the Beijinger

Yeah I know, what is Tongzhou Canal Park (I have the same question with "world music")? Well, before recently moving into the city, Tongzhou was my neighborhood (said with unreasonable pride), as well as the habitat for many rock stars in Beijing - the rent is cheap, the traffic is wild, the streets are lined with real estate agencies selling apartments at ridiculously high prices, and the Batong Line is crowded enough to make the law of inertia powerless since you never fall without holding a thing...I'm gonna stop now so we can go straight to the point. After the premiere last year, Modern Sky is throwing the 2nd Strawberry Music Festival on May 1-3 in Beijing's eastern suburb. With more than 100 acts on six stages, boss Shen Lihui is clearly showing his ambition.

"I hate optimism out of insensitivity."
- Zuoxiao Zuzhou

For the past five years, this guy has been making headlines for pricing his albums from 30 kuai to 500 kuai. He’s also known for being a contemporary artist/poet/soundtrack composer working with Ai Weiwei and film director Jia Zhangke. Born in 1970, alternative rock singer-songwriter Zuoxiao Zuzhou (literally means “left-little-curse of the ancestors”) founded Beijing East Village with many avant-garde artists in early 90s, and their controversial artwork Adding a Meter to the Nameless Mountain (为无名山增高一米. See photo, below) shocked the Chinese art world in 1995. Meanwhile, ZXZZ's rock band "NO" released Trip to Temple Fair (庙会之旅) and The Missing Master (走失的主人). Both albums are filled with spacious guitar chords, tribal drum beats, sound experiments and volatile vocals, which scared many people for sure, but also gained him a loyal fan base.

After a year off in Zhenjiang, China's very first rock music festival is back in Beijing at Haidian Park on May 1-4. Last Year, Midi School of Music hosted its own award ceremony, and most of the winning acts will appear on stage during the May holiday. But some of the bands from Modern Sky seem to be missing - whatever happened to solidarity...

News just flashed in that British punk legends Sham 69 have postponed their scheduled Asian Tour, so it seems inevitable to compare this turn of event to what happened to The Buzzcocks last year, however the Midi organizer has informed us that Sham will definitely play on May 1. So keep your fingers crossed and keep your eyes on the Beijinger Blog for an interview with guitarist Dave Parsons.

Good news for snooker lovers, tickets for 2009 World Snooker China Open went on sale today. They are available through Emma Ticketmaster and price range from RMB 20-RMB 2,009. Call ticketing hotline on 6551 6590 and 400-707-9999. The game starts on Mar 30 at Beijing University Student Gymnasium, view the full fixture and price details here.

In case you haven’t heard, Usher is playing at Wukesong Stadium this Sunday (July 11). My first Usher song happened to be “Can U Help Me,” which was recorded on a pirated compilation cassette. Other songs on the tape include “I Fought in a War” by Belle & Sebastian and “Sing For the Moment” by Aerosmith, and also Sting’s “Fragile,” I think. It was more than ten years ago, so I started this interview by asking…

"When composing for others, I try to make their individual performance style a part of the composition."

Born in the suburb of Reykjavik, Ólafur Arnalds (www.myspace.com/olafurarnalds) started off as an underground kid who seems too cool to be a classical musicians sitting quietly behind a piano. Despite the fact that he's now into crossover between classical and pop, he's still open for new possibilities - opening for Sigur Rós in 2008 was evidence for that. Before performing in Beijing this Saturday (Apr 3) as the last stop of his China tour, as well as a part of the JUE Festival art/music event series, we talk to the Icelander about his rock heritage, future plans and composing styles.

Scandal has rocked the National Games and they have not even officially started. A diving judge left the competition claiming “that all medals were decided internally ahead of time.” If this is true then it will rock the sport to the core. Read more about it here and here. We’ll have more on the corruption when we have it.

Awarded 2009 Jazz Pianist of the Year in Canada, David Braid visited China in 2006 and 2008. Now he's coming back and perform piano recital sessions in various cities. Before his Beijing concert on November 22, the Juno Award winning pianist and composer shares some insights with the Beijinger. 

The Offset: Spectacles are:

In a quiet corner of Beijing’s eastern suburb of Tongzhou sits an abandoned building covered in dust and dead branches. Not your typical image of a rock star hangout, but this is nevertheless where many a Beijing rock star can be spotted. Local mainstays P.K.14 and SUBS practice here, as well as a few newcomers from Hong Kong – The Offset: Spectacles.