Cantonese opera isn't something most Americans are familiar with. The music can sound harsh and discordant to the unaccustomed ear. So it's no surprise that the audience for Cantonese opera in this country is largely limited to older Chinese immigrants. But there's an effort to change that in the San Francisco Bay area. Zoe Corneli of station KALW reports.

San Francisco's Chinatown lays it on thick for tourists every weekend. Souvenir shops hawk cheap trinkets and street musicians play quaint melodies on the slender erhu, an ancient Chinese instrument something like a violin.

But wander down a tiny side street and listen closely: you'll start to hear the real Chinatown. The clatter of mah-jongg tiles drifts from shadowy doorways.

To get to the heart of Chinatown culture, you have to go even further underground-literally. Follow the lyrical strains of music floating through a basement door, and you'll find it: Cantonese opera.

Chinatown's older generation gets together every week to practice this art form in clubs. Rarely do they stage full productions. Instead, it's more like karaoke with live accompaniment. Retirees and businesspeople pay a fee to practice their opera singing with a small orchestra while others talk, relax and listen...

One of the few participants in the Bay Area Cantonese opera scene without Chinese ancestry is Hal Aigner. He admits the high-pitched voices and loud percussion might be off-putting at first. But he says he's listened enough to get past the shrill and hear the melodic.

AIGNER: Every once in a while I hear a voice, that nothing matters in that moment besides listening to that voice.

Still, Cantonese opera, the most common variety of Chinese opera in America, has had a hard time finding youthful fans here.

LEE: I think it is kind of a dying art because it's not that appreciated.

Erick Lee is a rising star in the Bay Area Cantonese opera world. At the age of 24, he's played leading roles in half a dozen major productions.

LEE: For people my age, it's definitely kind of an acquired thing. When I tell people that I do it, they're like, the image that they have of it is like screeching noise, oh yeah my gramma watches it, blah blah blah.

Lee is a member of the Red Bean Cantonese Opera House in Oakland's Chinatown. Unlike the neighborhood clubs in San Francisco, Red Bean is working to give Cantonese Opera a younger, more appealing image.

Red Bean's founder Leung Ching immigrated to the US from southern China in 1983. She had been trained as a professional Cantonese opera performer, but once she came here, she could only find work in restaurants and grocery stores.

CHING: It never came to my mind that the Western culture would accept opera and Chinese culture, or even that anyone would be interested to learn.

But Leung discovered opera's deep roots within the Chinese community had survived the trip overseas. Parents wanted to learn opera, and they wanted their children to learn it too. Edna Ng has two daughters studying with Red Bean.

NG: Right now there's a big gap in Cantonese opera, the way I look at it, no people will carry on, I mean as we are like 40, 50 something we're singing it, but there's nobody like 20 something is learning it, so the only way we begin is start teaching the kid. Hopefully they're carry and continue.

Eleven adolescent girls face a wall of mirrors at Red Bean's studio, a one-room walk up with well-worn mauve carpeting. They're learning the classic movements of Cantonese opera: tiny footsteps, delicate hand gestures and stylized poses. Holding multicolored scarves, they stumble through what will eventually be a graceful group dance.

The performance will be complete with elaborate costumes and headdresses, and the striking makeup typical of Chinese opera: heavy white foundation with strong black slanted eyebrows and red blush around the eyes. Terilyn Ma is one of the students. She was born in America, but as she puts it, doing opera helps her feel 'more Chinese' - and find the beauty in her parents' culture.

Although Ma is only 15, she's already spent three years perfecting her vocal technique.

Besides reaching out to youth, the Red Bean Opera House is trying to develop its non-Chinese audience by publishing a web site and translating its programs into English. The group expects a strong showing of fans from outside the community to join the crowd at its annual concert in July.

For the World, I'm Zoe Corneli in San Francisco.