Los Angeles has entered a dense “season of drums” this month, capped by the just-concluded Watts Towers Day of the Drum and Jazz Festival. Against this backdrop, one cross-cultural highlight continues to command attention—the 8th U.S. Legacy International Art Festival, which concluded in Los Angeles on August 2. Anchored in the guiding principle of “giving equal weight to inheritance and innovation,” the festival drew more than 2,000 artists from over 30 countries and regions. Among them, the young Chinese percussionist Jinyang Pu stood out with an innovative synthesis of traditional Chinese music and drum set. Through refined control of tempo and exceptional ensemble awareness, he inscribed a distinct, contemporary artistic signature on the concert as a whole. For Pu, emerging on this internationally recognized platform constitutes a significant affirmation of his professional attainment and a key milestone of dual recognition by both the industry and the public.
The U.S. presented this year’s festival–China Association for Intangible Cultural Heritage Exchange and Merano Cultural Performances (USA), co-presented by the Federation of Chinese Associations of Southern California, and produced by EDI Media Inc., with special sponsorship from Deyuan Investment and Xinli International Education. Staged from June to August, the program comprised competitions, showcases, an awards ceremony, and a “Cultural Journey” that spanned music, dance, traditional opera, calligraphy, painting, and displays of intangible cultural heritage. The culminating evening, titled “Classics Across Generations: A Concert Commemorating the 120th Anniversary of Xian Xinghai’s Birth,” progressed from Rhapsody on ‘Ode to Coral’ and themes from The Yellow River to Yue opera, choral works, and cross-genre pieces—embodying the curatorial principle of combining continuity with innovation.
Civic and community leaders participated extensively on the day of the event, underscoring the project’s public cultural credibility and recognition. Guests in attendance or sending greetings included: Zhiqiang Guo, Deputy Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Los Angeles; U.S. Representative Judy May Chu; California State Treasurer Fiona Ma; California State Senator María Elena Durazo; California Assemblymembers Mike Gipson and Mike Fong; Los Angeles County Supervisors Hilda L. Solis and Kathryn Barger; and Arcadia City Councilmember Eileen Wang, among others. Throughout the program, these officials presented certificates and commendations to organizers and performing representatives. In particular, María Elena Durazo, Mike Gipson, Hilda L. Solis, Kathryn Barger, Mike Fong, Judy May Chu, Fiona Ma, and Eileen Wang conferred commendation certificates upon Jinyang Pu, recognizing the professional caliber and cross-cultural value of his performance at this year’s festival—constituting explicit endorsements across municipal, county, state, and federal levels.
Within the festival’s multi-track program matrix, the percussion work Miracle emerged as one of the evening’s highlights. The piece juxtaposed the timbral inflections of Chinese instrumental idioms with the rhythmic drive of the drum set, balancing the narrative quality of Eastern melody with the immediacy of modern meter—thereby enhancing both legibility in the hall and potential for broader dissemination. Performing alongside his collaborator, Pu assumed a dual role as a drum-set artist/stage performer, as well as an ensemble percussionist, anchoring the pulse and advancing formal sections. Through coordinated deployment of bass drum, snare, and hi-hat to stabilize the tempo framework, he ensured precise entrances for the traditional instrumental lines and chorus. Graduated cymbal articulations and carefully shaped drum fills established the work’s energy curve, maintaining control across climactic surges and recessions. At junctures involving changes in meter and rhythmic pattern, Pu maintained efficient coordination with the conductor and traditional percussion ensemble, enabling seamless transitions from click-tracked passages to free-time sections and minimizing frequency masking. His nuanced microdynamics—ghost notes and cross-stick timbres—preserved the contour and breathing of the melodic line, enabling audiences from diverse cultural backgrounds to enter the emotional arc through the groove.
Jinyang Pu’s distinguished performance in Miracle showcases the professional rigor and stage command expected of a young percussionist working within a high-standard artistic production system. Serving the overarching artistic narrative with poised restraint and release, he achieved the dual objective of rhythmic anchoring and energy shaping while safeguarding artistic integrity. By articulating a clear and intelligible musical vocabulary, he fostered an organic fusion between traditional melody and a modern sound field. The resulting multi-tier, high-level official commendations not only provide authoritative validation of his performance but also establish a solid reputational basis for future international cross-disciplinary collaborations and artistic innovation.
Participation in an international festival of this caliber itself signals strong professional recognition. The 8th U.S. Legacy International Art Festival employed a rigorous selection process, accepting only artists recommended by industry experts or those who had won awards from major international competitions. Drawing on his advanced training at Musicians Institute and his sustained achievements in jazz drumming and cross-cultural musical integration, Pu was selected from among hundreds of candidates to perform. This outcome attests to his professional standing and artistic influence within the international music community.
According to the organizers, the festival will continue its platform-based structure, which includes “competition–showcase–awards–cultural journey,” deepen collaborations with local and international institutions, and broaden opportunities for young performers and cross-genre works. In this process, young artists like Jinyang Pu—who consistently demonstrate professional stability in key roles and the capacity for cross-cultural mediation—are poised to become vital connectors between tradition and the contemporary.
The success of this year’s festival not only highlights the creative vitality of overseas Chinese artists but also affirms the robust life force and contemporary relevance of Chinese culture within cross-cultural contexts. Through the innovative practices of young artists such as Jinyang Pu, one can discern the boundless possibilities of Chinese traditional arts in the present day, offering, as well, a vivid cultural annotation to the vision of a community with a shared future for humankind.
