Sunday, January 25, 2015

Jasmine Sings

Jasmine, my youngest daughter, and I have just returned from a short visit to China. It was a fun whirlwind of a time. It is the first time she and I have traveled for such a distance, having extended “mom and daughter” time. This purpose of this trip was to attend and participate in the ceremonies to announce the Top Ten Children’s Songs and Top Ten Young Performers in China. There were more than 175 performers participating in the show, showcasing more 120 original children’s songs. Though I received notice that Jasmine had been included in the Top Ten Child Performers in China, and that her song had also been chosen among the Top Ten Children’s Songs, I did not want to spoil her surprise. I waited until she was on stage and it was announced on live TV during the awards show the evening of January 10th . That is when she found out the news. It was hard to resist telling her ahead of time, particularly during the ceremonies, when she asked me if I thought she had a chance, but I wanted her just experience the moment and enjoy the surprise. 
The reason for this opportunity originated while we were still living in Guangzhou during 2012. Jasmine has always loved to sing, and she had been taking voice lessons and it was recommended for her to make a short album. She chose a song about happiness by Han Chun, a well-known song writer. The song received quite a lot of air play. Similar to the US, there is a “billboard chart” of popular songs, this particular one is somewhat new and it is centered on children’s songs. Her album began to climb this children’s song billboard. It climbed the charts for several weeks, rising from number 18, 13, 11, 9 to 7. It was then number 2 in the country for two weeks and spent one week at number one in the country. In fact, for eight weeks between June 1st and July 20, her song was listed among the top 20, and was receiving about 20,000 daily hits. 
So, all of this led her to being invited the awards ceremony in January. This awards show included several different types of awards, such as Top Ten Composers; Best Female singer; etc. She was included in the two categories of Top 10 Songs and Top 10 Singers. In fact, Jasmine is one of the youngest singers to be listed on the Top 20 songs, which is quite fun for her. Although just eight years old, she is a rather relaxed and calm personality, though once she gets on stage to perform, she seems to “blossom” and become quite the performer. I’m including a number of photos from the evening’s event and some “selfies” she and I took along the journey. The master of ceremonies asked her several questions during the evening and asked if she preferred to speak English or Mandarin, to which Jasmine replied “Either one is fine” and he was quite taken with that!
Our short trip was a delightful time of mom and daughter togetherness time. We crammed our time completely full to be able to see as many friends and also family as possible. My aunt and also my mom were able to come to the festivities and Jasmine was able to see a few China school friends. Wow, it was a whirlwind time of delightful fun. It was also a glimpse into my daughter’s growing personality, as she seemed to take it all rather casually and simply and just enjoyed the experience on the red carpet at the awards equal to the fun she had seeing her school chums and visiting family. I was not only proud of her for her accomplishment, but also how calm and grounded she was during all the commotion of the ceremonies, autographs and pictures. What an honor and delight that we got to do this -- and though it was hard to keep the secret – it was fun to watch her find out! This experience will always hold a special place in my heart, as does Jasmine!