AFTER his breakout performance on the television reality show “The Voice of China” in 2014, it would have been understandable for Uyghur pop-rock composer and musician Perhat Khaliq to move from his hometown in distant northwest China to the cultural centers of Beijing or Shanghai, where more opportunities abound.

    But the 34-year-old is staying put in the Xinjiang region’s capital city of Urumqi.

    “I’ve been to a lot of cities in the world and China, and Urumqi is still my favorite place. My roots — and the source of my art — are there,” Perhat told Channel NewsAsia, ahead of his debut concert shows in Singapore on Thursday and Friday, as part of the Singapore International Festival of Arts’ The OPEN event.

    “If I were to live in another city, I would be weakened. There are several cultures, several worlds there. The younger generation is very connected to the world, while the older generation has very much a traditional way of life. It’s very interesting and complex.”

    As a member of a Muslim minority ethnic group in the Xinjiang region, his sudden rise on national TV has shone the spotlight on a culture that was previously under the radar. Here was a bonafide Uyghur rock star with a huge domestic (and international) platform, even as, during interviews, political questions have been deemed off-limits.

    While Perhat isn’t the first Uyghur to come out on television, the phenomenon that surrounds him is on an entirely different level, said ethnomusicologist and filmmaker Mukaddas Mijit, a close friend and frequent collaborator.

    Last year, she went to film Perhat’s 22-show China tour and was surprised at the reactions she saw.

    “I would see people crying out for his music in Mandarin-speaking cities. I thought it was huge that people were starting to notice his music — and Uyghur music — not because it was something exotic but because he’s a powerful musician,” recalled Mukaddas.

    “He represented something that the Chinese audience were looking for; something powerful, true and simple.”

    That, it would seem, has been Perhat’s winning formula — a guitar-toting, gravelly voiced musician dishing out soul-searing Mandarin or Uyghur folk-rock ballads with a traditional twist, passionately sung from the heart.

    In person, Perhat looks every bit like a typical no-frills veteran rocker, wearing a simple jeans-and-rock band black tee combo (“The Dark Side of the Moon” album by Pink Floyd, whose genre-bending music he identifies with).

    And that’s exactly what Perhat is, having been playing music since he was 6, and performing in Urumqi long before reality television came knocking on his door.

    In fact, that was how his current new musical journey began. In 2010, he and his band, Qetiq, were spotted performing in a bar in Urumqi by the founder of the German music fest Morgenland Festival, where he and Qetiq would later be invited to perform.

    His friend Muqaddas’ videos on YouTube, as well as his first album, titled “Qetiq: Rock From the Taklamakan Desert,” would later pique the curiosity of the folks behind “The Voice of China,” who eventually reached out to him.

    Despite his new fame, Perhat doesn’t seem concerned about being some sort of spokesperson for a people. “This is not my preoccupation. I just express myself as an individual musician. I’ve never thought of expressing a Uyghur identity with my music. I’m a Uyghur musician but I’m also a Chinese musician,” he said.

    As the rest of China continue to embrace his music, the impact on his hometown has been equally interesting. It would seem the interest in the region’s music traditions has encouraged a new wave of musicians to come out, who see new possibilities in Perhat’s type of Uyghur folk rock.

    “For the past two years, there’s now a lot of young musicians who have been starting their own bands and making music,” Perhat observed.

    If this trend continues, perhaps the musician from Urumqi was right. Why move to Beijing or Shanghai when one’s own hometown is where the music is at?(SD-Agencies)