First light shimmers over the horizon, then crawls across the landscape, before filling the empty city streets. The noon sun blazes down on the now bustling sidewalks, where people of all walks of life come and go, and bounces off the glass walls of the towering skyscrapers. Then, night falls, whisking the sun away, making way for the solemn yet brilliant moon, which listens silently as a laugh fills the otherwise quiet lantern-lined streets. Time passes, and the world turns, the face of the city always changing, but forever filled with the same breath, the rhythm of the city consistent in its never-ending cycle, as countless stories and legends are born and hidden among the streets, their only witness the stars above, as they sing this endless, silent song.

In 1944, during the “isolated island” period of Shanghai, among the bells of the trolley cars, a singer named Zhou Xuan, with her song “Phoenix”, captured the hearts of countless listeners. Soon thereafter, in Paris of 1951, chanteuse Edith Piaf, with “Sous le ciel de Paris”, forever engraved the love and memories of this romantic city in the hearts of her listeners. In the cold of a winter night in 1963 New York, the Mamas and the Papas, through their warm memories of their hometown, created a song which would go on to represent the entire era, “California Dreaming”. In Washington, DC of 1970, amongst the vibrant Christmas atmosphere, a late-night inspiration not only led to one of the greatest country songs of all time, “Take Me Home Country Road”, it also launched the career of superstar John Denver. These timeless and incomparable artists each sing the songs of their own times and lives, creating bright stars that will fill the sky with their brightness for all time, their light intertwining, watching silently as the world turns below.