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Laowai buskers draw big crowds but don't take donations
By Xu Wenwen |
September 25, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THERE'S nothing new about Chinese street performers collecting donations, but itinerant expat buskers are very unusual - and refusing donations makes them more remarkable still.
These days the international band Red Rainbows, playing a mixture of jazz, blues and pop, can be seen in many places in Hangzhou where locals and tourists stop, take photos, sing and applaud.
Though they call themselves "buskers," Red Rainbows members neither solicit nor accept money from the audience. The band has been performing for around a year, mostly around West Lake.
"We do it for fun, because of our passion for music and the city," says American Trevor Lamb, one of the founders.
Lamb and Marco Chiaro from Italy formed the band in Hangzhou in late 2011. Four more regulars have joined, Leslie de Vries from Belgium, Nikolaj Blichfeldt from Denmark, Jessie Dearing from America and Chu Tianshu from China.
The band has two guitars, one ukulele, several harmonicas, a Cajun drum, a tambourine and two maracas. It also has microphones and sound boxes.
Dearing is the vocalist, a soprano; Chu plays harmonica; the others play multiple instruments and also are vocalists.
The band usually plays twice a week, once in a pavilion near West Lake and also at various other places, such as parks, sitting in chairs under shade trees.
"I feel we are like Chinese people who dance, sing and perform Chinese opera in squares or at West Lake, enjoying the happiness that performance brings," Dearing says.
None of them has a music-related day job. Chiaro is a financial professional, Lamb is a football coach, De Vries just completed his PhD in classical Chinese, Blichfeldt is an anthropologist doing research in Hangzhou, Dearing teaches English in a primary school and Chu is a sculptor.
All six are amateurs who have made music since childhood or early youth. Now they write their own songs and lyrics, in both English and Chinese.
De Vries, the scholar of classical Chinese, was inspired by poem by Li Bai (AD 701-762) to write a blues song. The band performs a fast-temp song, "I've Been Everywhere," with Chiaro singing Chinese rap of a long list of Chinese cities and scenic sites.
They also write about living in a foreign city. Their song "Hangzhou Transportation" has simple, strong lyrics about the city's transport system.
"Hangzhou transport, you are so occupied
Fifteen minutes passed, no car moved,
I'm having a headache, I wantto go home …
We're waiting, waiting for the subway
Next year, must be next year,
The subway will come …"
They sometimes adapt the lyrics of other musicians to express their own ideas. For example, they changed the song "Creep Chords" by English rock band Radiohead a little bit, singing:
"I am a creep,
I am a laowai
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here."
Red Rainbows doesn't have a performance schedule, they just show up, so their audiences are diverse. A Shanghai Daily reporter caught up with them three times and talked to the audience.
People gather as they start tuning up. It's rare to see laowai buskers. The band always gets a big hand.
In 15 minutes, 30 to 40 people gather and in good weather, the audience is larger. They surround the band.
When the band plays their original Chinese songs, the audience smiles and when they play popular Chinese songs, the audience sings along. Some people stay for several hours.
Lamb is the master of ceremonies, who introduces the band and makes jokes. Chiaro gets the audience going, throwing his hat in the air, clapping his hands to get people to start clapping, and wearing the band's poster on his back to show bystanders.
De Vries, Chiaro and Lamb can hit the high notes, while Blichfeldt sings low; Dearing is the soprano. Chu and Lamb play more than 10 harmonicas, each in a different key.
"The performance they give is like the scenery West Lake gives to tourists, it's delightful," says Li Meng, a Shanghai tourist.
"It's cool to see an international band playing in a lovely place in nice weather and I think the size of the crowd proves they are doing a good job," says Alena Kraft from Germany.
These days the international band Red Rainbows, playing a mixture of jazz, blues and pop, can be seen in many places in Hangzhou where locals and tourists stop, take photos, sing and applaud.
Though they call themselves "buskers," Red Rainbows members neither solicit nor accept money from the audience. The band has been performing for around a year, mostly around West Lake.
"We do it for fun, because of our passion for music and the city," says American Trevor Lamb, one of the founders.
Lamb and Marco Chiaro from Italy formed the band in Hangzhou in late 2011. Four more regulars have joined, Leslie de Vries from Belgium, Nikolaj Blichfeldt from Denmark, Jessie Dearing from America and Chu Tianshu from China.
The band has two guitars, one ukulele, several harmonicas, a Cajun drum, a tambourine and two maracas. It also has microphones and sound boxes.
Dearing is the vocalist, a soprano; Chu plays harmonica; the others play multiple instruments and also are vocalists.
The band usually plays twice a week, once in a pavilion near West Lake and also at various other places, such as parks, sitting in chairs under shade trees.
"I feel we are like Chinese people who dance, sing and perform Chinese opera in squares or at West Lake, enjoying the happiness that performance brings," Dearing says.
None of them has a music-related day job. Chiaro is a financial professional, Lamb is a football coach, De Vries just completed his PhD in classical Chinese, Blichfeldt is an anthropologist doing research in Hangzhou, Dearing teaches English in a primary school and Chu is a sculptor.
All six are amateurs who have made music since childhood or early youth. Now they write their own songs and lyrics, in both English and Chinese.
De Vries, the scholar of classical Chinese, was inspired by poem by Li Bai (AD 701-762) to write a blues song. The band performs a fast-temp song, "I've Been Everywhere," with Chiaro singing Chinese rap of a long list of Chinese cities and scenic sites.
They also write about living in a foreign city. Their song "Hangzhou Transportation" has simple, strong lyrics about the city's transport system.
"Hangzhou transport, you are so occupied
Fifteen minutes passed, no car moved,
I'm having a headache, I wantto go home …
We're waiting, waiting for the subway
Next year, must be next year,
The subway will come …"
They sometimes adapt the lyrics of other musicians to express their own ideas. For example, they changed the song "Creep Chords" by English rock band Radiohead a little bit, singing:
"I am a creep,
I am a laowai
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here."
Red Rainbows doesn't have a performance schedule, they just show up, so their audiences are diverse. A Shanghai Daily reporter caught up with them three times and talked to the audience.
People gather as they start tuning up. It's rare to see laowai buskers. The band always gets a big hand.
In 15 minutes, 30 to 40 people gather and in good weather, the audience is larger. They surround the band.
When the band plays their original Chinese songs, the audience smiles and when they play popular Chinese songs, the audience sings along. Some people stay for several hours.
Lamb is the master of ceremonies, who introduces the band and makes jokes. Chiaro gets the audience going, throwing his hat in the air, clapping his hands to get people to start clapping, and wearing the band's poster on his back to show bystanders.
De Vries, Chiaro and Lamb can hit the high notes, while Blichfeldt sings low; Dearing is the soprano. Chu and Lamb play more than 10 harmonicas, each in a different key.
"The performance they give is like the scenery West Lake gives to tourists, it's delightful," says Li Meng, a Shanghai tourist.
"It's cool to see an international band playing in a lovely place in nice weather and I think the size of the crowd proves they are doing a good job," says Alena Kraft from Germany.
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