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Xihu Music Festival rocks
By Xu Wenwen |
June 3, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE annual Xihu Music Festival is underway at venues across Hangzhou and concludes this weekend with a two-day outdoor blast on the grass concerts by the West Lake. Xu Wenwen books a ticket.
Top international and Chinese bands are performing in the 10-day Xihu Music Festival, and music fills the air across the city, pouring from theaters, pubs, clubs and bars.
It concludes in a lakeside concert bash this weekend.
The slogan is "Making Music All Over the City" and there's rock, folk, punk, jazz, electronic, pop and all kinds of mixtures in the third Xihu (West Lake) Music Festival.
The Hangzhou rock scene is improving and local bands are expected to get a big boost in the festival. The bands Marijuana Seed and Escape Again will perform in weekend concert while others will perform around town.
Organizers say a third of the performers are top international acts, such as Angie Hart (Australia), Ataraxia (Italy), Pitchtuner (Germany), Aloha Hula Calles (Japan) and These New Puritans (UK).
Domestic bands include Queen Sea Big Shark, Re-TROS, PK 14 and Caffeine.
The Xihu Music Festival has been a success in the past two years. It's getting bigger and organizers believe it's growing from a local brand into a nationwide cultural brand.
Lasting a staggering 10 days, it's believed to be the longest domestic music festival. Staging events around the city is also considered an innovation.
"Though the audience at the outdoor weekend concerts will be mostly young people, the other performances in cafes, bars and theaters give many other music lovers a chance to enjoy themselves," says local music critic Xiao Qi.
Around 2,000 tickets have already been sold for the outdoor concerts and organizers are encouraged.
"Music, beers, friends - it's a big party for people to relax and enjoy freedom," says guitarist Big Zhong from local band Bricks, which was founded in 2001. "In addition to creating a music atmosphere, it creates an appetite for live music."
The first Xihu Music Festival was held two years ago by the city government to enrich the scene of the ancient city, which is known for traditional culture, and to make it livelier, trendier, more modern and international.
The aim of the festival is not only to appeal to music fans but also, and more importantly, to popularize rock, pop, jazz and other music genres and help young bands, especially rockers, by giving them a platform.
While pop music is already popular and accessible to almost everyone, rock has yet to win over big numbers.
A rock scene is developing in Shanghai as new bands are springing up, but rock is still a hard sell in Hangzhou. The city's traditional sensibilities favor gentleness and extreme delicacy. Nonconformist rockers who play loud music with topical lyrics are not exactly the city's cup of tea.
A number of people are trying to promote rock in Hangzhou.
The small rock scene began on an autumn night in 1997 at Halin Club, where a show called "Music Subway" brought all of Hangzhou's subterranean rock bands together for the first time and raised the curtain on the above-ground rock scene.
Another landmark was the founding in 1990 of the first local rock magazine Yinyue Xiaochong (Music Bug).
In 2000 some bands put out EP (extended play) records and a notable album "From Sandun to Wulin Square," combining Hangzhou's alternative music performers.
Since then more shows were held in colleges and bars and many rockers received enormous attention.
But in 2003, it was gone, tastes had changed. Around China the climate was different: audiences wanted less noisy music and softer, less challenging pop. Rockers weren't as creative as before; they also lacked money and opportunity.
Many rockers gave up, many bands broke up, some persisted.
Their persistence, renewed creativity and the Xihu Music Festival have led to an improved rock scene.
"In the past year we've seen many new local bands. The efforts of more than a decade finally paid off," says Big Zhong from local band. It just released a new album, "Country Punk's Party."
"It's significant that different bands are trying different styles of rock and there's more diversity in the sound," says Lu Saiyi, vocalist from Escape Again, one of the two Hangzhou bands that will perform this weekend.
In the past many bands sounded much the same, as they feared to innovate lest they lose the few fans they had, she says.
"More shows, more bands and more sponsors for bands prove the springtime of Hangzhou rock music is coming," says Nuo Mi, the drummer of Marijuana Seed, the other Hangzhou band that will perform this weekend.
Marijuana Seed was formed last April but it surpassed 14 other local teams to qualify for the festival lineup - five members of the six members are experienced full-time musicians. The oldest is 41-year-old bassist Mu Shi.
The young band is helping to build the rock scene, performing frequently, and "someone has to do something to promote rock culture, so we do it as long as we can," says Nuo Mi.
Lakeside concerts
Date: June 5-6, 2pm
Tickets: 150 yuan (one-day); 200 yuan (two-day)
Tel: (0571) 8800-3888
Top international and Chinese bands are performing in the 10-day Xihu Music Festival, and music fills the air across the city, pouring from theaters, pubs, clubs and bars.
It concludes in a lakeside concert bash this weekend.
The slogan is "Making Music All Over the City" and there's rock, folk, punk, jazz, electronic, pop and all kinds of mixtures in the third Xihu (West Lake) Music Festival.
The Hangzhou rock scene is improving and local bands are expected to get a big boost in the festival. The bands Marijuana Seed and Escape Again will perform in weekend concert while others will perform around town.
Organizers say a third of the performers are top international acts, such as Angie Hart (Australia), Ataraxia (Italy), Pitchtuner (Germany), Aloha Hula Calles (Japan) and These New Puritans (UK).
Domestic bands include Queen Sea Big Shark, Re-TROS, PK 14 and Caffeine.
The Xihu Music Festival has been a success in the past two years. It's getting bigger and organizers believe it's growing from a local brand into a nationwide cultural brand.
Lasting a staggering 10 days, it's believed to be the longest domestic music festival. Staging events around the city is also considered an innovation.
"Though the audience at the outdoor weekend concerts will be mostly young people, the other performances in cafes, bars and theaters give many other music lovers a chance to enjoy themselves," says local music critic Xiao Qi.
Around 2,000 tickets have already been sold for the outdoor concerts and organizers are encouraged.
"Music, beers, friends - it's a big party for people to relax and enjoy freedom," says guitarist Big Zhong from local band Bricks, which was founded in 2001. "In addition to creating a music atmosphere, it creates an appetite for live music."
The first Xihu Music Festival was held two years ago by the city government to enrich the scene of the ancient city, which is known for traditional culture, and to make it livelier, trendier, more modern and international.
The aim of the festival is not only to appeal to music fans but also, and more importantly, to popularize rock, pop, jazz and other music genres and help young bands, especially rockers, by giving them a platform.
While pop music is already popular and accessible to almost everyone, rock has yet to win over big numbers.
A rock scene is developing in Shanghai as new bands are springing up, but rock is still a hard sell in Hangzhou. The city's traditional sensibilities favor gentleness and extreme delicacy. Nonconformist rockers who play loud music with topical lyrics are not exactly the city's cup of tea.
A number of people are trying to promote rock in Hangzhou.
The small rock scene began on an autumn night in 1997 at Halin Club, where a show called "Music Subway" brought all of Hangzhou's subterranean rock bands together for the first time and raised the curtain on the above-ground rock scene.
Another landmark was the founding in 1990 of the first local rock magazine Yinyue Xiaochong (Music Bug).
In 2000 some bands put out EP (extended play) records and a notable album "From Sandun to Wulin Square," combining Hangzhou's alternative music performers.
Since then more shows were held in colleges and bars and many rockers received enormous attention.
But in 2003, it was gone, tastes had changed. Around China the climate was different: audiences wanted less noisy music and softer, less challenging pop. Rockers weren't as creative as before; they also lacked money and opportunity.
Many rockers gave up, many bands broke up, some persisted.
Their persistence, renewed creativity and the Xihu Music Festival have led to an improved rock scene.
"In the past year we've seen many new local bands. The efforts of more than a decade finally paid off," says Big Zhong from local band. It just released a new album, "Country Punk's Party."
"It's significant that different bands are trying different styles of rock and there's more diversity in the sound," says Lu Saiyi, vocalist from Escape Again, one of the two Hangzhou bands that will perform this weekend.
In the past many bands sounded much the same, as they feared to innovate lest they lose the few fans they had, she says.
"More shows, more bands and more sponsors for bands prove the springtime of Hangzhou rock music is coming," says Nuo Mi, the drummer of Marijuana Seed, the other Hangzhou band that will perform this weekend.
Marijuana Seed was formed last April but it surpassed 14 other local teams to qualify for the festival lineup - five members of the six members are experienced full-time musicians. The oldest is 41-year-old bassist Mu Shi.
The young band is helping to build the rock scene, performing frequently, and "someone has to do something to promote rock culture, so we do it as long as we can," says Nuo Mi.
Lakeside concerts
Date: June 5-6, 2pm
Tickets: 150 yuan (one-day); 200 yuan (two-day)
Tel: (0571) 8800-3888
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