Chinese migrant workers’ band spreads music and joy to labourers away from home in the Yangtze River Delta area
Migrant labours make up one-third of China’s workforce, despite this, they are often marginalised. For the last eight years, a band made up of 30 workers has been using their music to spread joy to fellow labourers
On a freezing winter’s evening in February this year, more than 1,300 migrant workers came together in a theatre in China’s easternprovince of Jiangsu for a night of live music.
Every winter, after almost 12 months of hardship and separation from their families, migrant workers from all corners of the country take the long journey back home to celebrate Chinese New Year with their loved ones. For those gathered in the theatre, in Suzhou’s Wuzhong district, however, there was to be no reunion this year. While some had obligations to their employer, many others chose to stay because working during Lunar New Year earns them triple their usual pay.
Sheltered from the blistering cold outside, the workers enjoyed a night of warmth and music at the Spring Festival gala staged for them by the Changsanjiao Migrant Workers Art Ensemble.
Made up of more than 30 migrant workers, the group – which was founded in Wuzhong district’s Mudu Ancient Town in 2010 – have staged more than 60 performances around the Yangtze River Delta area. Performers vary from one gig to the next, depending on who is able to take time off work.
The group have written about a dozen original songs that describe the plight of migrant workers and the sacrifices they make while playing their part in the country’s development.