“有没有希望 － 有没有希望？“ “Is there any hope?” Headlining the Tang Stage1 at Beijing's 2010 Midi Festival, He Yong (何勇) audibly wondered whether there was hope for the youth in modern China as he performed his 1994 anthem of youthful despair, Garbage Dump. Many of the 15,000 fans trickled in throughout the day, but were present only to see a rare performance by the self-styled punk and godfather of Chinese rock. They were dressed in the attire that he popularised in the 1990's: a white and blue striped t-shirt with a red scarf, a reference to the Young Pioneers (Communist party youth).
The crowd may or may not have been old enough to remember the emotion associated with Garbage Dump's release in the mid-1990's. They may not spend their days pondering whether there is hope for their generation. One thing is certain: they knew the lyrics. Many in the crowd also unquestionably empathised with his timely criticism of rising housing prices in the Chinese capital. The issues have changed, the importance of artistic and political consciousness has ebbed and flowed, yet the performance was as relevant as it was in the 1990's. The performance was not politically revolutionary. The fenqing (angry youth) movement of the late 1980's and early 1990's did not erupt at this particular performance. Instead, alongside his father He Yusheng, He Yong escorted the crowd into his nostalgic classic, Drum and Bell Tower (Zhong Gu Lou), eliciting tears and rapturous applause from the crowd. Garbage Dump and Zhong Gu Lou reflect the two prominent perspectives that pervade Chinese rock and roll: inspired despair and intellectual nostalgia.
Beijing is the unequivocal home of Chinese rock and roll. If Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen are the manufacturing and business centers of China, Beijing is her intellectual and cultural heart. Hong Kong is the home of Cantopop, best portrayed by figures like the Four Heavenly Kings (四大天王). The two are often at odds for what they represent both to artists and to fans alike. Where Cantopop reflects the wealth and infrastructure of its southern home, Chinese rock, at least the Northwest Wind school (西北风） of Chinese rock, reflects the grit of its natural habitat, the crumbling labyrinth of hutong that course the area. The movement is often compared to the punk movements in New York's dilapidated Bowery and West London/King's Cross during the late 1970's and early 1980's.
Within Beijing, the locus of underground Chinese rock has long been the hutong. Beijing's Drum and Bell Tower area is one that remains, for the moment, an important cultural preservation zone, centered in its few remaining hutong alleyways connecting the area's siheyuan courtyard residences.4 The area represents old Beijing.
The song Zhong Gu Lou is not only a memoir of an evaporating world, but a call to attention. A strong sense of nostalgia pervades the lyrics of songs such as Zhong Gu Lou, which is in an area of Beijing that has long been inhabited by local people who lived in the area's hutong for generations. The social structure supported by courtyard residences survived the end of the imperial Qing dynasty and the Cultural Revolution (文化大革命) but are now slowly disappearing and along with them the social structure of old China. Where hutongs have not been destroyed to make way for more modern structures, the Zhong Gu Lou area is being slowly populated with bars and restaurants. Some built cheaply and quickly to capitalise on their draw. Some are run by foreigners in an attempt to preserve the spaces. There have even been rumours floated among the music elite that the Tower itself would be torn down to make way for a shopping mall. Chinese rockers bemoan the loss of this culture in their lyrics and in their drunken conversations, wandering the labyrinthine back streets of their natural habitat. He Yong's song Zhong Gu Lou is the most recognized tribute to Beijing's endangered residential culture.
He Yong often plays alongside his father, He Yusheng, a classical sanxian artist. Just as American rock and roll was born out of jazz, blues and country music, Chinese rock and roll reflects its classical roots. Bands often include classical Chinese instruments and the lyricism of classical Chinese folk songs. The sanxian could best be described to a Western audience as the Chinese banjo. The sanxian is similar to a Japanese shamisen, but uses snakeskin rather than cat or dog hide to cover its resonator.
Chinese music has struggled to find a successful business model either inside or outside China. The music itself is wedged between its underground, organic punk nature inspired by such acts as The Ramones and Johnny Thunders and its newfound appeal to foreign audiences seeking insight into the sometimes baffling transition of modern China. The industry has begun to see the success of facsimile acts seeking only fame through imitation, whether of the original 1980/90's movement or of foreign bands. However, Chinese rock remains true to its outspoken nature and ability to inspire introspection, often leading to despair but also to inspiration in the possibility of expression. Its nostalgia may be mistaken for a hopeless retrospective view of times gone by, but if the music continues in its mould of integrity to its core belief in expression, it will remain the foundation of a modern movement that has no interest in jettisoning the foundations of the Chinese way of life.
"Three prominents of Moyan" (魔岩三杰):
He Yong
Dou Wei (Ma Pei, guitar – my friend)
Zhang Chu
The Famous One:
Cui Jian (played with Rolling Stones in Shanghai)
The New Wave:
Carsick Cars (Maybe Mars)
Xiao He (Maybe Mars)
PK14 (Maybe Mars) (SXSW)
Joyside (May 2009, China's top “coolest” musician according to TimeOut Beijing) (Wasted Orient, film – Kevin Fritz, dir.)
Second Hand Roses
Helen Feng (Ziyou, Free the Birds)
Relevant Music Festivals:
Midi Music Festival
Strawberry Music Festival
South by Southwest (SXSW, USA)
Pepsi Battle of the Bands
(gross misunderstanding of how to conduct music business)
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/11/12/china.rock/index.html
A misguided, amateur, but interesting article about Midi/Strawberry Festivals in 2010:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alice-xin-liu/beijing-rock-scene-is-ins_b_566874.html
Copyright 2010, Meshwork Entertainment.
