John Doan is on tour in China after being so graciously welcomed at the airport. These are the first peeks of his first concert in Xian.

The debut concert was held at the Qujiang Theatre in the heart of Xi’an.  It is a beautiful and intimate facility that soon filled with local people and those who attended at the invitation of my wonderful host Hongquan Wang and the Shaanxi Musicians Association.

I had written out my program and text that I would normally say in English so that it could be read in Chinese (as my Mandarin is currently limited to about 3 words).  Yilin Wang excellently interpreted my text before each song (at least it sounded very authoritative).  I am so use to speaking myself to audiences so as to provide them a bridge to my music so by not being able to speak I initially felt mute and somewhat awkward.

Everything changed once I hit the first note.  I instantly realized that I actually was speaking to the audience directly by playing my music on the harp guitar.  Even the notes sounded a bit Chinese as there was no more distance between us.  They burst to applause after each piece.  Some recording engineers in a sound room were talking to each other and didn’t know that they had a microphone on so my music drifted over some speech in the hall.  Some people in the audience began to shout out to have them be quiet.  I said “Shay Shay (Thank you”).  Once they stopped talking I gave the audience a thumbs up and said “how” (good).  “Hung how” (very good) and the audience erupted in applauds.

The host wanted to have a question and answer session just before starting the second half and many people called out.  One man shouted, “Where do we get your recordings?”  Another asked in Mandarin, “How is the harp guitar different than the guitar?” and so on.

After the concert the audience rushed the stage and wanted to have photos with me.  Everyone waited for me to greet an important man in the arts community.  Then it was another half hour of little children, teens, middle aged to elderly people coming up and posing with me the “Rock Star!”

I made many fans that evening but beyond all that I felt an implied “East meets West” turned into an evening among friends.