Ramblings on YAOGUN, Chinese rock music, by the author of Red Rock: The Long, Strange March of Chinese Rock & Roll
As year-end lists are compiled, yaogun gets its own list, thanks to China’s newest and rockiest awards to be handed out. From the people that brought us the Midi School of Music and then festivals across the country, the folks at Midi Productions have, three times, issued awards for the best yaogun in the country. … Continue reading “My Midi Awards Nominees”
The Big Party just wrapped up in Beijing has meant many things to many people. “Sparta” (si ba da or 斯巴达), as the Sino-weboverse has dubbed the 18th Party Congress (shi ba da 十八大) in order to refer to the otherwise unreferrable-to, has taken over. Sure, there’s a transition of power, but what seems to … Continue reading “Bring Culture to the Party”
There has been a lot of talk of China’s soft-power muscle-flexing, with a Confucius Institute for every college, city and town in the world (and let us take a moment to marvel at the CI English website address: english.chinese.cn – and spanish.chinese.cn, or russian.chinese.cn). Even a quick look at the offerings of these Institutes reveals … Continue reading “Confucius Say: Horns up!”
(Yeah, folk. Not rock. But bear with me.) Remember, Toronto, when Red Rock: The Long, Strange March of Chinese Rock & Roll had its launch? And Shanren played? And rocked the house? I was tipped off by the World Music Network that there is new footage of them, in the studio, so wanted to share … Continue reading “Chinese folk, Toronto”