ARTS / CULTURE & LEISURE
Sino-French music festival returns to Wuhan in Central China’s Hubei Province
Published: Aug 02, 2021 05:18 PM
As the 14th Sino-French music festival kicked off in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, on Friday evening, French and local artists brought an outdoor music feast for three hours to over 400 people on the site and even more online.

In 2020, the annual music festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 epidemic. 

This time, the concert returned to Wuhan, requiring no tickets but certificates of COVID-19 vaccination and green health codes instead.

GHINZA, a music band from Essonne, France, which became a sister city with Wuhan in 2012, opened the concert via a recorded show in France.

"It's so hot today, but the atmosphere was super good. The audiences reacted very well while we were on the stage," said French musician Sebastien Hery, who performed for 45 minutes with his Djang San + band at the festival.

Hery visited Wuhan once in November 2020, around half a year after the city's 76-day lockdown.

Talking about the differences between his recent two visits, he said: "I could feel people here were nervous and had a sense of distance when I was here last time. But tonight, we interacted with each other face to face outdoors, and I love the feeling."

Wang Zhiheng, a Wuhan University student, bounced and rocked with the music for hours. 

"I hope the pandemic is brought under control soon so that I may enjoy more live performances by foreign bands." 

"I've had two doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and I wore my mask for the whole concert, so I'm not worried about attending such an activity," Wang added.

The music festival was established in 1982 in France. Taking place in China for over 10 years, the festival is also scheduled to head to other Chinese cities in 2021, including Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu.