Music for the migrant

Li Jianqing has worked with Taiwan singer-songwriter Jonathan Lee for 10 years. Lee is the producer of Li's latest EP. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Li Jianqing has spent the last decade in Beijing and his first album pays tribute to the outsider. Chen Nan reports.

When Li Jianqing took part in a singing competition in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in 2005, winning was not his aim.

Instead, he wanted to impress one of the jury members, veteran Taiwan producer and singer-songwriter Jonathan Lee.

At that time, Li, then 28, who is a classically trained violinist, was with the Guangxi Symphony Orchestra and wrote his own songs.

He also performed as a lead vocalist in a pop band called Purple Sun.

However, the young man was struggling because few of his peers shared his ideas about music.

"They considered my style as 'weird'," says Li. "But I wanted to prove to them that songwriting could be different.

"I grew up listening to Lee's songs and I believed that he would understand me."

So, he recorded a sample of his music on a CD and wrote his phone number on it.

Later, Li got the CD passed to Lee, who is referred to as "Taiwan's pop music godfather".

A few months later, Li received a call from Lee, who offered him a job in Beijing.