For someone who plays the suona, Guo Yazhi doesn’t look like a traditionalist. True he is wearing a kung fu shirt, but it hangs over a pair of late-cut jeans and his hair is tied back in the kind of ponytail you’d expect on someone from Nashville. Which may be a paradox, but it’s fitting – the man’s appearance is a reflection of his musical ambitions.

Now if you haven’t heard of the suona, think of a horn, multiply the decibels by 3 or 4, ratchet the pitch up to ‘shrill’ and you have something like it. The instrument dates back to the West Jin Dynasty (265-316 CE) and is nowadays most common in military music or at weddings and funerals. But that is not stopping Guo Yazhi joining the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra for a suona concert they call The Wonderful World of Guo Yazhi – The Suona Story.

“Suona isn’t very popular is Hong Kong and not many people learn it,” says Guo, though he tries to teach the instrument to children. “The sound of a suona is just too loud. People’s neighbours will complain when they practice it.”

So why, then, promote it? The answer to that question harks back to the enigma of the kung fu shirt and country music ponytail. Guo’s interest in China’s traditional and ancient music is not rooted in the past so much as finding what it has to offer the present. Though he is on a mission to promote Chinese music, it must be relevant to the 21st century – hence the programme for his HK concert includes Chinese classics like Clouds Pillow the Dragon’s Back, The World of Winds and Bauhinia with modern hits such as Unchained Melody and Joni Mitchell’s Chelsea Morning.

Guo graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing as an expert in a wide range of wind instruments. He walked away with the Grand Prize in the International Pro Music Competition in New York in 1998 after playing six different pipes including the guanzi, dizi and, of course, suona. He describes the suona as a “majestic and masculine” instrument though in his upcoming show he’ll try to show its gentle, romantic side as well.

Which is another reason he included in the concert numbers like Chelsea Morning, a song he has a special affection for. He tells of a performance of Er Quan Ying Yue (Moon Reflected on Second Spring) he and some other musicians played for Bill Clinton, then President of the United States, on his first visit to China. “They loved it and later I got invited to play in the White House,” Guo recalls. “I played Chelsea Morning with a saxophone and Bill Clinton was so excited, because he is also a sax player,” he giggles. “He actually won a lot of votes by playing that song during his campaign.” And named his daughter after the Joni Mitchell hit.

But it is not votes Guo travels the world for. He has taken the stage in the US, Europe and Southeast Asia, and has come to the conclusion that audiences in the west are eager for all that is creative and progressive in sound. However,
for Asian, and therefore Hong Kong, audiences he tries to strike a balance between artistry and mass appeal. So for this concert he is teaming up with Canto-pop star Anthony Wong with whom he first collaborated at the Tatming Pair’s re-union concert in 2004. This time the couple have selected a number of popular Chinese songs, though Guo is unwilling to let on what they are, keeping the choice a surprise for the audience on the night. And he hopes the collaboration will elevate his profile. “I wish to play in the Coliseum someday,” he says. “Then maybe more audiences will know of my music and learn what suona is all about.”

The Wonderful Winds of Guo Yazhi – The Suona Story will be performed on April 13 and 14 at Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Shows start at 8pm. Tickets from $100-$220 are available from URBTIX, 2734 9009.