Interview with China’s biggest rock star

Source: The Washington Post

Cui Jian would probably be the first person to lament that he, at 51, is still the biggest name in Chinese rock music, and that his music last occupied the cultural zeitgeist in a dramatic 1990 concert tour. That’s the impression he gives in this revealing interview with Vice, anyway. Whether you think Cui’s cynicism is misplaced or not, his thoughts on the state of Chinese are revealing.

Cui, often called the father or grandfather of Chinese rock, is careful when discussing the Chinese government, with which he has a complicated history. Cui’s song, “Nothing to My Name” (video of which is embedded below), about the disaffection of youth, became an unofficial anthem of the 1989 protest movement that culminated in the Tiananmen Square crackdown. The rock star, who had appeared with the student protesters, subtly criticized the crackdown during his 1990 tour by wearing a red blindfold when he performed his song, “A Red Piece of Cloth.” Those were his last major performances in mainland China.

A scholar of Chinese pop music, Jonathan Campbell, has said, “I can’t think of someone who has ever been more worthy than Cui Jian for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.” Campbell explained of Cui, “He’s Woody Guthrie or Bruce Springsteen, whose songs made people suddenly realize that there are things going on about which we don’t know and ought to, and singing with the voice of the people not often represented in popular culture.”

In this interview, Cui says that he’s tried and failed many times to secure permission for another big show, but he stops short of complaining or criticizing. When he interview presses him, saying that he found success “without playing any games,” he interjects, “I did. I play a lot of games. I’m a good player in some ways. That’s why I’ve learned how to answer questions. I’m playing a game now, actually.”

He’s much tougher on young Chinese people today, asking, “Why China has such huge history and culture, and then [Chinese people] just want to leave [that Chinese culture] alone and listen to the Western music or culture?” He is far from alone in accusing today’s Chinese youth of superficiality and Westernization, although his connection to the heavily political 1980s youth movement makes the contrast that much starker.

He beams about playing in New York City, where he says his performances attract more Chinese fans that they do in Beijing. Shows in China, he says, tend to attract a lot of foreigners.

When Vice’s interview asks Cui how he “make sense” of the government restrictions that have kept him out of major Chinese venues for over 20 years, he answers, “You don’t have to make sense. This is China.”

Here are, “A Piece of Red Cloth” and “Fake Monk”:

Cui Jian discusses new album "Blue Bone"

Wearing his trademark white cap with a red star on it, Cui Jian discusses his new album, “Blue Bone” with China Daily’s Chen Nan during a press conference to promote his upcoming concert in Beijing on December 15.

Chinese godfather of rock ‘n’ roll, Cui Jian, plans to open a security guard company.

His intention is triggered by his observation at rock concerts in China, where security guards are seen stopping audiences from standing up and interacting with the performers.

“The concept about security guards is confused here. Security guards should be those who are paid to protect audiences and performers,” asserts the 51-year-old.

“I want to have a company to train people to become real security guards – serving instead of controlling the audiences and guaranteeing that the audience has a good time.”

He also wants to change the perception of rock music.

“Rock music has been considered noisy and dangerous in China for the longest time.

“But I can tell you that rock fans are very peaceful, pure and simple, just like rock music itself. They shouldn’t be managed in my concert,” Cui adds.

It has been 26 years since Cui launched his debut, Nothing to My Name, which became an instant hit and turned Cui, who was 25 years old then, into a legend.

His reputation as a rock star remains strong up till today.

The musician is proud to say that he has never stopped performing in live shows, either at small venues or on big stages.

Thinking and moving on to new ideas, he says, are just as important as keeping an onstage presence.

One of his new ideas was to use color to describe the various elements of rock music and life. In his 2005 album, Show You Color, Cui used red to signify rock music, blue for electronic music and yellow for pop music.

The lyrics of his song, Blue Bone, go: “Red, yellow and blue represent human being’s heart, body and wisdom”.

Cui hopes to transform his upcoming concert, also titled Blue Bone, from red to blue, which to him represents wisdom and free spirit.

“Blue also means freedom and innovation for music and thoughts.”

Blue Bone is also the name of Cui’s first film, as a director. To be released in early 2013, he wrote the plot in 2005 when he released the album Blue Bone.

Divided into three parts, it tells the story of a young underground rocker and network hacker who encountered an unknown singer. The two found out their parents’ sad love story during the years of the “cultural revolution” (1966-76).

“I wasn’t trained in filmmaking. I made the film like how I would sing a rock song, telling stories in my own way,” Cui says.

“I did not have commercial pressure from the film market. If I had, I wouldn’t have done it.”

Many of Cui’s fans go to his concerts for his old tunes, but Cui always surprises them with new elements.

In 2009, he used strong visual effects at his concert at Beijing Exhibition Center Theater. Then a year later, Cui collaborated with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra to present rock music with a classical music approach.

For the upcoming show, he has prepared a line-up, both familiar and unfamiliar to the audience, including some of his classics like A Piece of Red Cloth and Nothing to My Name, and new songs like The Lost Season, which was featured in director Ning Hao’s film Guns and Roses.

Audience will get a preview of his new song from his 2013 album, titled Girls Out There, which has English lyrics in it. The song is about a village boy from the farm who longs to see the outside world.

“The English lyrics are not designed for foreign listeners, but to create a fusion effect,” he says. “I don’t design my music intentionally. All the elements I used serve the music.

“I want to try new ideas. Even when I sing Nothing to My Name today, I want to remix it with different musical ideas. But I will keep to the melody,” he adds.

Off stage, Cui says he spends his spare time watching various shows, from young local rock bands to modern dance performances.

He also likes hanging out with his old friends, like Liu Yuan, the renowned saxophonist, whom Cui befriended during his days with the Beijing Song and Dance Troupe.

He doesn’t smoke, and usually drinks a little before performing, according to You You, Cui’s long-time agent, who is also his good friend.

“His life is simpler than most people’s. He is an artist living for art’s sake.”

Source: By Chen Nan (China Daily)

Cui Jian to sing in Shanghai on Christmas Eve

Two decades have passed since Cui Jian’s last solo show in Shanghai. Now, the Beijing-based rock veteran has announced that he will make his return on Christmas Eve.

Cui arrived in Shanghai on Tuesday, October 16, 2012 to promote his show, which will be held at the Shanghai Grand Stage.

The 51-year-old, who blazed a trail for Chinese rock music with his 1986 hit “Nothing to My Name”, says he isn’t looking for a retrospective show this time. Instead, he wants to attract young audiences as much as those who grew up listening to him.

The set list will include a mix of Cui’s old hits and new songs. He will also perform songs from his upcoming album.

Tickets to the show are being sold at 180-880 yuan (about US$29-141).

When: December 24, 2012
Where: Shanghai Grand Stage
Tel: (86 21) 6213 2377

Source: CRI

Documentary reveals what’s unique about rock in China

Near the start of the documentary, Down: Inside Rock in the PRC, co-director Andrew David Field asks Kang Mao, the outspoken female lead singer of the Subs: “So, what do you think of Cui Jian?”

“Cui Jian is handsome. Cui Jian is the godfather,” the singer replies.

“How about the Subs? Ever heard of that band?” Field continues.

Kang says: “Nobody has heard of the Subs. People just know Cui Jian. The Subs are a bit strange.”

The filmmaker was on a train with the Subs to Changsha, capital of Hunan province, where they would perform with Cui Jian, who’s known as the “godfather of Chinese rock”, in 2007.

Field has been in China on and off for more than 25 years, since his first visit in 1988. He has long been familiar with Shanghai’s jazz scene and watched some Chinese rock bands in Beijing in 1996. Most were cover bands, doing renditions of songs by such Western bands as Nirvana and Oasis.

It was a far cry from his experience on the road for two years with the Subs, with whom he traveled to such cities as Hubei’s capital Wuhan, Changsha and Shanghai.

He became very familiar with how the Subs traveled and were treated by concert organizers.

Field condensed the experience into a 52-minute documentary. The film also features several other bands from China’s growing indie scene, including the Beijing-based bands Carsick Cars, Hedgehog, PK-14, Lonely China Day and Re-Tros, and the Shanghai-based outfit Flying Fruit, and Cui Jian.

Field interviewed bands, club owners and promoters in every venue from the sweaty stages of dark underground clubs to huge outdoor rock festivals across China. He says the film itself represents a process of research – not a polished story produced on paper before filming started.

“Therefore, it’s a more honest approach, more of a true documentation than a prefabricated story about rock bands in China,” he says.

In November 2006, Field attended a concert at the Yugong Yishan rock club in Beijing, which featured Kaiser Kuo’s band Spring and Autumn. The band was followed by an AC/DC cover band led by Jaime Welton.

“It was my first time attending a rock club in China since the 1990s,” Field says.

“The energy level was great, and I liked watching the Chinese and Westerners in the audience reacting in such a visceral way to what was going on onstage.”

He had a camera and started filming the bands and audience. It then struck him that this sort of scene would be a great subject for a documentary film about life in contemporary urban China.

He hadn’t seen this scene before and figured most people outside China – and even most in the country – didn’t know anything about it.

In June 2007, Field was in Beijing and was filming a two-day music festival at the club Dos Kolegas. The Subs was the last band to play.

At first he couldn’t take their sound. It was too raw and powerful, and he had to step outside. When he returned to the venue, he found the energy to be carnal.

“It was primal,” he says.

“I knew this band would play a big role in my film.”

In one of their hit songs, Down, Kang sings:

“One, one, no money, keep the naked body. Two, two, no family, like the first day. Three, three, no job, throw away the old cage. Four, four, no future, come down to rock ‘n’ roll.”

The filmmaker decided to name his documentary after the song.

Their album, Down, was selected as the Best Album of the Year by the Chinese edition of Rolling Stone. The namesake song, Down, was also awarded the Best Song of the Year.

“We don’t belong to the upper class, and we don’t want to compromise with the commercial market,” says Kang, who founded the band in 2002.

“We want to be real and independent.”

The Subs’ name sounds like “sha bu si” in Chinese, which means, “never be killed”. This shows the band’s spirit.

“I guess that spirit is what they want to record,” the singer says.

It wasn’t the first time the Subs were filmed as a leading role in a documentary. Norwegian documentary director Karen Winther put the Subs in the leading role in her documentary, Rock Heart Beijing, which recorded the band’s 2007 tour in Norway.

“We don’t feel nervous facing the camera,” Kang says.

“We keep it real under any circumstances.”

Field says: “The bands all take their art very seriously, and their music and lives reflect that spirit. Indie rock bands in China aren’t about bling bling and becoming international celebrities. They don’t ride around in limousines. They lead very austere lives and are very dedicated to their craft.”

That sentiment was shared by Jud Willmont, who co-wrote, produced and edited the film.

“This film was made with sweat equity,” he says.

“Andrew and I share that and were able to make this film out of passion and friendship.”

Chinese director Zhang Yuan released the film Beijing Bastards in 1993, in which Cui Jian plays himself.

“It is very raw, and you get to see how people like Cui Jian lived in those days,” Field says.

But in Down, which is narrated by two Western filmmakers, rock is no different in China and the West – loud, jarring and in-your-face.

The documentary has already been accepted by two film festivals – Thin Line in Texas and NXNE in Toronto.

Its two filmmakers self-financed the documentary and spent four years on it. Neither had any idea how much work it would involve or how long it would take.

Field did all the filming of the rock bands. Willmont mainly helped structure the story and assisted Field to write the narration.

They also gathered friends’ feedback.

Willmont also points out the ideas and struggles expressed by the featured rock musicians aren’t unique to China.

“So, in this way, we’re bringing China and the West together, too,” Willmont says.

Source: By Chen Nan (China Daily)

Counter-Cultural Revolution: The Unlikely Rise of Chinese Rock and Roll

Source: The Atlantic By Dan Washburn

Jonathan Campbell moved to Beijing in 2000 to study Chinese and “figure out what to do with” the Master’s Degree in International Studies he received from the University of Washington. Almost immediately, he was thrust into China’s fledgling rock music scene, first as a drummer, and later as a writer, promoter and agent. Red Rock: The Long, Strang March of Chinese Rock & Roll is his first book. Asia Society Associate Fellow Jeffrey Wasserstrom calls it “a rollicking account of how a global genre was transformed as it sank down roots in a very special setting.”

How does Chinese rock ‘n roll differ from its Western counterpart, both in terms of style and substance, but also its influence on society?

There’s a reason that in this book I use the word yaogun to describe the subject. I want this word introduced into the English lexicon because of its significant difference from rock and roll. Yaogun is a product of the journey that China has taken over the last four-ish decades, and because of that there’s no way it could be like rock and roll: It’s not just a version of rock and roll that is created in China, it’s a different thing altogether. The book is telling the story of how rock and roll entered into China and how it comes out yaogun.

The exemplary yaogunners are those that see yaogun’s task as more than just playing music. This country has a tradition of seeing artists as important revolutionary workers: It is their responsibility to offer lessons to the nation of how to become better people, how to further the revolution — because the revolution is never over. When these guys heard, and learned about, rock and roll, they saw a very similar responsibility, because they saw the ’60s in America as analogous to the times in which they were living, when China was just starting to open up to the world, and allowing things and people from outside of the county in. Meanwhile, their entire universe was changing drastically: People were no longer tied to their danwei (work units), people were starting to be able to move around and make money.

The earliest yaogunners were confused on an existential level about the change sweeping their nation and saw in rock and roll a way to make some sense of it all. It offered them hope when there seemed to be very little around.

The message that rock and roll can change the world only sounds cheesy now because we, in rock and roll’s home, have forgotten that it was what drove so much great music, and so much change. The best yaogun embodies that in a way that is extremely difficult for us to comprehend.

You describe Cui Jian as the father of rock ‘n roll in China. How is he regarded in China? Is there any musician from rock ‘n roll history you would compare him to?

Cui Jian exists in a very strange and rare space anywhere, but particularly in China. He is a celebrity. But he is a celebrity that is respected in ways that no others are. He’s also the only celebrity that still has the street cred of yaogun approval. There are other “rock stars,” but those stars aren’t well-regarded in the lower levels of the yaogun world.

You’d have to compare him to several musicians throughout rock history: He was, in his earliest yaogun days, for most people, Elvis. His appearance on television singing the song “Nothing to My Name” was like Elvis shaking his pelvis, adding that roll to rock and blowing peoples’ minds. He’s Woody Guthrie or Bruce Springsteen, whose songs made people suddenly realize that there are things going on about which we don’t know and ought to, and singing with the voice of the people not often represented in popular culture. He’s John Lennon, as an artist to whom people look for ideas about life, living, art, culture, etc. — a guy who can speak and have an extremely wide range of people listen to what he has to say. He’s Mick Jagger, fronting the biggest band in the land, the embodiment of the lead singer (though not a dancing lead singer), with presence that you can spot a mile off, but, at the same time, he’s also Neil Young, in that down-and-dirty kind of way, hidden away, almost a hermit, the silent type. He’s also Kurt Cobain, and Chuck D, and more, because that only scratches the surface.

I said it in the book, and I believe this deeply, to the point that I worry about my belief in rock and roll should it not come to pass: I can’t think of someone who has ever been more worthy than Cui Jian for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

What are your predictions for the future of Chinese rock music? Does it stand a chance in the country’s crowded entertainment market? Are there signs that rock can go mainstream? What’s holding it back?

If you’re asking whether it has a chance to become a type of music that sells millions of records, I’m not sure that that’s its future. The question of going mainstream isn’t just a matter of whether or not the mainstream accepts it, but whether or not going mainstream is the goal. That’s partly what’s holding it back: The reluctance of its practitioners to aim for the mainstream. It’s linked to the rarity of Cui Jian’s status: Celebrity in this country is ugly, and vapid and ridiculous, and true celebrities couldn’t possibly be yaogunners — except Cui.

Like its past, yaogun’s future is tied deeply to China’s future, and the way in which China navigates through the years. Young Chinese kids, like so many all over the world, don’t have a ton of time, or patience, for art of any kind, or for thinking too much about anything. But there is a lot of thinking that needs to be done in today’s China, and what the long, strange march has shown me, and a significant population of young people over the years, is that yaogun can inspire thinking. So for me, yaogun’s potential is in the ability for ‘gunners to embody that journey into the future.

Are different styles of rock music more popular in certain regions of China? If yes, any reason for this?

The thing about studying any part of China, I’ve found, is that you can find anything you’re looking for. There are all kinds of music happening across the country. I think that there’s a good argument to be made for the styles of music of the biggest names, that they are particularly urban and rough, as a result of the times in which they’re living: Cities are exploding, urbanization is the new Revolution, and yaogun to me sounds like that.

I have heard that several Chinese bands will play at SXSW this year. Is this something we should expect more of? Could Chinese bands be more popular abroad than they are at home?

Yaogun bands have been playing outside the country, though not often, for many years. The general interest in China in the world is certainly spilling over into yaogun. But, until the bands that go over are taken seriously as — and, more importantly, as long as they are, which isn’t always the case — great musicians/bands and not simply novelties (Wow! they’re from China!). What my book teaches people is that the story of how we got to a point where there could be bands at events like SXSW means that many yaogun bands are worthy of real attention — and also that they, like everyone else, have to earn the attention by remembering and embodying what being a yaogun band is.

What are some of the Chinese bands our readers should listen to to get a good taste of Chinese rock ‘n roll? Who are some of your favorites?

That’s a horrible question only because I always wind up not mentioning a name or two. But …

Cui Jian

Lonely China Day

Subs

"Nothing to My Name": Old Photos of Chinese Rock Legend Cui Jian

Many Chinese rock music fans who went through the 1980s can remember their first encounter with Cui Jian only too well: at a concert commemorating the International Year of Peace held on May 9, 1986, the man showed up on the stage in a mandarin gown and, to the melody of guitar, rocked the Beijing Workers’ Stadium with the song “Nothing to My Name”, which earned him a place in China’s rock’n'roll hall of fame.

Born in 1961 in a musical family of ethnic Korean descent, Cui Jian began to learn trumpet at the age of 14 under the guidance of his father and became a trumpeter of Beijing Symphony Orchestra in 1981.

In the five years that followed, Cui lived both as a professional trumpeter and an amateur song-writer. His first rock band, the Seven-Ply-Board, was also formed within this period, with the joint effort of six other musicians. In 1987, Cui left the orchestra and joined ADO, an innovative rock band which included a Hungarian bassist and a Madagascan guitarist, who were among the foreigners that introduced reggae, blues and jazz to Beijing.

With the help of ADO, Cui released his first real album, “Rock’n'Roll on the New Long March”, in which his most renowned song “Nothing to My Name” was also included. In addition to “Rock’n'Roll on the New Long March”, Cui and his partners had produced a number of rock hits, including “The Last Shot” (1990), “Balls Under the Red Flag” (1994) and “Show You Colour” (2005).

Cui had witnessed both the thriving of Chinese indigenous rock music in the late 1980s, when people saw rock music as a way to express their emotions, and its decline in the mid-1990s, as people’s material pursuits became overwhelming during China’s gradual shift from a planned economy to a market-oriented one.

The decline of indigenous Chinese rock music was exacerbated by increasing openness which led to the entrance of overseas music, particularly pop music from Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Confronted with such decline, Cui, dubbed “the godfather of Chinese rock”, did not give up. He expanded his career by holding concerts worldwide. He added rap elements to his music to describe the changes China had gone through in the last few years of the 20th century.

He even initiated the Anti-Lipsyncing Movement in 2002 in order to raise public awareness of the lip-sync phenomenon that blighted China’s music industry.

“The movement is purely out of self-defence,” said Cui.

He suggests that he will persist in the movement until the music industry revitalizes. He would have been glad to hear the new page in China’s rock music opened by the Midi Modern Music Festival, started as a school festival in 2000, is now hailed as China’s Woodstock Festival.

Cui Jian’s continued contribution to the development of rock music in China won him in 2000 the Prince Claus Award, an award presented annually by the Amsterdam-based Prince Claus Fund to individuals or groups with outstanding achievement in culture and development.

“For quite a long time I would listen to Cui Jian any time I had the intention and need to make me feel my soul; it was as if my soul had existed within the notes of his music, concrete only via his vocals and melodies, like to cigarettes only to be lit by fire,” wrote Wangshuo, a Chinese author, after Cui was given the award.

Cui analogizes the stage to the battlefield of rock singers. “As far as I am concerned, the best way to die is to die on the stage, neither on bed nor in the sofa at home,” he said.

(Source: Xinhua)

Cui Jian to Headline Grassland Music Festival

Rock stars Cui Jian, Wang Feng and Xu Wei will headline the 3rd Inmusic Festival that is slated to open on July 29 in a vast grassland area near Beijing.

They will be part of a strong lineup for the largest outdoor music bash of China, the organizer says. Other performers will be announced later.

Last year’s festival saw about 60 Chinese and foreign bands offering a three-day carnival of rock, pop, folk, electronica, metal and hip-hop music.

Calling itself the Chinese equivalent of the Woodstock Festival, the Inmusic Festival will be held in the Zhangbei Zhongdu grassland which size is roughly that of 150 soccer fields, according to the organizer.

The grassland, located in Zhangjiakou of Hebei Province, is about a five-hour drive from Beijing. A drive-in camping area with a capacity of 1,000 cars will be available for music fans who drive to attend this year’s festival.

Responding to complaints by fans attending previous festivals, the organizer has worked to widen roads, and add toilets and shopping facilities.

Tickets are being sold at 120 yuan (US$19) for each of the three days.

2011 Inmusic Festival
Time: July 29-31, 2011
Venue: Zhangbei Zhongdu grassland, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province
Tickets: 120 yuan for each day
Tel: 400 810 1887

3-D Concert Film on Cui Jian Nears Completion

A 3-D concert film and documentary on Cui Jian, China’s godfather of rock and roll, is nearing completion.

Tentatively titled “Stereo Symphony on the New Long March”, the roughly 75-minute film will feature footage shot around two New Year’s concerts Cui gave at Beijing’s outdoor Workers’ Stadium in 2010, as well as interviews with the rock legend and his fans.

Cui’s hits include “Nothing to My Name” and “A Piece of Red Cloth”. He will turn 50 in August.

Source: CRI

China’s rock ‘n’ roll Cui Jian kicks off concert

China’s rock ‘n’ roll Cui Jian performs during his concert at the Beijing Workers’ Gymnasium in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 31, 2010. Cui held a concert in Beijing on Friday with the cooperation of Beijing Symphony Orchestra. It is the third consecutive year for Cui to hold a concert in Beijing. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Cui Jian’s New Year Shows: Rock and Classical

Veteran rock musician Cui Jian and the Beijing Symphony Orchestra will join forces for two concerts at the Beijing Workers’ Gymnasium on the last day of this year and the first of next year, Sina.com.cn reports.

“This attempt to combine rock and classical music will bring the audiences an absolutely different listening experience,” said Cui Jian at a press conference on November 4 with Beijing Symphony Orchestra conductor Tan Lihua.

More than 80 musicians from the Beijing Symphony Orchestra will perform at the New Year concerts. “They are not accompaniments to me,” said Cui Jian, “Everyone plays the lead role at the concerts.”

Both Cui Jian and Tan Lihua mentioned that this is the first time a large-scale concert of rock and classical music will be held in China, even in Asia.

Cui Jian is a singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and organizer of Live Vocal. He is considered to be a pioneer in Chinese rock music and is one of the first Chinese artists to write rock songs. For this reason, Cui Jian is also hailed as “The godfather of Chinese rock”. He joined the Beijing Symphony Orchestra in 1981, at the age of 20.