Chinese rock band. Made in China: contemporary music of the Celestial Empire. Chinese indie rock. but on the other hand
Good evening. Today our flight for rock music will take place in the Celestial Empire...
Rock music came to China in the 1980s and actively developed under the influence of the US rock movement, as well as under the influence of traditional Chinese music. The first movement, called the Northwest Wind (1980s), gave rise to Chinese rock as a whole. The direction was set by two songs - “Xintianyu” and “Nothing for the Soul” (1984). The second track was performed by Cui Jian and mixed rock music with elements of traditional Chinese music. It is on this combination of genres that rock music in China is built to this day.
The Father of Chinese Rock Cui Jian The birth, heyday and decline of Chinese rock (1984-1994). The song “Nothing Behind the Soul” by Cui Jian (1984) is, in fact, the birth of Chinese rock. In post-revolutionary China, this song brought a completely new spirit, combining individualism with direct and open self-expression. For the younger generation, she became a symbol of disappointment with reality Chinese society, a reflection of complex political and cultural processes. The older generation perceived the song rather as a symbol of the unfulfilled promises of the ruling regime. By the way, until 1990, Chinese rock performers did not release their songs, but gave concerts in “clubs”; this was due to the harsh ideological pressure of the current regime.
The period between 1988 and 1993 was the heyday of the rock movement in China, and perhaps one of the most prominent bands of this time was Tang Dynasty, which was the first heavy metal group in China.
Chinese heavy metal band Tang Dynasty 1994 marked the decline of the rock movement, which was associated with the rigid framework of the Communist Party, which established censorship and restrictions on rock, as it liberates young people and gives false guidelines. But even this difficult period there were groups that either adapted to the framework and moved into the cantro-pop genre, or such as He Yun, who actively resisted those rules and performed music in the style of punk, ska, and metal.
In fact, new round The development of Chinese rock happened in 2003 during a joint concert between Cui Jian and The Rolling Stones. This concert introduced Chinese rock to the whole world. From that moment on, rock music in the post-punk genre began to actively develop in China, and visual key and gothic rock styles began to gain fame and popularity. On this moment At the time, rock music in China is not the main, but developing direction.
Prepared the article
“Afisha+”, together with the most widely read Russian-language resource about China, Magazeta, continues a series of materials devoted to modern Chinese music. This time we're talking about indie rock. You've probably been tormented by the question for a long time: Chinese indie rock, what is it?!
In each material you will find a video with the expert opinion of famous musicians who agreed to listen to the playlist we have compiled for a particular genre. This time the experts were members of the groups Segodnyonochyu and MultFilms.
Carsick Cars
They say that in the toilet of the famous Beijing club D-22 there is an inscription “I love my mother, I love my country and I love Carsick Cars.” It is generally accepted that Carsick Cars were at the origins of the Chinese indie scene, which has blossomed wildly in the last ten years. Before them, such a phenomenon as an independent rock band performing in front of a small number of listeners was out of the question. On the official website of Carsick Cars it is written: “Probably the best indie band in China.”
Carsick Cars are fearless rebels (for example, they have a song in their arsenal with the title “Best VPN at the moment”, which is also relevant for Russian Internet users), they are not afraid to mix great pop melodies with a wall of guitar noise (Sonic Youth are their main idols ), and the band's concerts are always a release of wild, long-restrained energy.
During its existence, the group released three long plays - “Carsick Cars” (2007), “You Can Listen, You Can Talk” (2009) and “3” (2014) - and once changed its lineup: the bassist and drummer left and formed a duo Soviet Pop. Carsick Cars tour extensively far beyond their homeland, having performed at Primavera Sound in Barcelona and at SXSW in Austin, Texas. According to Google, the band has performances planned in Canada (Calgary and Vancouver) and the USA (San Francisco and New York) at the beginning of October.
“Are you probably in a five-star hotel?” - “Well, yes, how did you know?” - “Only people in five-star hotels can watch CNN in China.”
Carsick Cars was discovered to Western listeners by the famous American musician and producer Martin Atkins, who in 2007 released a collection of contemporary Chinese music “Look Directly Into the Sun: China Pop 2007” following his trip to Beijing. That same year, the band was supposed to open for Sonic Youth in Beijing, but the concert of the legendary Americans was canceled at the last minute, allegedly due to their support for the Freedom for Tibet movement.
“I was sitting in my room in Beijing watching CNN,” Atkins told the Chicago Reader. - As soon as the news broke about the shooting on the border with Tibet, the screen turned black and after a while someone from the Chinese government appeared on it, saying that there was no shooting, it was all bullshit. I contacted one of the locals: “Have you seen it?” What’s going on?” “Did you see what?” he wondered. - “Well, CNN!” - “Are you probably in a five-star hotel?” - he asked laughing. - “Well, yes, how did you know?” - “Only people in five-star hotels can watch CNN in China.”
In 2007, Carsick Cars did open for Sonic Youth on their European tour at concerts in Prague and Vienna.
New Pants
Peng Lei bought his first pirated tape in 1990 in his native Beijing on the way home from school. “It was some Bon Jovi album,” he recalls. - It was cool to listen to foreign music, but I didn’t like it. Then there was Nirvana, but I didn’t get hooked on them either. It was only when I bought a cassette with the Ramones that I realized that I had found mine. Moreover, cassettes with punk music were much cheaper: they were sold for only 5 yuan, while cassettes with heavy metal cost as much as 50.”
5 years later, Peng Lei, together with his school friends, created the group New Pants, one of the brightest and most original in modern China, and certainly the most restless. During their existence, New Pants released eight albums, toured Australia, played a series of concerts in London and performed at Coachella.
At first, the guys, of course, focused on their beloved Ramones and other representatives of classic punk, but then switched to witty dance-punk, mixed with disco and eighties British synthpop. “New Pants sound like the soundtrack to the classic Fantasy Zone video game, recorded by the Ramones and Daft Punk while high,” The Guardian once wrote about the band.
A video that clearly demonstrates the evolution of New Pants from 1998 to 2009. At the end of the video, the founders of the group, Peng Lei and Pan Kuan, portray Chinese officials on a walk to the song “Go East.”
Both regular members of New Pants - frontman Peng Lei and keyboardist Pan Kuan - studied at the Beijing University of Arts (director and designer, respectively), which, of course, could not but affect their musical activities. Just look at the design of their album covers or see their funny and unusual videos. By the way, humor is the most important element of New Pants' creativity: despite all the success (and in China they are real rock stars), the band members refuse to take themselves seriously.
In addition to his activities with New Pants, Peng Lei is known as an animator, the author of clay cartoons, the most famous of which are “Peking Monster” and “Panda Candy” (imagine a slightly strange Chinese version of “Wallace and Gromit”).
Queen Sea Big Shark
It is often quite easy to determine who one or another wants to be like. Chinese group. Queen Sea Big Shark are the Chinese Yeah Yeah Yeahs, this association arises immediately. It’s enough to see their outrageous vocalist Fu Han or hear almost any of the group’s singles.
Just like the New Yorkers, Queen Sea Big Shark first released a rough guitar album (debut Queen Sea Big Shark in 2007), and on their second LP Wave (2010) they swapped guitars for synthesizers. But this does not mean that Queen Sea Big Shark does not have its own face. On their third album “Beijing Surfers" Adventure,” released this spring, the guys are experimenting with all their might. “Here you have jazz, dance music, hip-hop in the spirit of Gorillaz, and even sitar,” assures the band’s guitarist Cao Pu.
“When I was a teenager, we had very few sources of information, there was a gap between us and the rest of the world,” Fu Han says of the influence of Western music on the group’s work in a recent interview with Beijing’s Time Out. - Over time, this gap became smaller and smaller, and it was quite natural that we began to follow the rest of the world. But I don’t think that when we encountered Western culture, we lost our individuality.”
Queen Sea Big Shark got together in 2005, recorded the demo “Hard Heart” and posted it online. In three months, the song “Nonono” was downloaded ten thousand times, and the group soon signed a contract with the Modern Sky label. Since then, Queen Sea Big Shark have released three albums, toured the US with two other Beijing bands under the motto “Sing for China” and recorded the single “Let’s Play” exclusively for Converse.
The group owes its name to a nameless joker who put up a sign on the shore of Lake Houhai in Beijing warning: “This is my lake, don’t even think about touching it! I am the Queen of the Sea big shark."
In 2014, Queen Sea Big Shark performed in Vladivostok at the V-Rox festival, founded by the frontman of the Mumiy Troll group Ilya Lagutenko. “Queen Sea Big Shark can turn on an audience from the first song that knew nothing about their existence before,” Lagutenko shared his impressions after the festival.
Mr. Sea Turtle
In Mandarin, the phrase “sea turtle” refers to a student who returns from studying abroad and uses the skills he has learned in his home country. But indie rock trio Mr. That's not why Sea Turtle is called that. The fact is that sea turtles- favorite animals of the band's frontman Li Hongqi.
“Our bass player said that 'Mr. “Sea Turtle” sounds cool, well, that’s what we decided to call ourselves,” says the musician in an interview. “We have never studied abroad; our English is too bad for that.”
China is not only a country under heaven. It remains unknown to many that Chinese rock and roll also originated there, absorbing the spirit of American culture. Having had their fill of Western musical creations, in the east they took up modern (not without including traditional Chinese) instruments and “hit rock in this hole.”
Where does the wind blow from?
The phenomenon of “Chinese rock” originates from the “Northwest Wind” musical style. The forefathers of the genre movement were two compositions - “Xintianyu” (信天游) and “Nothing for the Soul” (一无所有). They combined traditional Chinese motifs, seasoned them with a fast Western tempo, strengthened the rhythm and included aggressive bass lines.
The new movement quickly attracted attention with its loud and assertive performance, which contrasted strongly with the Cantopop style that preceded it. Also, Chinese rock has become the musical embodiment of the cult movement “searching for roots.”
Compositions « northwest wind"became a clear reflection of the growing discontent among young people at that time. The political overtones of the songs demonstrated the Western ideology aimed at self-expression that the modern generation was striving for.
In contrast to the “northwest wind,” a new direction is emerging in Chinese culture: “prison songs.” The reason for the popularity of this movement was the accumulated fatigue from an overly official lifestyle and ideologically driven pop music.
“Prison Songs,” in contrast to “Northwest Wind,” are characterized by more melodic and to some extent plaintive compositions, imbued with cynicism and despair, in which the denial of one’s social role is at the forefront of the theme.
The main listeners of Chinese rock, which combined “ northeast winds" and "prison songs", there were students and bohemian society.
This musical genre was discovered to the whole world by Cui Jian, who performed with The Rolling Stones in 2003.
But on the other hand.
The current of Chinese rock is not marked by pronounced shortcomings, because the genre, on the contrary, has become an anthem and the main inspiration of youth. Therefore, the main disadvantage can be called extinction this direction, which was significantly affected by censorship from communist parties, as well as restricting performances and prohibiting the broadcast of such music on television.
“The oxygen cut off” to this genre was the impetus for the rapid return of Cantopop to the stage, to which many popular rock performers began to adapt in order to satisfy their needs for increasing income and living standards.
At the head of the genre.
Some of the most successful performers in the rock industry who managed to stay on the music scene until 2014 are: Brain Failure. Their compositions contained an admixture of ska and punk, and the lyrics were written in English language to be able to express what Chinese language beyond control.
The real anthem of Chinese rock was the song “Nothing for the Soul,” which was performed by Cui Jian, due to which the musician gained wide fame. The track became a "gulp" fresh air” for listeners, he managed to combine individualism with direct and open self-expression. He soon became a symbol of the disappointment that possessed the generation of young intelligentsia with its shattered illusions. Cui Jian was often called the “father” of this genre.
Tang Dynasty are an ethnic art rock and prog metal band often considered to be part of the first wave of heavy metal in China.
Listeners have repeatedly noted that the music of Tang Dynasty allows us to return to the ancient Chinese civilization. The band's work is dominated by a combination of progressive rock, art rock and traditional Chinese vocal techniques with lyrical poetry.
It is worth noting that the group very quickly received the title of the main representatives of heavy music. There is a lot in such an achievement important role played by their lightning fast guitarist Liu Yijun, known as "Lao Wu".
And finally Twisted Machine – Beijing group, consisting of four people. The musicians were inspired by the work of Rage Against The Machine, so they gave themselves consonant name— Twisted Machine and began to position themselves as a hardcore team.
The team achieved great success in their homeland, after which the group leader Wang Xiao decided to leave the team for personal reasons. He was replaced by Liang Liang, who became the new “beacon” of the group and led Twisted Machine to a new style with features of nu-metal and rapcore.
Finally, it is worth noting that China can be famous not only high mountains, but also high-quality and fully developed rock music, which has a thorny path to existence behind it. Despite all the attempts to “press down” this current and “cut off its oxygen,” today there are examples of groups that did not succumb to the pressure of their opponents.
In the era of globalization, fancy cocktails are emerging from all sorts of styles and trends. A striking example is a Chinese folk metal band. What's so special about her? Imagine traditional Chinese and Mongolian melodies, add heavy bass guitar riffs, add an absolutely incredible blast beat on the verge of human capabilities. Incredible? Complete the picture with an ethnic stage image of musicians playing both modern and folk Mongolian musical instruments. And the final touch is the indescribable voice of vocalist Ashan. An extraordinary drive is guaranteed!
Nine Treasures: Chinese metal band
Russian fans of rock music were able to get acquainted with the band’s work at the international rock festival Vladivostok Rocks, which takes place annually in Vladivostok and attracts performers from Europe and Asia. The headliners of the festival in 2015 were such bands as On-The-Go from Russia, Love Psychedelico and others. They even built a separate stage for them. Among the invited groups were groups from France, the USA, China, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan. A real find became for rock music lovers.
Nine Treasures' first album was released in 2012 and was called "Arvan Ald Guulin Honshoor". This collection immediately became popular among fans of rock music in China, Taiwan and Mongolia. Then the group won the international musical competition Metal Battle, and in 2015 won the hearts of Russian rock music fans. By the way, it is impossible to buy albums in Russia; it is easier to find them in China. If you don’t know how to do this, visit the Chinese Compote forum, whose participants will be happy to share their experience with you.
And for starters, I suggest watching the band’s video Nine Treasures - Wisdom Eyes:
Not sure if it's worth spending time and money buying Nine Treasures albums? Don't know what it even looks like? Then imagine the later Nightwish compositions featuring. The compositions of the Chinese-Mongolian rock band are roughly in this style. Some songs are very similar to the work of SOAD.
Nine Treasures discography:
Arvan Ald Guulin Honshoor (2012);
Nine Treasures (2013);
Live In Beijing (2015) - live album;
Galloping White Horse (2015) - EP.
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