嗩呐演奏家任同祥，一九二六年十二月十八日（農曆丙寅年十一月十四日）出生於山東省嘉祥縣張樓鄉荷澤區任家村，二零零二年十二月十日病逝於上海。任氏九歲自習民間鼓樂，十二歲隨堂伯父任保盼學習魯西南鼓吹樂演奏，不久即成為當地鼓樂班子的「主吹」，十五歲參加在山東楊莊舉辦的五家鼓樂班「對班」嗩呐比賽，技驚四座，任氏吸取各地高手演奏民間嗩呐曲《百鳥音》的特點，借鑑前輩藝人袁子文創用的「疙瘩腔」技法創改為「反雙吐」，配用袁子文的《百鳥朝鳳》易名，及至一九五三年，此曲已趨成熟、完整，同年通過多次選拔，參加了全國第一屆民間音樂舞蹈（業餘）匯演。稍後又被選拔參加在羅馬尼亞布加勒斯特舉行的第四屆世界青年與學生和平友誼聯歡節，以《百鳥朝鳳》一曲獲銀質獎章。隨後在「嗩呐王國」緬甸演出《百鳥朝鳳》後，獲緬甸總理親授國家金質獎章。一九五四年，出任上海實驗歌劇院嗩呐獨奏演員及在上海音樂學院兼課，直至病逝。他還擅演《抬花轎》、《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.