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I’m looking for insight on what’s trending in the China’s music world. What kind of underground movements are going on?
How would you describe the music scene/culture?
Can you recommend some artists?
I’ve learned that Chengdu has a pretty active hip hop movement. There have been several big hip hop shows in the last year, but struggles with nightlife (the loss of XiongMao) and music festivals (Big Love flop). I also feel like China hasn’t had many musical sensations in the last decade, but could that be changing soon?
1 mao for your thoughts
Rock music is the traditional strong point of Chengdu’s music scene, but that has been in relative decline for years, I think, due to a lack of new bands as well as a dearth of venues aside from New Little Bar.
In the last few years, the most music growth in Chengdu has definitely been in hip hop I’d say, with the emergence of the CDC crew and YEP clothing, etc. They’re doing some really cool stuff, but most of it is online. As in, releasing tracks and music videos online, collabs with artists outside of Chengdu, etc. There are a few big shows a year, the last one was the CDC show with Jingqi Shen at the East Music Park. There are some good local producer that are emerging also, like Edy. Young guy, like 22, producing good hip hop for local rappers.
Quote:Rock music is the traditional strong point of Chengdu’s music scene, but that has been in relative decline for years, I think, due to a lack of new bands as well as a dearth of venues aside from New Little Bar.Totally disagree with that. Last year Li Zhi & Tong Yang both played to crowds of 1200-1400. Made in Chengdu sold out 1900 tickets in presale. Mono came to Chengdu. Stolen & HiPerson are two fantastic young bands that I think will eventually become massive in China. There are plenty of venues in the East Music Park capable of holding 1000+ which is something we’ve been lacking for years.
Quote:Totally disagree with that. Last year Li Zhi & Tong Yang both played to crowds of 1200-1400. Made in Chengdu sold out 1900 tickets in presale. Mono came to Chengdu. Stolen & HiPerson are two fantastic young bands that I think will eventually become massive in China. There are plenty of venues in the East Music Park capable of holding 1000+ which is something we’ve been lacking for years.When I first came to the city in 2005 I went to the Little Bar 8th anniversary and there were 40+ bands and 3,000+ people there. I’m not saying that the rock scene in Chengdu is dead, but it hasn’t significantly advanced like hip hop has. But during that time, hip hop has gone from a 50-person affair at the Hemp House to thousands of people at events that are just as large as the rock shows. There were 4x as many people at the CDC rap show as there were at the Mono show in the same venue. East Music Park aside, when they did a CDC show at Music House it was the most crowded anyone had ever seen that venue. So to me, hip hop is the area of real growth in Chengdu’s music scene over the last 2 years.
Chengdu also never hosts big bands. Who was the biggest in the last few years, Does It Offend You, Yeah? I hadn’t heard of them prior to Zebra Music Festival where they played, but when I looked them up I found an internet discussion where they were explained as the opener for Nine Inch Nails in 2008. I cannot think of any well known international rock band that has come to Chengdu in recent years. It’s almost always the usual-suspect local bands on perpetual repeat. They’re not bad, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that I don’t see explosive growth in the rock scene.The hip hop scene is definitely not gigantic here, but at least we’ve hosted DJ Shadow, Krush multiple times, Madlib coming up, etc. These kind of people coming to Chengdu would be unthinkable in 2008. I hope that in 2013 there are some rock bands of that caliber that come to Chengdu.
I admit to carrying a bias though, I produce and DJ hip hop, not rock. I like The Trouble but otherwise I find the “usual suspect” Chengdu bands predictable. I’ve seen them all too many times, I guess. But guys like Fat Shady I think are doing really interesting things that didn’t exist even a few years ago:
Kafe Hu & Fat Shady live in Chengdu:
I know the little bar used to host the ‘forever young’ festival and attract those kind of numbers but it was before my time here. I arrived late 2007. From that time onwards the biggest development in the Rock scene has came in the last year. Ash, Suede & Mono are probably the biggest foreign bands to play in Chengdu, all of them played here last year. 2 of the best young local bands emerged in the last year. Numerous gigs of 1000+ have took place. Plenty of venues capable of holding 1500+ people have popped up.
I’d agree that there has been more growth in hip hop here. But I stil disagree with some points of your original comment, mainly that there aren’t any new bands or new venues.
Chengdu is a difficult place to bring ‘big names’. Firstly, what locals would call a big name and what you and I would are two different things. Mono = 400 people. Tong Yang = 1400 people. The problem with bringing ‘big names’ to Chengdu isn’t just limited to rock music, the same core problems apply to hip-hop and electronic music. I thought The Bug & Daddy Freddy would be huge. I think we sold 150 tickets. In Shanghai they sold 500+ and it was gig of the year for a lot of people. As for hip-hop, some members of CDC didn’t know anything about Madlib. I think a lot of the crowd will be there to see CDC perform rather than Madlib.
The ticket prices also have a big part to play. Look at the costs invloved to bring big bands here. When Mogwai played Shanghai they brought 12 or 13 people with them. Thats about 80,000 rmb in flights alone. The tickets were priced accordingly, 260 (approx) in advance, 300+ on the door, and they played to a full house. Very few people in Chengdu would pay that. A lot of the gig-going public are young students and they simply can’t afford to part with that kind of cash. I think Mono at 150/180 was on the boundary of what can be charged here.
If Big Love tickets were cheaper, would it have done better?
Maybe music appreciation in Chengdu just hasn’t developed to the level that can support big shows with big names in non-native genres.
Quote:If Big Love tickets were cheaper, would it have done better?It was part of the problem but the whole idea of that festival was flawed to begin with.
Quote:Maybe music appreciation in Chengdu just hasn’t developed to the level that can support big shows with big names in non-native genres.Yeah, I’d agree with that but I think it will develop over the next few years. I think the music scene will improve with the more foreigners that come here. That might sound bad, but take a look at Shanghai and Beijing. A lot of the promoters, performers and people that pay to go to gigs there are foreigners, especially for electronic music.
My main point is that the hip hop scene in Chengdu has grown more than the rock scene in recent years, and is more of a trend at this moment. Lead singers in some of Chengdu’s biggest bands have lamented to me about the lack of new blood in the Chengdu rock scene, in terms of bands and venues. I think they’re just getting older and increasingly weary, since most of them have been doing this for 6-8+ years. By contrast, most of the rappers (except for 老熊) are in their early 20’s and still have the vitality to pursue lofty dreams.
You’re right about “who the big names are” in Chengdu. At the CDC show, the guests were the Jingqishen crew, which is like a Guangzhou-Beijing-Chengdu nation-wide rap crew with influence much larger than CDC. But at that show, they opened for CDC and didn’t get nearly the same crowd response (which was a surprise to me).
Honestly, I had never heard of Suede, Ash, or Mono before they came to Chengdu. I suppose they’re big bands in the UK, but no one has ever heard of them where I’m from. I went to some of those shows with other Americans and they were equally clueless. When I mean bigger bands I don’t mean giants of rock like Metallica or Radiohead, but bands like Neon Indian, Miike Snow, Deerhunter, The Black Angels, Chromeo, Atari Teenage Riot, etc.
Quote:If Big Love tickets were cheaper, would it have done better?I really doubt it. The problems that doomed Big Love were so numerous, the ticket price was just one of many things. I was recently in Bangkok and had a conversation with a guy I had just met who flew from Shanghai to go to Big Love! I felt bad for him.
A blog done by a buddy of mine in Shanghai: Freshest Kids China. He’s very involved in the hip hop scene in Shanghai.
I don’t know much about the rock scene in China, but every time I check out a jam session at Jah Bar, I’m thoroughly impressed by the talent there. Those guys are playing unscripted Jazz, Funk, Blues, Classic rock etc. How were they even exposed to that stuff?
Quote:I don’t know much about the rock scene in China, but every time I check out a jam session at Jah Bar, I’m thoroughly impressed by the talent there. Those guys are playing unscripted Jazz, Funk, Blues, Classic rock etc. How were they even exposed to that stuff?A lot of the jams at Jah Bar are comprised of a combination of professional musicians (band members), or foreigners who grew up playing instruments, etc. There are regulars who are there really often jamming, and some of them are very good. It is curious why they don’t form a band or something, when a lot of times the best live music you hear in Chengdu is an informal jam at Jah Bar.
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