The Dianying Diaries, part 4

Part of a series dealing with Chinese cinema. 电影 (diànyǐng) is the Chinese word for movie, the two characters literally meaning “electric” and “shadow.”

北京乐与路 (Beijing Rocks)

This 2001 movie was a Hong Kong production filmed in Beijing and other parts of Mainland China. It was directed by Mabel Cheung (张婉婷), who is one of Hong Kong's most prominent directors. The story concerns a struggling singer-songwriter named Michael Wu (played by 吴彦祖 Daniel Wu) from Hong Kong who goes to Beijing to find inspiration and learn Mandarin, which is increasingly necessary in the Asian music market.

Back in Hong Kong, Michael's father is a wealthy businessman who is paying for his son's expenses during his creative dry spell. The senior Mr Wu owns a large beautiful courtyard home in an old hutong neighborhood, where Michael, along with his father's mistress, stays in Beijing. In addition to his songwriting, Michael plays in a rock band called the Mexican Jumping Beans, though he says playing rock in HK is a money-losing proposition. So in addition to brushing up on his Mandarin, Michael hopes to dip into Beijing's rock scene.


The other important part of the back story is that Michael is in trouble with the law. There are vague references to some kind of altercation in a Beijing pool hall and the fact that Michael's father has bailed him out of jail and is trying to pull strings on his son's behalf. So it's probably not a smart idea for him to be hanging out in a gritty rock club on the night the plot gets rolling.

Beans are frying in a beanstalk fire
Out from the pan, the beans sadly cry:
"We sprang from the same root, brother
Why do you give me such a hard time?"

The band on stage is called Moonwatchers, and things start going wrong when the club manager cuts off the lead singer's mic for some reason. The singer gets angry, stops the band, and starts yelling at the manager. A fight ensues, and it ends with the musicians and a couple of girlfriends grabbing as much of their gear as they can and climbing out the windows as the police arrive.




Michael picks up a pair of dropped drumsticks and follows them, finally catching up with them at the kind of cheap hotpot joint that can be found all over Beijing. Much drinking follows as Michael meets this bunch of social misfits who love to make noise and use nicknames. The lead singer is called 平路 (Road, played by 耿乐 Geng Le), and he takes a liking to Michael, though they all mostly refer to him as "Hong Kong Peasant" and make fun of his terrible Mandarin. Road's girlfriend is 杨颖 (Yang Ying, played by 舒淇 Shu Qi, who I think is one of the most beautiful actresses from China, Taiwan, or anywhere else).

The rockers teach Michael how to drink 二锅头 (erguotou, a potent alcohol) in a way I haven't seen done: mix it with Sprite and slam the glass on the table to make it fizz, then pour it down your throat as fast as you can. After a few of those, they pass around a couple joints Michael brought and get very happy.


Michael really likes these people, especially Yang Ying (who wouldn't?), and when his father shows up in Beijing, he packs a duffel bag, grabs his bass, and sets off to find them. They live and practice in a squallid, run-down neighborhood somewhere on the outskirts of Beijing. Ying makes a little bit of money working as a dancer in a cabaret of questionable legality.


As far as I can tell, the girls don't actually strip, just tease, which leads to trouble with the rough crowd one evening when Michael happens to stop by to watch. A nasty looking group of men comes up on stage demanding that the girls strip; Ying hits one of them, causing a big gash on the side of his head, and before long the police are carting the whole gang off. The sideshow manager manages to negotiate Ying's fine down to 5000RMB, but she's locked up in a crowded cell full of women for assault.


As we know, Michael has a rebellious streak, and is currently avoiding his father, so when the sideshow and the rock band decide to go "hole-hopping" (hitting the road without permits), he talks them into letting him come along. They all pile into a rickety old bus and head for the provinces, dancers, jugglers, rock band and all.


One of the unusual things about the movie is the occasional soliloquies by the characters, a bit like the candid interview bits we see on "reality" shows.

As the character talks about their dreams or whatever, there is goofy animation behind them illustrating the words.

At various times during their journeys, Ying and Road get into fights, and they usually end with her stomping out of their tent and spending the night under a tree or wherever. Michael tries to comfort her, and discovers that in spite of the friction, she sees Road as her soul-mate.


The band plays in a variety of poor villages to a mixture of baffled workers and dancing kids, though usually their music doesn't go over especially well. Road's lyrics seem to be pretty heady stuff, mixing Buddhist mysticism with social rebellion.


At one show, Road's father steps into the tent, causing him to stop singing and disappear. Michael saves the performers from an unhappy mob by starting to play 月亮代表我的心 (The Moon Represents My Heart), a famous old Chinese pop song. The rest of the band comes in to provide a rock background as Ying sings the familiar words.


Somehow, during the midst of all this, Road rides his motorcycle back to Beijing to meet with some record label people about signing the band. They don't care for his music or his attitude, and tell him that the rebelliousness of their other rock bands is mere marketing; in truth they are good corporate employees who do what management tells them.


While he's gone, Michael takes the opportunity to spend some time with Ying.


But Road's return puts an end to that. And Road is especially surly after his meeting in Beijing, though he doesn't tell anyone what's going on. He just keeps saying, "I signed it. It's all over."

That's as far as I'll go with the plot. Let's just say the story does not get a happy ending. We find out what really happened in the pool hall before Michael got arrested; and what the consequences will be.


Obviously, there's a lot of music in the film, but only some of it is rock. In fact, it's a little jarring sometimes when the soundtrack swells up with a typical orchestral cue; I wish they'd stuck with the rock theme. When the band is playing live, the mix is often very strange, with the vocals unusually prominent and the guitars rather quiet. I suppose this helps to heighten the focus of Road's creativity and thoughts. In addition to the Moonwatchers' music and the soundtrack, I recognized 唐朝 Tang Dynasty's version of "The Internationale" on the soundtrack, and I believe there are other bands represented as well.


While much of the film seems pretty down-to-earth, I wonder about the portrayal of country folk, which might be considered stereotypical: dirty, unsophisticated, crude, and money-hungry. Local officials like policemen are shown as easily bribed and manipulated.


Other examples of stereotypical characters include Michael's father, who is a slimy lizard more concerned about private pleasure and public image, and throwing his money around, than in his son's happiness. (On the other hand, this seems completely realistic.) And then there are the record company guys, who were totally fake in their fashionable clothes and sneering attitude. (Which again seems totally realistic!)

The editing is a little strange, though completely consistent with the rock idiom. Michael often carries around a little camcorder, and his footage is mixed in with the movie's normal film. The inclusion of the eyes-to-the-camera interview bits with animation takes us a bit outside the story, which serves to emphasize the fact that these characters do not entirely live in the same world as the "normal" people around them.

The jail where Ying spends a little time is really nasty, with a big, dirty cement room filled with women wrapped up in blankets on the floor. The women are made to recite the jail rules in unison in the morning.

There's a lot of swearing, and the language in general is very slangy, with lots of thick accents I found difficult to understand, so I had to rely on the subtitles.


All in all, I enjoyed this movie a lot. It's a fascinating picture of a part of Chinese life we don't see much of, in spite of the rash of documentaries you can find about the Beijing rock scene, all of which are more current, whereas this covers a bit older time period.

This body is a bodhi tree
And the mind a mirror bright,
Carefully we wipe them hour by hour
And let no dust ever alight.
So Buddha says:
If I don't go into hell, who will?

There is no bodhi tree
Nor stand of a mirror bright,
Since all is void
Where can the dust alight?
So I say:
So you say:
So he says:
So Buddha says:
If I don't go into hell, who will?

Wikipedia entry
IMDB entry

It is available from Netflix.

The Yaogun Diaries, part 7

Part of a series dealing with rock music in China, mostly Beijing because that's what I know. 摇滚 (yáogǔn) is the Chinese word for rock music, the two characters literally meaning "shake" and "roll".

Buyi (布衣)

Touching on another facet of rock music in China, I’m going to focus on another of my favorites, Buyi (布衣). Their name means “cloth” and the term is used to distinguish ordinary fabric like cotton from fancy stuff like silk. In keeping with this deliberately humble name, their music is perhaps unassuming, but full of passion and an appreciation for the plight of ordinary people. The band originally hails from Ningxia (宁夏) , formally known as the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, a relatively small province in north central China (generally referred to as “northwest” given the coastal bias of the Chinese). It is the home of the Hui ethnic group, typically Islamic Chinese speakers. (In standard PRC fashion, the Hui only comprise about a third of their own Region’s population, with Han Chinese being the majority.)

A promo shot with a previous drummer.

Buyi’s niche is combining Chinese folk music with rock (plus a bit of the Western singer/songwriter tradition), and they’ve been around since 1995; they relocated to Beijing in 1999, and have remained a staple of the capital’s scene ever since. The constants in the band thus far have been lead singer and guitarist Wu Ningyue (吴宁越) and Zhang Wei (张巍), who plays guitar and guzheng. There has been some turnover at the bass and drum positions (purportedly a total of more than ten players). Wu claims to have been influenced by Cui Jian (崔健) along with such Western artists as the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, and Nirvana.

Buyi live at 2 Kolegas, 2008-06-27.

I first encountered this band from articles about them in Beijing’s English language press, and when I first saw them live, I knew the acclaim was well-earned. Wu is a friendly presence on stage, chatting and joking (though of course I can’t understand a lot of what he says); the band plays very naturally, completely comfortable regardless of the situation – no doubt due to their long history and appearances at major festivals. I caught them first at 2 Kolegas in June of 2008 and posted a few pictures here. While there I picked up all the CDs they had available at the time, which included a self-titled collection that might best be characterized as demos, their then current studio album, and a live album.

Wu Ningyue doing the folk-rock thing at 2 Kolegas, 2008-06-27.

The oldest recordings are apparently not considered an official release, but they’re certainly worth hearing. There's no title listed, so I call it jut Buyi. It's a CD-R with no date on it, but I believe it dates from 2004.
It's a mixture of studio/demo recordings and live tracks. Here is one of the highlights, 为你唱首歌 ("Sing a Song for You").

"Wei ni chang shou ge"

The band’s first proper release was 那么久 (That Long), recorded in 2007.
In an interview with The Beijiner, Wu said that the recording was plagued by budgetary constraints and disagreements with the record label, resulting in a sound that “wasn’t unified” but I’ve always found it a great set of tunes, surprisingly polished sounding considering the band’s reputation. It opens with the superb title track, with anthemic electric guitars and a soaring melody on the guzheng.

“Name jiu”

It's kind of a sad song, in case you can't tell from the sound. There are only a few lines of lyrics repeated a number of times: "Time has been so long, the skies have been grey so long, and pain is on every side, and my dreams are behind me, so long after so long."

"Yang rou mian"

And this one is 羊肉面 ("Mutton Noodles"), an ode to a childhood comfort food.

On their 2008 live album 喝不完的酒 (Endless Wine), they revisit a few tunes from previous recordings as well as a few unfamiliar (to me) songs. With well over ten years of material to draw from, there’s no shortage of songs.

Apparently, it was released in a limited edition of only 1000 or so copies, so I guess I’m lucky to have one. It features four songs from That Long, two from the self-titled debut, and six others. 不累 ("Not Tired") is a perennial favorite from their live shows.

“Bu lei”

And here's a video of the same tune. I did say it's a perennial favorite.



The second time I saw Buyi live was in a very different situation from the cozy brick room at 2 Kolegas. They were part of a festival called the Thirteenth Month Festival, playing on a Sunday evening. Due to a mixup in the show’s start time, I missed most of their set (you can read about it here). They were on the huge stage at the Beijing National Convention Center, complete with full light rigging, video screens, and room to move around without bumping into one another.

Buyi on the big stage at the 13th Month Festival, 2008-06-29.

They had the opening spot for 苏阳 (Su Yang) and 郑钧 (Zheng Jun), two well-known Chinese rock artists. The little I heard sounded pretty much exactly like the live album. I think they finished with “Bu lei (Not Tired).”

Later in 2008 they released a live DVD, but I haven't seen it. It has the songs from the live CD plus a few more. Next time I have the chance, I'll have to get myself a copy.

The next Buyi show was my first time at 将进酒吧 (Jiangjinjiu Bar). It’s a tiny little place located between the Drum and Bell Towers, and it was so packed my friend and I ended up hearing most of the show from upstairs, where we couldn’t see the band at all. I think we were sitting directly above them with a couple layers of wood in between.

Buyi and way too many people at Jiangjinjiu, 2009-02-14.

I ventured downstairs to take a look and some pictures, and found a crowd that surely violated some kind of fire code crowded around a tiny performance area (not a raised platform at all). Buyi plays here often.

Barely room for Buyi at Jiangjinjiu Bar, 2009-02-14.

It was a cold night outside, but inside Jingjinjiu it was steamy and stifling, full of sweat and cigarette smoke. The band seemed to be in their element, and the crowd seemed to know every song inside out. They finished with one I had never heard before, which had my companion laughing and looking a little embarrassed. Most of the audience sang along with the whole song, especially the choruses and “la-la” sections.

Buyi doing "Roman Watch" at Jiangjinjiu Bar (though not on the same night I saw them there).

After we left the bar, my friend explained to me a little about the song. She said the lyrics were very dirty (which maybe explained why it wasn’t on any of the CDs I had), and involved the story of a couple with money problems. The boy decides to buy the girl a nice watch as a gift, but can’t afford it, so he steals it. He gets caught, and instead of being supportive, she abandons him. As he’s carted off to jail, he shouts a string of insults at her. These make up the chorus of the song. Years later, he’s out of jail, and somehow the situation arises that she needs his help, but he tells her where to stuff that idea, and she yells the same set of insults back at him. At least that’s what I got out of an explanation from a non-native English speaker who had only heard the song once very late at night after who knows how many drinks. I could have it completely wrong, and she could have been wrong as well – though I’m almost certain there’s a watch involved.

When I saw them again, it was back at 2 Kolegas, this time outdoors under a canopy. Although there was a drum kit present, Buyi’s performance ended up being just the duo of Wu and Zhang.

Casual acoustic Buyi at 2 Kolegas, 2009-06-14.

They played stripped-down versions of some Buyi standards, and were joined from time to time by others in a very loose atmosphere.

Zhang Wei on the guzheng at 2 Kolegas, 2009-06-14.

Finally, in 2009, the band released what is usually called (by way of some creative math) their second album; to add to the confusion, it is self-titled, but I suppose the small number of people who have the previous self-titled CD know the band well enough to not be confused.
Barring one track, it’s a studio recording, and features some songs that first appeared in live form on Endless Wine. And while Wu has described it as “more hard rock,” I’d say it’s actually got some mellower moments on it than That Long, though the rock tunes do perhaps rock harder, like the studio version of "Not Tired" - but I'll give you something different as a sample for the album.

The CD opens with a lovely mostly-acoustic track called 三疯 ("Three Crazy").

"San feng"

And as a representative of the band's other side, here is 光荣的愤怒 ("Glorious Anger").

"Guangrong de fennu"

To my surprise, the final track on the album is a live recording of 罗马表 (“Roman Watch”), the very song they finished with at Jiangjinjiu. It was fun working my way through the lyrics to see just how right or wrong I was about them. The first part is pretty close, with a boy whose girlfriend has high expectations; he steals money to buy her a “Roman Watch,” and gets caught. She just laughs at him; he says something rude to her, finishing “I did everything for you.”

The second verse actually seems to be about a completely different situation (or maybe it’s the same girl with a different guy). It's from a girl's viewpoint: she says her boyfriend has high expectations, and likes a girl who is well endowed, but she is flat-chested. So she goes to have surgery, but the surgery fails; the boyfriend just laughs at her; she says something rude to him, finishing, “I did everything for you.”

As to why it can appear on CD in China even though the lyrics are dirty… well, I think that deals with a quirk of the Chinese language. It is a language full of words that sound alike. Many people have heard about why eight is considered a lucky number: it’s because ba (eight) sounds like fa (wealth or prosperity). I’ve mentioned elsewhere in my posts that bats (fu) are considered auspicious because “good fortune” is also pronounced fu. Anyway, one consequence of this is that any dirty word can be replaced by another word that sounds the same but that isn’t dirty. Technically, no swearing is involved and no laws are violated, but most listeners know exactly what the real meaning is. You find a lot of this on the internet, since it's filtered in China and you can't post dirty words. That's what the whole "Grass Mud Horse" thing is about. So when they sing, "I laugh at your mother's force" (which doesn't really make sense), it's really something different about the mother that is being referenced.

As Iwas doing research for this post, I noticed a page on the band's official site labeled "Download" which has a three-song EP from 2009, including one song sung by bassist Lin Na (still written by Wu Ningyue). But I haven't figured out how to download it yet - if I do, I'll post an update.

Rock in China Wiki entry
Official website

The Yaogun Diaries, part 6

Part of a series dealing with rock music in China, mostly Beijing because that's what I know. 摇滚 (yáogǔn) is the Chinese word for rock music, the two characters literally meaning "shake" and "roll".

Cold Fairyland (冷酷仙境 lěngkù xiānjìng)

When I moved to China, I had in mind the goal of trying to find good, interesting music that didn’t just imitate foreign styles. Quite soon, this band’s name started cropping up. Their live album was released in 2006, so the English language magazines were talking about it. I went to their website, which offered a number of tracks for free download from their various albums. I liked everything I heard, so I went out and found a copy of the live CD pretty easily. I loved it and set about trying to find their other releases, which turned out to be not so easy to find. I found a couple in a tent at the MIDI Festival, and bought them even though they were priced considerably higher than the average Chinese CD. Imported from Taiwan, not domestic releases.
This Shanghai band’s core is Lin Di (林笛), who has played the pipa since age 4. She met bass player Su Yong (苏勇 ), and they started working together recording. Their demos attracted the attention of an independent label and were released as Flying over the City (在城市上空飞翔 zài chéngshì shàngkōng fēixiáng). It’s long out of print (I’ve never seen a copy in a store), but it is available for download from CDBaby.
The name Cold Fairyland was invented for this album, though at the time it really wasn’t a band. The name comes from the Chinese title of a novel by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, which is known in English as Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (I heartily recommend it, by the way).

Here’s a track to get an idea of what the “band” was about at their beginning. I don’t own it, so I’ll try embedding the player from the Chinese media site NeoCha.

(OK, it seems the embedding does not work, so I will just link to "Sea Rose".)

With this song, Lin takes a poem by American Hilda Doolittle (H.D.) and sets it to simple music, as befits the directness of the words. There is a definite demo quality to the recording, and Lin’s awkward pronunciation is only partly covered up by the echo and reverb heaped upon her voice.

After this, the story starts getting a little confusing. Didn’t take long, did it? The next recording Lin Di was involved with was 2002’s Ten Days in Magic Land (魔境十日 mójìng shírì, literally Devil Land Ten Days). This collection of music was the result of a commission Lin Di received as a composer from producer Liu Xing (刘星). It was originally released on the Wind label from Taiwan, credited to “Lin Di – Cool Zone” (where “Cool Zone” is written in Chinese exactly the same as Cold Fairyland). So technically this is a Lin Di solo album which has Cold Fairyland as her backing band, but since she’s the main composer for the band anyway, there’s really little to distinguish this album from proper Cold Fairyland recordings. This album is often listed as being from later years, since it has been reissued more than once. My copy says 2003; I believe it was recorded in 2002.
Wind marketed this CD to the New Age audience, playing off some stylistic elements similar to European artists such as Enigma. As you can tell from this tune, the New Age label is a bit of a stretch.

“The Flood”

That’s 洪水 (hóngshuǐ – The Flood), one of the more energetic tunes in the set, though it’s certainly not out of place.

There is a great leap forward in production values here – the whole album is beautifully recorded, with the mixture of electronic and acoustic instruments handled very nicely. Su Yong plays bass, and there are contributions by others on flutes and other traditional instruments. There’s a lot of percussion by Li Jia (李佳), but no drum kit aside from what is sequenced by Lin. The album’s ten tracks correspond to the ten days of the title.

The following year saw the release of another band-credited album, the first one to be recorded since Lin and Su’s project turned into a real band. Kingdom of Benevolent Strangers (陌生仙子国 mòshēng xiānzǐ guó, literally Strange Fairyland) features Lin and Su along with Li Jia (the percussionist from Ten Days) on drums, Song Jianfeng (宋建丰) on guitar, and Zhou Shen’an (周圣安) on cello. It was created as a band effort in the studio, though all the tracks feature Lin as composer, either on her own or collaborating with others. She is credited under the name Miyadudu (米亚嘟嘟), which she would later use for a true solo album. Oddly enough, the band’s name is translated on the cover as Cool Fairyland.
In 2009, I finally found a copy of this in a store in Beijing. I paid an exorbitant price for a CDR in a cracked jewel case. But I was so happy to have a real copy of it that I forked over the cash, though not without a little grumbling.

Here’s a track to sample. It’s been a staple of their live shows.

“Dead Children in the Newspapers”

That’s 死在报纸上的孩子 (sǐ zài bàozhǐ shàng de háizi); I picked it because it features the cello prominently. This pairing of pipa and cello would become one of Cold Fairyland’s defining features. As you can hear, the production is more straightforward and less atmospheric than Ten Days, but certainly better than the 2001 demos. Other tracks feature Song’s guitar very prominently, for some very powerful rock moments, especially on 里绝望的花 (shǒuxīnli juéwàng de huā – Desperate Flower in Your Hand). On this album you get to see the band’s real direction, which aims to combine traditional Chinese sounds with what might be called progressive rock.

The next recording is another Lin Di solo album, 2004’s Bride in Legend; the Chinese title is 迷路新娘 (mílù xīnniáng), which means Lost Bride.
Like Ten Days, it was produced by Liu Xing, and it is again a lush concept piece. This time Lin tells the story of Yilang Yilang, a young girl sent out from her home village to be the bride of a man in a distant city. The events she experiences along the way change her and her understanding of the world. The backing band is not credited as Cold Fairyland, though the liner notes mention “Cool Zone” again; Su Yong, Li Jia and Song Jianfeng are present along with an even greater number of traditional instruments. Oddly enough, the pipa is not credited to Lin Di; there is cello on the album, but not played by Zhou Shen’an.

Once again, it was released on Taiwan’s Wind label and marketed to the New Age crowd, with elaborate packaging including liner notes in English and Chinese (unfortunately my copy almost immediately came unglued so I have to be really careful with it). There is less prominence given to the electronic MIDI programming, and much more emphasis on the Chinese instruments. From start to finish it’s a beautiful experience, with enough energy to keep it from inducing sleep.

“Mula Shabei War”

The track I’ve picked (慕拉沙贝大战 mùlāshābèi dàzhàn) is actually atypical. It’s track eight, and the first time electric guitar appears – kind of stands out when you hear it in the album’s sequence, but in a good way. This album is a good match with Ten Days, another beautifully realized studio creation that seamlessly mixes East and West, ancient and modern.

The next album brings us back to where I started with this band: their live album 2005现场 (2005 xiànchǎng, literally 2005 On Location – 现场 is the phrase used for a reporter at the scene of an incident – though it’s usually called 2005 Live in English). It was recorded at ARK in Shanghai, and revisits music from all of the previous releases, including the Lin Di solo albums, as well as a couple of new pieces.
The band consists of the recurring musicians I’ve already mentioned, all together and working as a unit. The cello is especially prominent, and the rhythm section really gets the chance to cut loose, completely dispelling any New Age stigma.

Here’s the live version of a song that previously appeared on Kingdom.

“Desperate Flower in Your Hand”

On this CD’s cover, the Chinese title 手心里绝望的花 (shǒuxīnli juéwàng de huā) is translated as “Holding the Flower of Despair,” but I’m sticking with the way it was written earlier – both seem accurate translations, and I guess the difference in meaning is pretty slight.

If I had been able to read Chinese when I got this CD, I would have noticed that the original release years and album titles for all the tracks are listed, and include something for 2006 called 地上的种子 (dìshang de zhǒngzi Seeds on the Ground); there is also one track with no other appearance listed. The only flaw to this recording is the occasional shaky quality of the vocals (more so the men’s backing parts than Lin’s lead), which is of course understandable given the live setting.

Also in 2005, Ten Days was reissued on a domestic Chinese label with a different cover:
In 2007 (not 2006 as promised on the live album), the next band album appeared. Seeds on the Ground continues the progression towards a less pop-oriented sound, with more attention given to the band’s unique qualities, especially the instrumentation with pipa and cello. Two of the new songs that appeared on the live album are given a studio treatment.
The personnel remains the same as on the live album, and the mood is a bit more serene in the studio setting, though far from sleepy. They start off with the title track, which features acoustic guitar, pipa, hand percussion, and a lovely vocal arrangement.

Here is a sample to give you an idea what they’re up to on this album:

“The Moon at the Fortified Pass”

That’s 关山月 (guānshān yuè – yes, only three characters for the six words of the English title). It’s one of only three tracks with lyrics, and those lyrics are by the famous Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai. On the whole, Song plays a lot more acoustic guitar than electric. Several tracks feature odd meters and complex rhythms. In some ways, it seems that on this album, the band has come into their own, finally integrating all the diverse elements into a unified whole.
In the fall of 2008, I finally had a chance to see Cold Fairyland live. They played at the Modern Sky Festival in Beijing’s Haidian Park. I wrote about the performance originally here. Check it out for more photos and video.
It was here that I discovered founding bassist Su Yong was no longer with the band. I don’t know the story, but he’s been replaced by Seppo Lehto, who is Finnish. Su is now working with Wu Zhuoling (吴桌玲) in A-Z.
I also discovered that the lineup has been augmented with a full-time keyboard player, Xi Jin’e (奚近萼); previously, Lin had covered keyboards in the studio and alternated between pipa and keys when playing live.
As far as I know, Li Jia is still the band’s drummer, and just couldn’t make it to Beijing when I saw them.
It will be very interesting to see how these changes will play out in the band’s next recording, whenever that may be. Lin Di tells me the current lineup makes the band a “3 couples band.”

Lin Di’s most recent project is a solo CD called 秘密花园的邂逅 (mìmì huāyuán de xièhòu Meet in Secret Garden), credited to 米亚嘟嘟 (Miyadudu). It is perhaps her first true solo album, with very little participation by other musicians.
Here’s my favorite track:

“Waterbird’s Secret Language”

水鸟密语 (shuǐniǎo mìyǔ) is the track that features pipa most prominently, which is a large part of the appeal for me.

And finally, in 2009, Seeds on the Ground was re-released with a different cover.
Not sure why they changed it. It’s pretty, but I prefer the original one.

There you go, a short (yeah, right) introduction to my favorite Chinese band. I’m tired now.

Rock in China entry: http://wiki.rockinchina.com/index.php?title=Cold_Fairyland
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/coldfairyland
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/Cold-Fairyland/40842708567?ref=sgm
Official site: http://www.coldfairyland.com/
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/cold-fairyland/id264914696?ign-mpt=uo%3D6

Note: All images and audio files presented here are in the interest of increasing awareness of Chinese rock in the English-speaking world. If you are the owner of the copyright in any of them and object to this free promotion, let me know and I'll remove the offending media.

The Yaogun Diaries, part 5

Part of a series dealing with rock music in China, mostly Beijing because that's what I know. 摇滚 (yáogǔn) is the Chinese word for rock music, the two characters literally meaning "shake" and "roll".

Milk@Coffee

Moving even farther astray from the punkish side of Chinese rock, we find this band, known sometimes by the Chinese version of their name, 牛奶@咖啡 (niúnǎi kāfēi) with the @ often not pronounced. I suppose you could say they’re not a rock band at all (see below for their own take on the question), but I have a pretty broad definition of rock. To pick a Western genre for them, I would probably choose “indie pop” but I don’t regard anything including the word “indie” as an actual genre. They are basically the duo of Fu Yan (富妍), known as Kiki, singing and 格非 (Ge Fei) on keyboards, guitar, programming, and so on. In a live setting other players are added to fill out the sound.

Their first album was called 燃烧吧！小宇宙 (ránshāo ba! xiǎo yǔzhòu), officially translated as Burn! My Cosmos, and came out in 2005.
I really enjoy this happy music, which reminds me of some of the Japanese bands I like. Here’s a track for you to get the idea.

“Lasia”

This song, called “Lasia” actually garnered them some success in China, apparently hitting #3 on some kind of chart (I can’t find documentation of this, just a reference on Baidu).

There’s also a fun video for the title track of the album:

The first time I saw them live was at the Beijing Pop Festival in September of 2007. You can read my original post here.
By the end of the set, they had a whole bunch of extra people on the stage dancing and singing the chorus of a song that wasn’t on the CD; even then I knew enough Chinese to make out the title “Wo bushi rock ‘n’ roll” which means “I’m Not Rock ‘n’ Roll” – ironic since it was the most rock oriented tune they played.
The next time I saw them live was in a much more controlled setting, MAO Livehouse, in July of 2008 as part of a “girls’ night” featuring all female-led performances. While I didn’t write a review of the show, I did post some pictures. Here’s another one:
I found myself grinning like an idiot pretty much throughout their set. Kiki is so charismatic, cheerful, and cute you would have to be a real grouch to dislike her. There was a charming bit where she brought out a sequined top hat and a sparkly cane to do a little dance. The hat later ended up on the guitarist.

I even took some video of their final number.

Later in 2008 they released their second album, which has the happy title of 越长大越孤单, More Grown up, More Lonely.
When I got it, I was very happy to see it had the song I remembered from their festival performance. 我不是 Rock ‘n’ Roll (I’m Not Rock ‘n’ Roll).

“I’m Not Rock ‘n’ Roll”

About the same time as the CD came out I saw them again, this time at the Modern Sky Festival. Again, they got only a few photos instead of a full review.
It was a really fun performance, what with the pirate hat and bubble machines and all, and the crowd was so big I couldn’t get anywhere near the stage. This was by far the biggest stage I’ve seen them on, and they had a great time. The backing band was a little different, featuring a female keyboard player to fill in while Ge Fei concentrated on guitar.

In addition to their own CD releases, Milk@Coffee was involved in an interesting little project put together by Modern Sky Records: a CD for children called 星猫 (xīng māo Star Cat).
I hope this project is successful – it will be great to have a generation of kids exposed to music other than sappy pop.

Rock in China entry: http://wiki.rockinchina.com/index.php?title=Milk@Coffee

Note: All images and audio files presented here are in the interest of increasing awareness of Chinese rock in the English-speaking world. If you are the owner of the copyright in any of them and object to this free promotion, let me know and I'll remove the offending media.