唢呐演奏家任同祥，一九二六年十二月十八日（农历丙寅年十一月十四日）出生于山东省嘉祥县张楼乡荷泽区任家村，二零零二年十二月十日病逝于上海。任氏九岁自习民间鼓乐，十二岁随堂伯父任保盼学习鲁西南鼓吹乐演奏，不久即成为当地鼓乐班子的「主吹」，十五岁参加在山东杨庄举办的五家鼓乐班「对班」唢呐比赛，技惊四座，任氏吸取各地高手演奏民间唢呐曲《百鸟音》的特点，借鉴前辈艺人袁子文创用的「疙瘩腔」技法创改为「反双吐」，配用袁子文的《百鸟朝凤》易名，及至一九五三年，此曲已趋成熟、完整，同年通过多次选拔，参加了全国第一届民间音乐舞蹈（业余）汇演。稍后又被选拔参加在罗马尼亚布加勒斯特举行的第四届世界青年与学生和平友谊联欢节，以《百鸟朝凤》一曲获银质奖章。随后在「唢呐王国」缅甸演出《百鸟朝凤》后，获缅甸总理亲授国家金质奖章。一九五四年，出任上海实验歌剧院唢呐独奏演员及在上海音乐学院兼课，直至病逝。他还擅演《抬花轿》、《一枝花》等。
REN Tong-xiang
REN Tong-xiang was born on December 18, 1926 in Jiaxiang, Shandong province and passed away of illness on December 10, 2002 in Shanghai. At the age of nine, he learned the folk percussion tunes by himself. When he was twelve, he learned the wind and percussion music of south-west Shandong from his uncle REN Bao-pan. Soon, he became the chief performer of the local ensemble. When he was fifteen, he participated in the competition of suona for the five local ensembles. At the competition, he was pleasantly surprised by others of his wonderful performing skill on the suona. After that, he began to absorb and modify the skills of others in playing the traditional suona piece The Hundred Bird-calls. He then changed the name of this piece to The Hundred Pilgrim Birds to the Phoenix. In 1953, he was selected to participate in the 1st National Joint Performance of Folk Music and Dance, and later, to participate in the 4th World Youth Festival in Bucharest, Romania. He won a silver medal prize by playing his matured suona composition. He then performed this piece in Burma, which had the name “Kingdom of Suona”, and won a gold medal from the Burmese Premier. In 1954, he was appointed to the Shanghai Experimental Opera House as the suona soloist. He also taught in Shanghai Conservatory until he passed away of illness. He was also at playing the suona pieces Tai Huajiao and A Flower.