To most people outside China,
Chinese
music falls into three broad
categories:
outdated "East is Red" style
marches,
classical music with exotic
instruments and
strange sounding vocals,
or "banned in
Beijing" hard rock with
biting political lyrics.
This last image remains the
most pervasive.
The biggest, best-known
music star
outside China is still Cui
Jian, the symbol
of the 1989 student demonstrations.
His
hard-edged, political lyrics
mixed well with
the metal and punk influences
that
typified the Beijing rock
music scene.
Cui Jian is still a big
influence--he played
to a huge crowd in New York's
central park
late summer 1999.
And Tang Dynsasty,
another big Chinese rock band of
the
1980s, is still playing (somewhere).
But the old days of the Beijing
rock scene
are gone forever.
In their place is a dynamic
blend of new Chinese music
that mirrors the
complexities and contradictions
of modern
China.
From clubby dance grooves, moody
electronica,
and garage-band thrash to
melodious
mandopop or old-style punk,
music
in China today is exploring and
synthesizing
sounds from all corners of
China
and the world. China Soundz
at Sinomania!
is a brief introduction to
China's
music scene today.
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NEW
Music from China!
Search
any major music website for Chinese music
and you will get traditional bamboo flute
serenades, if you get anything at all.
Yet China has one of the most dynamic music
scenes in Asia and the world today.
CHECK
OUT:
Johnny
Hi-Fi at the House of Blues Cleveland
on April 2!
the biz: mtv
| mtv
chi | imaginasiaTV
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Featured
Artists
NOTE: |
Artist links will take you to MP3.com where you can listen to, download, and buy the artist's music. To return, just click your browser's BACK button. |
Spoon
Studio.
Beijing.
Spoon Studio is White Spoon
is He Jiong Di. The sound is classified as world fusion.
His varied influences include
traditional/classical even easy-listening.
Have a listen at:
White Spoon's Spoon Studio
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Digital
Records/ChineseRock.com.
Beijing.
Proving
that punk-style rock is alive and well, Digital Records is the first on-line
Chinese recording label. Try "Lonely Girl", it's not what you expect.
Parental advisory on lyrics.
Listen to:
Digital Records
Wei Wei.
China.
The most popular singer in China, she has sold over 100 million records and is a regular on TV and movies. Is she the Celine Dion of China?
Check out "I Believe in China", kitschy but pretty.
Hear her sing:
Wei Wei Superstar
VampireX.
Chengdu.
Electronica from the capital of Sichuan province, the band lists the Pet Shop Boys among influences and has an early 80s Euro sound.
Check out:
VampireX
A-DO.
Hangzhou.
Categorized as world fusion and trance, A-DO's smooth sophisticated chords and beats have a real East Asian flair. From Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
Try "Fly":
A-DO
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Featured Artists >
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