Ma Ke (; 1918 – July 27, 1976) was a Chinese composer and musicologist, best known for his patriotic songs, including " Nanniwan". Ma was born into a Christian family, at

Xuzhou Xuzhou ( zh, s=徐州), also known as Pengcheng () in ancient times, is a major city in northwestern Jiangsu province, China. The city, with a recorded population of 9,083,790 at the 2020 Chinese census, 2020 census (3,135,660 of which lived in ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

, and his name was said to be derived from the saint

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

. Having enjoyed chemistry in high school, he studied it at

Henan University Henan University (HENU; ) is a provincial public university in Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, Henan, China. It is affiliated with the Province of Henan and co-funded with the Ministry of Education. The university is part of the Double First-Class Const ...

, where he encountered the composer

Xian Xinghai Xian Xinghai or Sinn Sing Hoi (; 13 June 1905 – 30 October 1945) was a Chinese composer. He was among the first composers in his country to draw on western classical music and has influenced many later Chinese musicians. Xian composed in all t ...

. Ma suspended his studies and became a follower of Xian, including an anti-Japanese roadshow tour of the country. In 1939, Ma traveled to

Yan'an Yan'an; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi Province of China, province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several c ...

. On Xian's recommendation, he studied at Luxun Academy of Arts with composer Lü Ji and others. He began to collect and record many Chinese folk songs. In 1947, he joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

. After 1949, he was appointed the Vice President of the

China Conservatory of Music The China Conservatory of Music (CCMusic; ) is a municipal music academy in Chaoyang, Beijing, China. The school is affiliated with the City of Beijing, and co-funded by the Beijing Municipal People's Government and the Ministry of Culture an ...

and the head of the Chinese Opera House. He composed more than 200 musical works, including "Nanniwan"; ''We are Democratic Youth''(''我们是民主青年''); ''Powerful Workers'' (''咱们工人有力量''); ''Lüliang Mountains Cantata'' (''吕梁山大合唱''); the '' yangge'' opera ''The Couple Learn to Read'' (''夫妻识字''); the opera ''Zhou Zishan'' (''周子山'') (co-composed with Zhang Lu () and Liu Chi); ''

The White Haired Girl ''The White-Haired Girl'' () is a Chinese contemporary classical opera by Yan Jinxuan to a Chinese libretto by He Jingzhi and Ding Yi. It was later adapted to a ballet, a Peking opera, and a film. The ballet adaptation was regarded as a revo ...

'' with Ju Wei, Zhang Lu, and Xiang Yu; ''Xiaoerhei's Marriage'' (''小二黑结婚''); and the orchestral piece ''The North Shanxi Suite'' (''陕北组曲''). As a musicologist, he devoted special study to the work of Xian Xinghai and wrote a biography about the composer. He also studied the development of modern Chinese music drama and China's tradition of revolutionary music, writing several books and approximately 200 papers. In 1978, a partial collection of his songs was published. A festival dedicated to Ma Ke, called the China Xuzhou Ma Ke Art Festival, was held in Xuzhou in June 2004. Ma and his wife, Yang Wei (), had three daughters: Haixing (), Haiying (), and Hailing ().

References

1918 births 1976 deaths Chinese musicologists Academic staff of the Central Academy of Drama Chinese opera composers Chinese male opera composers Musicians from Jiangsu Educators from Xuzhou 20th-century Chinese writers Writers from Xuzhou Chinese non-fiction writers 20th-century Chinese classical composers 20th-century Chinese musicians Henan University alumni 20th-century musicologists 20th-century Chinese male musicians 20th-century non-fiction writers {{China-composer-stub