Beijing Blues Fest keeps American classics alive
By Brian Offenther |
May 31, 2012, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE great thing about popular art is that it looks easy. That also happens to be the cause of many annoyances associated with it. Sure, anybody can listen to a song and sing along, all the while convincing themselves they sound great. But just ask friends after you caterwauled into a karaoke microphone: making the simple sound good is certainly a special form of artfulness.
What complicates this, though, is some wit and wisdom supplied by legendary filmmaker, author, director, and musician Woody Allen.
"Eighty percent of success," said Allen, "is showing up."
One of the implications of this is that if you want to achieve anything, you might have to practice your craft by getting to the venue, winging it and hoping for the best, whether you end up sounding good or not.
I had that experience last weekend at the second annual Beijing Blues Festival, which took place in various venues around the capital.
The festival is based around CD Blues, one of Beijing's premier blues venues until its closing a few weeks ago.
I showed up Friday and checked into the Beijing Fairmont Hotel. Getting booked into arguably the nicest hotel in China was a good sign. Unfortunately, that was basically the extent of my knowledge of what I was going to do per the Beijing Blues Festival.
This sort of lack of organization is pretty common with rock music and other popular culture events: Because everything about it seems simple, things can seem to quickly get out of hand for the organizers.
Luckily though, things turned out okay.
I DJed and hosted the first night of the Beijing Blues Festival in the 798 Art Zone, a hip area with lots of art galleries and crafts shops.
The acts included a score of Beijing artists who help keep the classic American art form of the blues alive.
Peter Murchison played acoustic and steel guitar, covering classic blues songs from as far back as the 1920s. Each song was introduced with the original artist and the year of the recording and played with care.
International acts were also brought in to play at the Beijing Blues Festival, adding to the excitement.
J.J. Vicars is originally from Texas but now plays his brand of southern boogie rock 'n' roll in Tokyo. He was backed up at the fest by Beijing's Rolling Bowling and left them positively ragged as he played with stunning dynamism and fierce speed.
A highlight was Shun Kikuta, who is originally from Japan and now lives in Taiwan. He played soulful guitar blues he honed while on the road for nine years with legendary blues vocalist Koko Taylor.
Overall, it was a fun time at the fest for me, and people seemed to appreciate it.
I was just one of the many people able to contribute something, which just reminds me of the great thing about this music being accessible. Even with some disorganization, I could show up and have a good time.
What complicates this, though, is some wit and wisdom supplied by legendary filmmaker, author, director, and musician Woody Allen.
"Eighty percent of success," said Allen, "is showing up."
One of the implications of this is that if you want to achieve anything, you might have to practice your craft by getting to the venue, winging it and hoping for the best, whether you end up sounding good or not.
I had that experience last weekend at the second annual Beijing Blues Festival, which took place in various venues around the capital.
The festival is based around CD Blues, one of Beijing's premier blues venues until its closing a few weeks ago.
I showed up Friday and checked into the Beijing Fairmont Hotel. Getting booked into arguably the nicest hotel in China was a good sign. Unfortunately, that was basically the extent of my knowledge of what I was going to do per the Beijing Blues Festival.
This sort of lack of organization is pretty common with rock music and other popular culture events: Because everything about it seems simple, things can seem to quickly get out of hand for the organizers.
Luckily though, things turned out okay.
I DJed and hosted the first night of the Beijing Blues Festival in the 798 Art Zone, a hip area with lots of art galleries and crafts shops.
The acts included a score of Beijing artists who help keep the classic American art form of the blues alive.
Peter Murchison played acoustic and steel guitar, covering classic blues songs from as far back as the 1920s. Each song was introduced with the original artist and the year of the recording and played with care.
International acts were also brought in to play at the Beijing Blues Festival, adding to the excitement.
J.J. Vicars is originally from Texas but now plays his brand of southern boogie rock 'n' roll in Tokyo. He was backed up at the fest by Beijing's Rolling Bowling and left them positively ragged as he played with stunning dynamism and fierce speed.
A highlight was Shun Kikuta, who is originally from Japan and now lives in Taiwan. He played soulful guitar blues he honed while on the road for nine years with legendary blues vocalist Koko Taylor.
Overall, it was a fun time at the fest for me, and people seemed to appreciate it.
I was just one of the many people able to contribute something, which just reminds me of the great thing about this music being accessible. Even with some disorganization, I could show up and have a good time.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
