Fan Jingma's first album of Chinese art songs titled Chinese Lieder.

In the context of globalization, forging internationally influential artistic expressions while preserving national distinctiveness has emerged as a critical imperative for cultural development. The contemporary music mainstream acknowledges only five major singing traditions, namely, Italian bel canto, German lieder, French chanson, or mélodie, Russian romance and British-American musical. The significant absence of Chinese art songs — despite Chinese being one of the world's most widely spoken languages — prompted the establishment of Yage, which originated from Chinese art songs. Literally meaning "elegant songs," this new genre aims to bridge this gap through contemporary interpretation and international expression of Chinese art songs.

What is Yage?

Years ago, I recorded my first album of Chinese art songs, titled Chinese Lieder, in the Netherlands. The record company invited a world-class pianist as the art director. During the recording process, whenever I sang Chinese syllables like "ci" and "si," she would show a displeased expression, as she found these syllables were unpleasant to hear. This experience shaped my perspective on vocal art: Just as bel canto follows European phonetic norms, Chinese art songs should also conform to the diction and articulation of the Chinese language. It strengthened my resolve to establish international standards for the performance of Chinese art songs.

I believe that different art forms, at their core, are interconnected. We should neither blindly imitate foreign styles nor abandon artistic exploration for fear of challenges. Only by leveraging complementary strengths while overcoming respective weaknesses, can we truly excel in singing Chinese songs, allowing Chinese art songs to stand among the world's great vocal art traditions. Thus, after years of extensive practice and refinement, I proposed Yage in 2006, a vocal genre grounded in Chinese linguistics and supported by bel canto techniques. This endeavor not only aspires to position Yage as the sixth major art song genre but also bridges the singing traditions of ancient Chinese literati with the modern vocal system across centuries.