The Shanghai Daily English edition ran a cover story on rock today. That's the cover of the culture and entertainment insert. Before I discuss it a bit, you can find an abbreviated version of the article online here.
All over the world, the mainstream press does not move in mysterious ways. The feature is in to promote a weekend outdoor concert in Zhabei district called Chinese Rock Power. The big pull is the 90s period first generation rock band Tang Dynasty which is what the article focuses on.
Both the print and online articles are devoid of any real information on the event with no full line-ups or links/contacts to the organisers. I flipped the page to the What's On listings and there's no mention of it at all there. The article itself says that fellow veteran Cui Jian will headline a night. Other clues to the line-ups are not good. The show will apparently feature Wang Xiaokun - a reality TV show winner and pop idol who has that please kick me aura about him.
Anyway, the article is full of the usual annoying stuff that mainstream/nationalist minds produce. Tang Dynasty pioneered 'east meets west', they use rock but stay true to Chinese culture, they broke the Japanese market, Chinese rock fans have long hair because of them. The guitarist is the best in China and even in the top three in Asia. Luckily the writer throws in a quote from the band itself right at the end, a brief moment of truth.
Ding also wants the media and critics to be more open minded regarding Chinese rock singers because "many rock bands are just surviving in small pubs. It's a difficult and long road and we all need some support."
I hope that writer takes the advice and next time doesn't wait for a large event promoter to give them a story. There's plenty of rock stories out there if they actually have a look.
Busy weekend coming up. The latest 0093 Rock Party is on Friday and will give me a chance to see how Kongzhong Huayuan are progressing. The very next day is Rogue Transmission's EP release party. The EP is called Illicit Intercepts and you can try to win a free copy over at Layabozi. All you have to do is guess what the cover art means or is. Maybe I should have run a similar competition about the name? Seriously though, it should be a good night out and you can get excited about it by watching this video of the Transmission's kick ass appearance at the Control show: check it out.
Kaiser might have details on the show
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Kuo
http://twitter.com/kaiserkuo
Sure. I used to check his blog but he barely posts and it's not often about music.
Come on, what about great lines like:
'The band has kept and upgraded those same elements in "Romantic Knight," which has so far received mixed reviews from critics. Some praise the band's continuing experimental spirit while others say they are just copying themselves.'
and:
'Many admire and respect romanticism especially in today's world, which is why rock bands like Tang Dynasty remain important.'
Thanks for the shout-outs (shouts-out?) to layabozi, by the way. I'm glad to hear it was a good show at YYT yesterday.
Hey Mike
Hope you're being sarcastic there :) The Shanghai Daily article was a horrible mish-mash of X*nh*a speak and meaningless cliches. And that sums up the whole paper actually. I buy it most days so I can do the Sudoku and read Pooch Cafe with my coffee.