30th October 2017
Suona was once a popular instrument to play during special occasions such as funerals and weddings. The story is set in a remote village in China, when the young Tianming started learning how to play the instrument from his Master Jiao San through tough trainings. It was a very proud skill to master at back in the days, Tianming has managed to complete his father's dream as a Souna player and learnt the masterpiece 'Song of the Phoenix', known as the best piece in Suona world.
However, things changed as Tianming took over the Souna band. Foreign bands became more popular and Tianming's band could no longer reply on the performance business to make a living. His band mates left the village as his sister and childhood friend also moved away to the city. Suona seemed to be dying out.
At the end of the film, Tianming was asked to gather his band once again to play Suona in front of the camera for the purpose of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. At the time, all his former band mates turned into factory working or construction, many of them had permanent injuries which resulted them no longer able to play Suona as an instrument. It's a sad ending for Suona as Jiao San passed away, along with many generations of passion for traditional Chinese music and customs.