Li Zhemin participated in the Western Folk Song (Huaer) Singing Concert (Photo provided by the interviewee)
He was originally a truck driver in the food system of Jingtai County, Baiyin City, but singing made his life colorful. For more than 30 years, he has appeared on the stage of Jingtai County Spring Festival Gala and many performances in Baiyin City. He has also appeared on the stages of many TV stations and CCTV inside and outside the province. He is Li Zhemin, a well-known grassroots "singer" in Jingtai County.
Truck Uncle is showing his talents for the first time
Li Zhemin is 63 years old this year. With more than 30 years of performance experience, he is full of energy as soon as he steps on the stage. He conquers the audience with his high-pitched singing voice and receives warm applause and many praises.
The simple Li Zhemin used to be a truck driver, and his daily job was to transport grain to and from various grain stations and grain management offices in counties and townships. In order to add some fun to his monotonous life, he listened to tapes and learned to sing while driving.
"I have never studied professionally, so I rely on tapes to learn songs." Li Zhemin said. In 1990, the Jingtai County Grain System held a Karaoke Singer Grand Prix. He signed up to participate and won the first prize with his song "Little White Poplar", which gave him great encouragement. Since then, his love for music has grown out of control. He practices whenever he has time and participates in various singing competitions organized by Jingtai County whenever he has the opportunity.
As the number of "appearances" increases, Li Zhemin, an older non-professional singer, has gradually left a deep impression on many audiences. In 1997, Jingtai County held a large-scale theatrical performance to celebrate Hong Kong's return to the motherland, and Li Zhemin was invited to perform. This was Li Zhemin's first real big stage. Facing tens of thousands of audiences, he was quite satisfied with his performance, but he also saw the gap between himself and professional singers.
"When I really performed on the big stage, I was already thirty-seven or eighteen years old. Compared with professional singers, my age and unprofessional singing are both shortcomings." Li Zhemin said. He decided to find a professional vocal teacher for systematic learning to improve his music literacy and singing skills.
Go all the way to achieve your dream
With the guidance of professional vocal teachers and the advice and help of friends, Li Zhemin's voice, stage skills and image have made a qualitative leap, and in the following years, he successively participated in Jingtai County Youth Singing Competition, Baiyin City Youth Singing Competition, etc., as well as many cultural and artistic performances in provinces, cities and counties. On the stage, the combination of his "flaws" due to his age and his majestic, natural and decent style has become a "plus point" in the hearts of many audiences and judges. In order to continuously improve himself, in 2005, he entered the Jingtai County Xinxing Popular Education Art Troupe to learn saxophone performance.
Under the influence of Li Zhemin, his youngest son Li Lei also embarked on the path of learning music. In September 2009, Li Lei entered the top five in the Silver Division audition of CCTV's "Extraordinary 6+1" column. In the subsequent performance of Gansu Satellite TV's "Dream Factory", Li Zhemin, a member of his son's cheerleading team, sang "Hua'er" live to canvass votes for his son. As a result, the father and son were spotted by the CCTV director and were the first to qualify for Beijing to participate in the program. Li Zhemin also Selected into the reserve player pool of the "Extraordinary 6+1" column. In December 2011, Li Zhemin won the "Most Beautiful Voice Award" in the 2011 CCTV "Extraordinary 6+1" finals. In 2012 and 2013, he was invited to participate in CCTV's "Starting for Happiness" column and "Golden 100 Seconds" column.
In the following years, Li Zhemin's performance path became wider and wider. Not only was he invited to participate in the recording of some satellite TV programs from other provinces, but he also participated in artistic performances at the Gansu (Silver) branch of the Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival, and many Spring Festival Galas and sports games in Jingtai County. Activity. In May 2023, Li Zhemin rushed to Yinchuan and competed on the same stage with 153 professional singers from 18 provinces and cities across the country at the 18th Western China Folk Song (Huaer) Song Festival, and finally won the Excellence Award.
Bringing singing to the folks is particularly meaningful.
Music is not just a dream for young people. After Li Zhemin retired, he led his Yellow River Stone Forest Art Troupe to carry out cultural activities to the countryside with the Jingtai County Cultural Center from time to time. For the performance, he changed his minivan into a special prop vehicle for the art troupe, and contracted all the work with the troupe members from stage construction to lighting, props, musical instruments, etc. to the performance.
"Recently, we are busy carrying out activities to send culture to the countryside with the Jingtai County Cultural Center. Over the years, we have carried out at least more than 30 activities to send culture to the countryside every year." Li Zhemin said. In his opinion, bringing performances to the countryside and bringing singing to the folks is a particularly meaningful thing. "It not only brings joy to the folks, but also makes my life more fulfilling."
"I will continue on the road of singing until I can't sing anymore." Li Zhemin said firmly with a smile.
Lanzhou Daily All-Media Reporter Wang Wanying
Editor-in-Chief: Wang Xuwei
