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Music school headmaster once local rock legend
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Zhu Zhifang may not look the part, but in the 1990s he was a pioneer of Hangzhou’s underground rock scene. After years of poverty, performing and selling tapes on the street, he even rose to some fame nationally as part of the band The Second Skin.
When people see the unassuming and slight Zhu Zhifang, they would never link him with rock music. But he was one of the pioneers of Hangzhou underground rock music in the 1990s.
Zhu is now headmaster of Hangzhou’s Hot-Music School, a music training school with more than 600 students and a branch in Ningbo, a city in east Zhejiang Province.
Zhu was born in 1974 in a small village of Jinhua in the middle of Zhejiang Province. His only access to music as child was the Chinese flute, which he learned and enjoyed.
When Zhu was enrolled by Zhejiang University in the early 1990s, he encountered a new world in the campus rock culture.
“I was amazed at rock music when I first heard it, so I abandoned my flute and began to learn guitar and other instruments related to rock, including drum and bass instruments,” says Zhu.
Like other Chinese college students in the early 1990s, Zhu was obsessed with the music of Cui Jian, one of the first Chinese artists to write rock songs. He dreamed of one day being able to step on stage and play rock like his idol.
But reality did not make that dream an easy one. After he received his degree in materials engineering, he got a well-paying job in business, but still longed for a rocker’s life and resigned after just 24 days on the job. He was roundly criticized by his family and close friends.
“At that period, I felt like I had been discarded by the world,” Zhu says.
At this low ebb in his life, he met a rock musician named Li Jianhong. They formed a band called The Second Skin in 1999 and began their down-and-out rock life.
They rented a 10-square-meter room in Taoyuanling Village and focused on composing rock music.
“At the time, a batch of impoverished literati lived in the village because the rent was cheap and natural environment was good there. Li and I ate only one meal all day. On summer days, the room was stuffy without air conditioning,” says Zhu.
In order to make a living, they sold music tapes from a roadside stall and sang on the street. They even dared to sing on the Broken Bridge, a popular scenic spot in Hangzhou where such performances are not permitted.
“People crowded on the bridge to watch us perform, which led to traffic jams. We had to leave because the urban management officers began to drive us off,” Zhu says.
Though life was hard, the two young rockers immersed themselves in music.
“I always tell young men not to play rock for a living but just for fun. Living on music is very difficult,” Zhu says.
They spent two years composing and arranging music in the small room, which led to an album “Numerous Neutral Performances,” which at one point was listed among the top 100 Chinese rock albums. The band started to receive performance invitations from across the country.
The style of the band was diverse, and their live shows relied on improvisation. Though the band was on the right track, but, in 2003, Zhu chose to quit and the band broke up.
“After years of playing rock music, I eventually found the jazz guitar was my favorite, so I wanted to concentrate on my own music at that point,” Zhu says.
Li went to Beijing and continued to chase his rock dream while Zhu stayed in Hangzhou to deepen his guitar skills, which he did on his own, using instructional materials.
“Rock is rebellion. When I was young, I expressed my discontent directly and wildly and without scruples, but now I do as inoffensively as I can. My heart for music will never change,” Zhu adds.
After leaving the rock band, Zhu began to teach kids guitar to make a living.
In 2005, he met a businessman surnamed Wen. Wen had played guitar as a teenager, but quit later as adult responsibilities took all his time. When he heard Zhu’s story, he was so moved that he offered 200,000 yuan (US$32,593) for Zhu to open a music school.
Zhu opened the Hot-Music School and it grew into a well-regarded institution.
“My target is to develop my school in professionalism and size. I also want to offer free music training for children who cannot afford to take music classes,” Zhu says.
Zhu says he didn’t do everything by himself. “During the transformation process, my wife’s support was important. She backed me no matter how difficult life was.”
The couple fell in love through music in college. At the time, his wife Koshio Eri was a Japanese student learning Chinese in Zhejiang University.
They got married in 2005. “I am extremely lucky to have married her. Looking at things that angle, I recommend that young men play music part time, which would help them attract girls’ attention,” Zhu says, laughing.
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