Creators of China’s first touring music festival for children want better music for country’s kids – and somewhere parents can still rock
Shocked at the state of children’s music in China, Liu Jian and Rebecca Kanthor created Hand in Hand, a festival for whole families, and hope to grow to 100 Chinese cities over the next five years
A lot has changed in China since folk musician and author Liu Jian, 39, was a boy, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the music children listen to.
Alongside breakneck economic growth, urbanisation and internationalisation, it came of something of a surprise to Liu and his American wife, writer Rebecca Kanthor, 38, that the Chinese music available for children has remained unchanged for generations.
How can I get my children to listen to ‘cool’ music?
When they were searching for music for their own daughter, now five, to listen to, it became apparent that contemporary children’s music in the West was surprisingly diverse and high quality, and the Chinese equivalent was non-existent.
“Over the past couple of decades so much has happened in China,” Liu says. “It has developed at such a fast pace – everything except children’s music, and I don’t know why. I’m even a bit angry at myself because I am a musician. Why wasn’t I doing anything about it?”
In hindsight, it seems Liu and Kanthor were ideally placed to fill this void. They met through music – at a concert – and recall that some of the best moments of their married life before having children were at shows and festivals. However their single outing to a music festival after their eldest daughter was born – the couple now also have a two-year-old son – was a complete disaster.