Jonny Pickett Wraps ‘Made in China’ Series with “John Rabe”
Then and now - John Rabe’s office, Nanjing, China.
John Rabe was a kind Nazi
—is one historical tidbit Jonny Pickett uncovered after taking a job teaching music in Nanjing, China where John Rabe lived during WWII.
Pickett found himself in Nanjing after earning his Masters in Ethnomusicology and was offered a job with the caveat being that he’d have to build the music program from pretty much nothing, which he happily accepted—teaching music in the U.S. seemed boring, comparatively.
“I knew nothing about China,” said Jonny. “I like going to places where I don’t know anything.”
Jonny Pickett’s ‘Made in China’ is a series of songs processing the stories of people who have shaped China’s history. The last song in the series is called “John Rabe” and was released on May 19, 2021.
The story of John Rabe goes like this, as is written by Pickett on an Instagram post:
“Rabe was a German working for Siemens and living in Nanjing when World War II broke out. During the brutal Japanese invasion known as “The Rape of Nanjing,” John stayed in the city and negotiated a safety zone (which included his house) – he went and hung his swastika flags around the area to deter Japanese bombers. The act saved thousands of Chinese lives. After the war, he had no real place in the world, as he was tried by the allies and had betrayed the Nazis for helping the Chinese. … In my last few days living in Nanjing, I was lucky enough to go to the man’s house, where hundreds of civilians slept, trying to avoid the bombings and shootings that were annihilating their city.”
Nanjing has a complicated history as the once ancient capitol of China, all the way into the mid 20th century. Fun fact: Kanye West lived in Nanjing for a stint during his childhood.
Pickett says he woke up one morning with the opening line: “John Rabe was a man inside the safety zone all alone, far from home, saw the bones…”
Listen to “John Rabe”
Artwork by Oscar Pearson
Then went straight to the piano and wrote it out in one sitting.
“It’s the best when that happens,” said Pickett.
When he eventually moved back to the U.S., he started playing the song at live performances, trying it out in new settings.
“It was so bad,” said Jonny. “But it’s good to play songs live a lot before you record. You get to know them, as if they’re people.”
Jonny says the ‘Made in China’ series is also a response to a year where he experienced a lot of death; some of the lyrics he writes are reflective of the observation of death, both from his own perspective as well as seeking the paradigms of the song's characters.
Lyrics:
John Rabe was a man inside the safety zone all alone, far from home, saw the bones
His flag overhead Shanghai Lu! Ginling College and Wu Tai too! Nazi gentleman through and through!
John won't go, he'll stay at home, he still knows, there's ways to go.
Asleep in the backyard, three hundred fifty were snoring there, hungry and bodies bare.
Nanjing fallen in December, John wrote letters to ask his Führer, for a little help but no answer!
John won't go, he'll stay at home, he still knows, there's ways to go.
In Nanjing, Jonny lived down the street from the bridge with the highest number of suicides in the world. There’s the Nanjing Massacre, and the resulting thousands of graves all around the city that Jonny became familiar with. Pickett was also grieving people in his own life who were suicidal during that time. He lost his creative partner, Desmond, who taught Jonny how to mix recorded music.
Jonny felt strongly connected to the death he was experiencing around him, and was inspired to use it as a main theme in his writing.
“[The songs] aren’t necessarily me telling their stories so much as me responding to their experiences,” said Pickett, “and processing, seeing parallels, asking about human nature…why we’re afraid of death, and why it’s a terrible thing.”
The music that Jonny Pickett creates is born from a place of sincerity. The scholar / multi-instrumentalist pulls inspiration from all different parts of the world—a student of culture, aiming to experience them firsthand when possible. The stories of people and the history of a place often serve as the spark for Jonny’s work. And for the listener, Jonny’s music inevitably sparks a greater sense of curiosity for the world we live in and the faraway lands where humans have experienced very different lives. Listening to Jonny Pickett is like having a musical passport to another time, where genres are unfamiliar, even undefinable, making for a genuinely unique experience that is sure to inspire wonder and appreciation for something previously completely foreign to most, made approachable and brought into the light thanks to Jonny Pickett.
Stay tuned for the physical release of the ‘Made In China’ series, being pressed to vinyl towards the end of Summer ’21.
