Bianjie

[journey]

Despite being our nation's representatives at the 41st Festival of Musical Arts in Terra, the international music competition, there were not that many interviews with them, as the guys themselves are quite shy, and spent most of their time preparing for the festival itself. But luckily, now that we know the outcome of the 41st FOMAT, using my connections and the Shunkashūtō editorial persuasion, we managed to get ourselves a day with triumphants and speak to them about their experiences in Valruzia, the trophy of the festival, and the way their career will go now.

For a city as large as Niyalma, both in terms of its size and population, it was genuinely comfortable and easy to move around, thanks to the local tram network, which operates quite old yet experienced trains on its lines. And in less than 20 minutes after getting off the main railway station in the city, we arrived at the Luzhou Cafe in the city centre to meet the three young rockers: Liwei, Kai and Alin. We booked a table in the cafe beforehand to maximise the amount of time together for this interview. And thus, once we sat down today, the conversation began.

"So, before we jump into the more juicy stuff, let's talk about you personally", I began. "Who are the three of you outside the career, who are Liwei, Kai and Alin normally? Who are the Kongxiang?" became my first question to the three of them. Liwei, who is 26, is a Niyalma native, born and raised here; he has spent his whole life in this city. For him, Niyalma became the place of inspiration, a place that made him pursue a musical career in the first place. "As the years passed by, more and more people from across the country, and actually the world too, started coming to this city, creating this melting pot of cultures and traditions, and I think that was really interesting for me to watch when growing up", Liwei explained to me how exactly the city was an inspiration for him. Alin, meanwhile, is the opposite of Liwei, even though he fits the description of Liwei of what makes Niyalma so dear and beautiful to him. Alin was born in the rural Handuba Province, in a small village called Sayinsartu. However, when he was 6, his parents moved to Niyalma, and he has been living in the city ever since. "I think my experience has been a tad different from that of Liwei, because I saw two different stories: a story of a poor and yet determined people in Sayinsartu, and a story of the rich and happy people, here in Niyalma. Being a migrant, if you even can call me that", he chuckled. "Had an impact on me, for sure, but more than that, it was my mom". Alin continued his story talking about his mom, who is a music teacher, and he says she taught him everything about music, from simple notes and instruments, to the very variety of artists and genres. At the same time, the two of them were roommates while studying at the University of Niyalma, so it was actually Alin who pushed Liwei to launch a musical career. "Oh, he genuinely gave me good classes on music when we were at the uni", Liwei said. So, the two of them would form a duo and begin with small gigs, including the very one where they had met their third member. Kai, who has been sitting mostly quietly this whole time, finally spoke. "Well, not much to tell really about me. These two have said everything", he stopped, and immediately got elbowed by Alin. "Ouch, okay-okay. I was born in Niyalma here, just like Liwei, but I live in the suburbs, and still do, and well, we met actually at this very cafe back in the day", he started talking about how during one of the Liwei and Alin gigs in Luzhou Cafe the three of them met and became friends, later lauching what would become Kongxiang.

Finally, we move on to the band and how they ended up representing Bianjie in the FOMAT. Kongxiang was formed in 5682, and almost immediately drew the attention of the local Niyalman public at first, and very soon the whole nation. "It was really nice to see so much support for something that we did really without trying", Liwei talked about the song that went viral on Bianjie's social media. "And I think that's when our big journey began really". It would take them to release one full album, a couple of singles and collaborations, before the Bianjie Broadcasting Corporation, or the BHK, would pick them as the country's representative at the 41st Festival of Musical Arts in Terra, held in Valruzia's capital city, Nowogard. "When the Niyalman director of BHK called us to tell the big news, we were on a break during our concert", Kai says. "So we had to contain our happiness until the very end of our concert". And thus Kongxiang started preparations for the Festival. "We have never really been outside of Bianjie, so that was a nice experience to go abroad too, to see beautiful cities and countries, meet new people, it was really beautiful", Alin tells me. Kongxiang wrote their song Closed Eyes in about a month, the band told me. Liwei explained the idea behind the song: "We wanted to convey a message about all the unheard and unseen people in our society, to give the most vulnerable a voice to scream through our song".

Guys told me about their time with other FOMAT contestants, and how they friended during the festival, and how they cheered on them when Kongxiang were announced as the winners. And that is where we turn to the victory. I asked them about their feelings once they knew they had won the festival. "Oh, that was something for sure", Liwei began. "We genuinely had no idea, and the gap between us and second place? We were stunned to say the least", Alin immediately picked up. "We felt happy, excited and proud, there were too many emotions at once. Kai cried even", Liwei laughs. They returned to the Niyalma as the winners and heroes of Bianjie, being triumphant. So, what now? Now, Kongxiang say they will take a break, before going on the major tour around the Bianjie, as they finish their new album, and possibly go around the world. "Now we have fans in the most different and remote places across the Terra, we can't leave them hanging alone", Kai says. Then we proceeded to chat a bit more about other things, as well as our personal lives, but that's off the record. Still, it was a great time hanging around with these three, as well as the honour to be one of the few journalists to interview them. Nothing but good luck to them in their future, and wishing them great career moving forward.