AT Herbie Camp Town in Pingshan District on Saturday, the summer night was lit up by an outdoor music performance with lawns and mountains as its backdrop.

The concert was the concluding show of a six-day music boot camp for songwriters, as a key part of Pingshan’s citizen culture festival, Shenzhen Evening News reported.

The songwriting camp, organized by Pingshan Cultural House, was held between Sept. 19 and Saturday at Herbie Camp Town. The event gathered nine talented homegrown musicians and witnessed the birth of their 13 original songs.

“Original songs are the most shining badge of a legendary city like Shenzhen. As we value originality, we established the songwriting boot camp in Pingshan,” Wang Jun, the event’s director, told the News.

This is the second year for Pingshan to organize the camp. Last year, eight local Shenzhen songwriters created 11 works featuring Pingshan’s customs and culture.

The second boot camp was held to inspire more Shenzhen musicians and further tap into Pingshan’s human resources. Wang said: “We hope to provide a broader platform for shining songwriters and allow Pingshan’s beautiful landscapes to wash anxieties away through this event. They can create for themselves and for this land.”

“Lighthouse,” one of the excellent works produced at the camp, is a tribute to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Hou Zhi’ao, a college student soon to work in Shenzhen, wrote the song lyrics inspired by the outstanding achievements of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.

Jimuyu, the song’s composer, is an experienced music producer in Shenzhen, and Chen Xin, one of the team members, once competed in a well-known singing contest, “Sing! China.”

It is the second time that Su La has taken part in the songwriting camp. She said that at the camp, “we inspired each other and communicated our ideas about music. I really cherish opportunities like this.”

At the concluding concert, the nine participants sang “Planting Songs Here” together, which is the theme song of this year’s boot camp. “We sang the song in hopes that all musical seeds we planted in Shenzhen and Pingshan can sprout and grow someday,” Wang said.

(Xia Yuanjie)