Ma Ke

Who is Ma Ke?

Ma Ke was a Chinese composer and musicologist, best known for his patriotic songs, including "Nanniwan."

He was from Xuzhou, Jiangsu. He studied chemistry at Henan University, then, under the guidance of the composer Xian Xinghai, suspended his studies upon the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, joining the anti-Japanese movement in Henan. In 1939 he traveled to Yan'an, where he studied at the Lu Xun Art Academy with Xian Xinghai, Lü Ji, and others, and worked to collect and record a massive number of Chinese folk songs. In 1947 he joined the Communist Party of China. After 1949 he was appointed the vice president of the China Conservatory of Music and the head of the Chinese Opera House.

He composed more than 200 musical works, including "Nanniwan," "We were Democratic Youth," "Our Workers Have Strength", "The Luliang Chorus", the yangge opera Husbands and Wives Learn to Read, the opera Zhou Zishan