Lake Norman singer’s living room a ‘place for pause’

LAKE NORMAN, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – “I need tennis shoes so I can run!”

Though there are always more tasks to do and jobs to finish, about once a week Zhengzheng Wiley’s living room becomes a place for her to pause.

“I have to say, almost for 20 years I forgot about it,” said Zhengzheng. “I was successful, I enjoyed my work life, but I felt like that wasn’t me.”

They typically start with a vocal warm-up. Then, they go to what she avoided all those years she spent hustling.

“I was sitting there thinking who I am, where I came from, what am I doing now-and where am I going?” remembered Zhengzheng.

Far away from her home country of China, the sounds of her childhood and her history fill her home. The women she meets with are part of the ‘Chinese Mandarin Variety Club.’ They sing all over the Carolinas.

“It makes me feel, myself. I feel at ease. I feel like home,” said Zhengzheng.

Through music, she rediscovered joy and then made time for it.

“there’s no boundary in music,” said Zhengzheng.

While most might not know the words to their songs, the feeling of joy is there and that is universal.

Zhengzheng and her group will be performing at the Dragon Boat Race and Asian Festival on Lake Norman on May 11.

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