Shinji: The wandering woman sings about homesickness

Shunzi is the second child in the family, the pianist's mother gave birth to her in the taxi, before and after only 20 minutes, especially smooth, so grandpa will give her a baby name called "small Shun". Junko said she was "scared to death" and was forced to learn the piano from the age of four. "In kindergarten, everyone was taking naps and I was practicing the piano."

When she was six years old, her mother came to America with her two daughters. The first days in America were very difficult. At the time, Junko said, her mother had only a dozen dollars in her pocket. When they were in the United States, they lived in their grandparent's house, and their mother studied and worked hard. "Although life was very difficult, my mother never let my sisters go hungry." Junko often felt wronged and unfair as a child. Because of her yellow skin and black eyes, and because of financial difficulties, she was often bullied by American children her age when she first arrived. "On the other hand, our relatives in China always thought we were rich because it was rare to go abroad in those days."

In San Francisco, Junko spent her teenage years. Although she doesn't speak English, listening to the radio and learning to sing English songs are her favorites. Even if she doesn't understand the words, she can learn them all by pronunciation and writing down the melody. During those years, Junko was exposed to a lot of black music, and most of her American friends also liked black music. However, the same melody, in the mind of Junko from the East, was shaken by the impact of cultural and racial differences between the East and the West.

Childhood and adolescence always have an important influence on a person's development as an adult. Shunko: Did the hard childhood in a foreign country ever bring shadow to her, and how did it affect her when she grew up? "The biggest influence from my childhood is that I have something to write songs about," Junko says with an unfazed expression and no resentment. Children who grow up in privileged circumstances, surrounded by the love of adults, don't have so many stories in their lives." Therefore, because of such a childhood, Shunzi's songs are full of gratitude, and the yearning for their hometown.

At the age of 17, he studied music in Europe alone

Junko left her mother at 17 and went to Europe alone. She has spent time in many countries, Shunko said, but her favorite was Switzerland. Studying, working, and singing there for six years. Almost everyone in that small country on the map can speak four or five languages.

Life in Switzerland is very hard. "The living expenses there are very expensive. For example, if you watch a movie in the United States, it only costs 5 yuan, but in Switzerland, it will cost 15 yuan." To meet the high cost of living and school fees, Junko must go out to work and sing in some bars. "One time I was in a bar playing lead singer with a band. That night, there were more people at the bar than there were people at the bar." Junko felt so sad that she called her mother and said she would rather serve dishes than sing in a bar. But mother said to Shunzi, this is the experience.

In the 1990s, Europeans were still a bit unfamiliar with the face of the East. Junko, on the other hand, is different from other Oriental people -- "I have yellow skin and black eyes, an American passport, and I sing black songs. Europeans don't know which nationality to take me for."

When studying jazz music in Switzerland, Junko was diligent and excellent. She finished the course in only two years, which should have taken five years. After that, she became a teacher, teaching music. After six years in Switzerland, Junko became fluent in French. In addition to the rich language environment in Switzerland, Junko is also particularly fond of the Swiss mountains. "I love the sea and the mountains very much. I hope that when I retire, I can find a place with both mountains and the sea."

Last December, Junzi invited her mother to be her guest for a solo concert in Shanghai. "Mom has been playing piano for more than 50 years, and this is the first time she's played in a place that can hold 2,000 people." If her mother hadn't taught her how to play the piano, and if her mother hadn't sent her music demo to the Rock label of Rolling Stone Records, Junko said she wouldn't know if she could have made it this far. "I don't know how to repay this love, and giving her a stage is the best gift I can think of."