The piece was inspired by the unbreakable spirits of Hakka ancestors during their continuous migrations to explore new territories and to protect homelands, which the composer is profoundly moved and admires. With motifs from the traditional “Old Mountain Song” and “Dapu Tune,” the music contains the following five sections:

1. Overture (measures 1–17), with trumpet playing the melody from “Old Mountain Song,” tells the history of the ancestors' hardship and perseverance.
2. Front section (measures 18–75) describes the progression of a ritual ceremony, expressing reverence, ancestry, and respectfulness.
3. Middle section (measures 76–113) is ushered in by an impromptu bridge with percussions, erhu, and suona, which develops into a capriccio of Hakka sceneries led by marimba and xylophone. With a mysterious mood and through layers of instrumentation, this section depicts the scenes of ancestral migrations, over the mountains and over the sea, to explore and establish new habitats.
4. Back section (measures 114–168) is based on a motif from “Dapu Tune” to describe festivals at temple gatherings.
5. Coda (measures 169–220) represents the ceremonial progression of worshipping deities with a strong, alternating percussion demonstration, and expresses the colorful vitality of people with a frenetic, forceful display of brass. After the climax the motif in the beginning returns, symbolizing the remembrance and respect of modern-day Hakka people for their ancestral heritage.

This work is an endeavor to combine wind orchestra and Hakka Eight Tones. Hakka Eight Tones is an traditional musical art form of the Hakka people, commonly used for weddings, funerals, and other occasions. Therefore its musical styles, performance forms, contents, and instruments possess strong characteristics of the traditional Chinese folk music. This composition is based on the traditional folk music, but develops into an innovative exploration with the Western musical techniques. Hakka Eight Tones is closely tied to social rituals, from welcome of newborns, marriage, birthday celebration for the elderly, to funeral. The progression of rituals, the gratification for gifts, and the celebration with music represent deeply rooted cultural appearances and social relationships, symbolizing the emotions and yearnings for auspice, heritage and ancestry. Hakka Eight Tones is often performed as background music. Although its music is based on a simple rustic melody, the performers often have ample room for improvisation. Once combined with Western wind instrumentation, the music is significantly diversified in tone and enhanced in volume. More room is opened up for exploring musical forms, textures, and dynamics. For the composer, however, it is quite challenging to resolve issues pertaining to tuning, timbre, balance and coherence. This piece was commissioned by Tao Yuan Symphonic Band.

此曲於2013年11月27日在桃園文化局演藝廳世界首演，由「桃園交響管樂團」演出，張佳韻指揮。

曲解

此曲創作之靈感係源於作曲者對於客家先祖歷代遷移的辛苦開墾，捍衛家園的精神，有著深切感動與敬佩。本曲主要以《老山歌》、《大埔 調》 為音樂動機，樂曲分為五大段落：

1. 序：第1~17小節，以小號吹奏的《老山歌》旋律動機來訴說祖先的辛苦開墾歷史。
2. 前段：第18~75小節，描述祭祀儀式進行，表達慎終追遠、飲水思源及不忘本的精神。
3. 中段：第76~113小節，以打鼓擊奏與二胡、嗩吶即興唱段作為銜接橋樑，引領下一段以 木琴、鐵琴主導的客家風情隨想樂段，此段落富有神祕色彩，透過樂器層層鋪陳來象徵 客家祖先翻山越嶺、不畏艱難的建立家園景象。
4. 中後段：第114~168小節，為廟會迎神喜慶樂段，以《大埔調》為素材。
5. 尾聲：第169~220小節，以強大的打擊樂輪番上陣，象徵廟會迎神儀式的進行以及銅管樂 器強而有力的連續吐奏等，來展現民間的活力豐沛色彩。樂曲達到最高潮後，再次回到前 段動機，隱喻暗示現代客家人仍要有飲水思源及不忘本的精神。

此作品為一首管樂團結合客家八音團的音樂創作。客家八音是客家人音樂的典型藝術，常用於婚喪喜慶等場合，故其音樂風格，演出形式， 音樂內容及樂器使用等，都深具中國傳統民間音樂的特色。本曲作曲之構想則是基於此民俗音樂，而以西樂的型式做一創新。客家八音運用於 生命禮俗 中，從新生兒的慶生，成年後的婚嫁，年長的賀壽，到離開世上的送別。這些儀禮的進行儀式、禮品的贈予、和音樂的呈現，深具文化面貌和社會 人倫關係的意義，代表著吉利、傳承、追遠的情感和思想。客家八音演奏的型式多是背景音樂，主題雖基於簡單而純樸的旋律，獨奏者常有即 興發 揮的餘地，一旦配合西方的管樂器，在音色及音量上，都有顯著的?進，在曲式、織度、及力度方面，更有充分發展的空間。然而對作曲家而言， 則在音準、音色配合、音量平衡、及協同性方面，具有相當的挑戰性。此作品為桃園交響管樂團委託作品。