Unexpected guitar at Li Jia He Xian

Up lateish due to yesterday but so what I’m officially on holiday now for a bit. I got a call from Li Kun at 1.30pm and at first I thought he was telling me to come and practise music but then realised it was to go for a meal with musicians from the town of Baise (an hour and a half north of Pingguo). I wasn’t really thinking but I knew I was on holiday so I thought “sod it” and I said I’d be there “soon”. I  didn’t tell him I needed a shower so would be longer than the 5 minutes he was expecting, so obviously when I arrived he was already waiting outside the famous restaurant Li Jia He Xian where they were.

Wow. They were well into their meal and I thought it a little strange that Li Kun had only called me at 1.30pm rather than the day before. A few beers were drunk and then a violinist started a very professional piece with the classical guitarist (though the former wasn’t drinking the latter was). It was a spellbinding session for me and I clapped heartily when they finished earlier than most people who were filming it (ok I was too).

Unexpected wonderful violin performance

The guitarist was great too

But then came the problem. Li Kun said it was my turn to perform. Actually one of the men at the table had said it was very interesting that literally the minute I had arrived he had been watching a video of me playing Scarborough Fair (Canticle) and when I turned up it was like some sort of vision (his words not mine). Li Kun picked up the classical guitar that had just been played beautifully and thrust it in my unwelcoming hands. Apparently it was worth more than a thousand quid.  I hadn’t played a classical guitar for well over 10 years and explained so. But apparently that wasn’t a problem, and as soon as they heard my excuse Li Kun was on the phone ordering an acoustic guitar and not 10 minutes later one arrived at the restaurant.

What could I do? They’d only bloody arranged a delivery of a guitar so this white man could try to entertain professional musicians…. I was quite embarrassed so actually drank a glass of red wine which I don’t normally do here. I’ve never sung Scarborough Fair before, only played it to accompaniment so I put the capo at a much higher fret than I would normally have. Oh it was not good...my voice was quiet and probably not on key as I am no Garfunkel, but I got polite applause afterwards.

I downed a beer and decided that I would show them I wasn’t that bad, so went to another scale and belted out Sounds of Silence and Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard and got an actual appreciative round of applause. That gave me the confidence to break into a couple of more S&G songs that they really liked.

As is sometimes the case here I got a “review” from the main guitar player from the violin piece. He said I was “too weak” for Scarborough Fair but really came alive for the other songs afterwards. Chinese people are often this frank and I do appreciate it, especially in this case.

There was a bald bloke (I think another guitarist) who got really drunk and then just leant forward and fell asleep as you would I suppose, but no-one batted an eyelid. Well this was a really unexpected afternoon, which normally, due to work I wouldn’t have taken up. But I’m very glad I did, strangely to hear the criticism more than the praise. I got home at 4pm.

I stayed up to have the luxury of watching City beat Huddersfield 6-1, and David Silva was a peach. I love many of our players but he will probably always be my favourite, despite Aguero scoring a hat-trick. But Man U lost to Brighton which made the day that much better!

Nice bonus watching us win convincingly