Cao Zhen

    caozhen0806@126.com

    IN Side Out, a duo that fuses American country and Chinese folk music, will give two shows featuring their unique blend of guitar, erhu, singing and talking at Tsinghua University’s Shenzhen Graduate School and Shenzhen University on Saturday.

    Comprised of American singer, songwriter, guitarist and writer Mark Levine and Chinese erhu musician Fu Han, In Side Out is a cross-culture union of soothing guitar ballads and poetic Chinese folk music. At the Shenzhen events, the duo will talk about their backgrounds and some of their experiences working together. “We want to tell people that there is value both in Western and Chinese cultures and we must learn from each other,” Levine told Shenzhen Daily.

    Formed in 2013, the duo sings songs mainly written by Levine and some Western and Chinese country songs. He explained that In Side Out is like the two side of a shirt, the inside and the outside, but it is still one shirt. “I write songs largely for playing on my guitar and then we decide if and how Fu Han can contribute on her erhu,” said Levine.

    Coming from Los Angeles, California, Levine served for 29 years as a full-time volunteer at organizations for low-income workers in the United States after got his Ph.D. in sociology in 1976. In 2005, when he was 57 years old, Levine decided to visit China and began teaching English in Huai’an City in Jiangsu Province. Since 2007, he has been teaching public speaking, American culture and oral English at Minzu University of China in Beijing.

    Impressed by Chinese culture, people and life, Levine has written more than 60 English-language songs based on his experience and has performed in bars, factories, fields and on TV shows in 10 provinces. Although he doesn’t speak Chinese, he can sing some patriotic Chinese songs. His songs are mainly about Chinese migrant workers, farmers, places he has visited, train ticket scalpers and events such as the Beijing Olympics and the Wenchuan earthquake.

    “Music is a wonderful way for people from different cultures to communicate. When I sang in fields, in villages or for migrant workers, they were surprised. ‘Here is a foreigner who has come to sing for us.’ I was not there to sing for them but WITH them and then they sang with me,” he said.

    Levine has traveled across more than half of China. Whenever he reflects on an experience he’s had or his feelings about places, people and events, he finds himself picking up his guitar and playing. His Chinese adventures triggered an unexpected harmony with American folk melodies.

    He met Fu when he lost his way at Minzu University of China in 2007. Knowing Levine wrote songs about China, Fu, a professional erhu player, pianist and singer, decided to form a duo with him. “He was giving a true picture of life in China. I thought he could be an ambassador of friendship between China and the West. I wanted to help make that happen,” said Fu.

    At the Zhangjiajie International Country Music Week in August 2013, the duo sang a folk song in the Tujia ethnic dialect and wore traditional Tujia costumes. Their unique combination of Chinese and Western elements lit up the eyes of audience members.

    Since 2010, Levine has served as a judge for more than a dozen national and regional English-speaking competitions in China. He also received China’s Friendship Award, the nation’s highest honor for an expat. The award is given to 100 expats each year. Last year, he put his life experience in China into his English book “Stories From My Chinese Journey.” More than just a memoir, the book is made up of “a year of conversations” with Chinese friends Levine has made along the way.

    Although Levine teaches English in China, he realizes there are more things he needs to teach to his students. “I have a great deal of respect for Chinese students. Teaching at Minzu University, I know many students who speak not just two languages but three or even more languages. I am concerned, however, that some Chinese students do not appreciate the good education they have received ... They look at schools in the United States with admiration or think people in the United States are all rich. I have to provide a different kind of understanding and I have much more serious work here to do.”