yellow River Cantata" and "Amangeldy," have been frequently held to commemorate the two composers.
Just as Baikadamova has said, "China and Kazakhstan are neighbors. The neighborhood lasts forever." ■
