Under the blazing summer sun, we arrived at the vibrant and lively Huaxia Harmonica Festival—nothing beats playing music and reconnecting with so many old friends! ｜[DMing Studio] https://youtu.be/EP_9EDtQVfs https://youtu.be/EP_9EDtQVfs
This trip came thanks to the invitation from President Yang of Ningde and Mr. Kong of Easttop Harmonica. We were invited to take part in this year’s Cross-Strait Harmonica Exchange and the Huaxia Harmonica Festival, two back-to-back events both held in Ningde. So we ended up spending almost two weeks there.
I had actually been to Fuzhou Airport just two weeks earlier for the Ningde harmonica training camp, so everything felt very familiar. The Cross-Strait Exchange mainly focused on musical interaction with local kids. After landing, we headed straight to the venue for rehearsal, followed by the opening-ceremony performance that evening.
The next day we strolled around the cultural village under a light, persistent drizzle. In the afternoon, we joined the harmonica round-table. Teachers from various regions shared how they’ve been promoting harmonica in their communities, their visions for the instrument’s future, and several possible collaboration ideas.
At night, we went with the young participants to the famous “Haidilao” hotpot to experience the local food culture. Their four-section soup base really lived up to its reputation and watching noodles fly through the air right in front of us was definitely a first.
The part I was most excited about was the “Paddy Field Concert.” We headed to Xiazhuyang Village, where the organisers had built a full performance stage in the middle of the paddy fields. We were all looking forward to stunning scenery paired with music… but a typhoon struck. Strong winds and pounding rain turned the whole scene into something out of a disaster film. After a lot of last-minute discussions, we decided to move everything to the Shangzhuyang community center instead.
But all the sound equipment was still out in the paddy field, so Sirius ended up using only the gear we had brought ourselves to run sound for the kids’ performances, which basically turning it into a teacher-student concert. A very real reminder that music work is never as glamorous as it looks!
During the exchange and the festival period, we were also deep in THMF preparations. Our four-person team rented a few time slots in the tea shop at the hotel to work through all the tasks after registrations closed. The place charges a space fee, but you get unlimited freshly brewed local tea and some nuts and snacks. If the shop isn’t full, a staff member will even brew tea for you. The downside is that smoking is allowed indoors in Chinese hotels, so occasionally someone doing business there would fill the room with smoke. Aside from that, it was a pretty comfortable place to work.
This year was the 5th Huaxia Harmonica Festival, held in Jiaocheng. Many excellent players gathered for the event, though the scale is smaller than APHF, and there were noticeably fewer international participants.
Our Sirius feature concert was one of the most unforgettable performances of my life. The air-conditioning broke down, and with the crowd and stage lighting, the temperature rose to the point where you’d sweat just standing still. By the end, our clothes were soaked, you could literally wring water out of them. The AC was supposed to be repaired by noon, but the repair kept getting delayed and wasn’t done even after the concert. The venue’s audio system was also quite limited, making the on-stage monitoring feel distant and unclear. We even had to cut a few pieces just to save energy so we could finish the concert.
To make things worse, my Sony A7C2 overheated and shut down before even half the concert was over. This has never happened in all the concerts I’ve filmed in Taiwan, which shows just how insanely hot the venue was.
For the workshop session, since the schedule was tight, we switched to a direct Q&A format so everyone could quickly get the insights they wanted. The atmosphere was great, besides technique-related questions, we also chatted about experiences promoting harmonica in different places.
At the closing ceremony, aside from the usual awards presentation, the ensemble performed three lively pieces. For the final number, we invited several winners of the Huaxia Festival to join us on stage for “Love Me Do.” The energy was fantastic, and this is exactly the kind of musical culture we hope to cultivate, sharing the stage and enjoying music together with fellow harmonica lovers.
The entire trip was packed with work, full schedules, and rehearsals almost every day. Thanks to the lightweight GR3x, I still managed to capture a lot of interesting photos along the way.
If you’re interested in events like this, keep an eye on the Huaxia Harmonica Festival. It’s held every two years, and in 2027 it will return to Jiangyin. Hope to see you at future events!
