(En) (2007) (Zbigniew Karkowski & Yan Jun)

The Chinese Cultural revolution in one way or another eradicated most of the existing culture in China. At the same time as intellectuals were sent to rural labour camps, countless ancient buildings, antiques, books, paintings and various artefacts were destroyed. This period created an intellectual, cultural and artistic vacuum that, in a sense, time is healing. During these years, the Chinese academic, modern art music experienced a stable existence, relatively speaking, and is today integrated into contemporary music worldwide in terms of styles and cultural network. The non-academic experimental music, on the other hand, is in a way staring from scratch. With the market economy introduced in the 80s and the media development in the 90s there was finally an explosion in youth culture and music that had been held back for decades. At the same time, the experimental art and music scenes were expanding at a similar pace but without building on those movements: psychedelic music, punk, neo-dada and other avant-garde movements that never reached China. Being non-institutional and ever changing and expanding it is almost impossible to get an overview of the Chinese non-academic experimental music, which is in constant flux and taking influences from the “everyday”.

The young rock music trend that soon developed into the more experimental tradition is a result of global capitalism and China’s position within this world order. It however did not develop the same way as in the West; with one eye looking forward and the other glancing at history. Many international record companies and CD stores in the West occasionally dump excess inventory of unsalable or surplus CDs, by selling them to developing countries as recyclable plastic. Many of them are clipped with an electric saw – thus the name dakou to “make a gap” – but many are not. In the early 90s these ended up for sale on the streets, and the selection consisted of almost everything from recent (surplus) rock and pop to 70s “has-been”, classical music, free jazz, etc. Since the Chinese government controls import of audio and video products very strictly, the phenomenon of “dakou” became the main source of Western music for rockers and other “New Youth” in the 90s. Thus Chinese underground rock and punk movements in the 90s were in large part built on influences of what was surplus in the West.

China’s underground rock and punk scene seemed to be really “angry” and politically motivated. But this counter culture or youth subculture had a very short history and their political stance was mainly about attitudes. ?But some of the rockers and punks in the 90s tried to make their music more extreme, radical, noisy and freer than anything a Chinese audience had ever experienced until that time. This underground and experimental rock culture started a new subculture of experiments with sounds, which has now developed into a kind of tradition of creating abstract experimental sounds. In the 90s this experimentalism was establishing itself throughout China with artists, record companies, scenes and fanzines, and with increasing international contacts.

In the early 90s, the Hong Kong musician Dickson Dee who also founded the label Sound Factory, later reorganized as NoiseAsia, started to actively promote indie rock and experimental music in China. He brought to Mainland China foreign artists like Otomo Yoshihide, Haino Keiji, Jon Rose, and many others. In 1995 he organized a short tour in China with John Zorn and Eye Yamatsuka (the lead singer of the Japan-noise band Boredoms), probably the first noise music concerts ever in Mainland China. As an organizer, but also with releases on his labels, Dickson Dee has introduced Chinese audiences to many new trends in experimental music.

In 1996, artist Wang Fan left the rock scene in Lanzhou and moved to Beijing, where he created arguably China’s first real experimental music work: a mysterious 40- minute “lo-fi” piece. Symptomatically, at that time he knew basically nothing about experimental and avant-garde music and traditions; he just invented what he wanted. In that sense Wang Fan is a true pioneer of experimental music in China. He became very influential among many artists, although many just built on his style and few really went further into real experiments with sounds.

After the 1990s with the provocative rock and punk scene and small-scale experimentalism, the real breakthrough for Chinese underground and avant-garde music came in the early 21st century. The reason for this was the rapid spread of information through an increasing use of the Internet, and a fast growing club scene which was introducing DJ culture on a larger scale. This led to the birth of a young generation of Chinese experimental musicians. Through the Internet, Chinese musicians are finally able to hear and download anything happening in experimental music worldwide. This includes hearing “classics” in different areas, from Aphex Twin to Merzbow. Dickson Dee continues to release CDs and to bring many foreign experimental musicians to Mainland China while the sound artist, curator and critic Yan Jun started the Sub Jam label in Beijing. Taiwanese composer and contemporary music theoretician Dajuin Yao established the Post-Concrete label based in Berkeley, California in 1999, and many new artists like Wang Changcun, Zhong Minje, Zhou Pei (Ronez), Zhang Anding (Zafka) started experimenting with noise and sound art. FM3, maybe the most well known Chinese experimental music unit in the West (famous for their Buddha Machine release), becomes active in Beijing. The years 2000 to 2003 is definitely the start of some kind of ¡°scene¡±; one which is obviously modelled after a very different kind of “genealogy” to the West. The important connection in the West to classical education at universities is not relevant here. Neither is there a history of experimentalism to build on with a more or less close connection between different generations of experimentalists. In China, the experimental music scene is young ¨C in every sense of the word.

In early November 2003, Dajuin Yao organized the Sounding Beijing festival in a venue called the Loft Space. During three nights some of the most prominent names in Chinese experimental music shared the stage with several foreign artists, performing the most extreme and varied sorts of experimental music ever presented in China. This event is generally regarded in China as a kind of breakthrough for the electronic music community – it was a sign for the young generation of experimental electronic musicians that they are not alone. ¡°There is a scene and many people are doing the same things as you¡±, was the message. In 2003, the Post-Concrete label released a double CD entitled China – the sonic avant-garde, the most complete compilation of Chinese experimental sound makers to date. Following the Sounding Beijing festival and the release of this CD the term Sound Art started to be widely used in China to describe various forms of sonic experiments, and the same year, Li Jianhong, composer, improviser, guitarist and founder of 2Pi records label, organized the first 2pi festival in Hangzhou. Since then the 2Pi festival of noise and sound continues with new editions every fall and has become the most important showcase of contemporary experimental music in China. So when one speaks about experimental non-academic Chinese music, one can refer to pre 2003 and post 2003 music.

After 2003 one might say that the scene is consolidated. The youngest generation of laptop artists started by using the Internet and hacking software. It was a DIY culture, although one in which many of its members had little or no background in music, let alone the art music culture. Laptop became the instrument of choice and artists started their own record label for releasing their own music. The development in this field is moving fast and is rapidly changing, and with new styles and genres, like soundscape and field recordings, it is obvious that the experimental music scene has also changed the way the artists listen to the world. In 2004, the hyperactive noise-unit Torturing Nurse was created in Shanghai, and artists such as Lin Zhiying, Zenlu, Bai Tian aka Bai+ian, to mention just a few, started performing and releasing their works on CD. Zhou Pei (Ronez) started the noise/experimental CDR label Doufu Records in Guilin, and today there are quite a few small artists who own CDR labels specializing in experimental music in China, all established in the last few years. Most sound artists have their own websites – myspace is very popular one – and Lawrence Lee, journalist and music critic, now based in Beijing, is running the Global Noise Online site, a database and forum for experimental music activities in China.

Of course the scene is mainly centred around Beijing, being not only the capital but also the cultural centre of China. In 2005 a weekly event called Waterland KwanYin started in Beijing. Curated by Yan Jun and promoting all kinds of experimental music, it is still running today. Yan Jun also started the Kwanyin Records label, which documents many concerts by visiting artists on CD releases, and he also curates annually the MiniMidi festival, a smaller experimental scene and a kind of alternative to the larger and very commercial MIDI festival. Many foreign artists and activists have relocated to Beijing, for example Blixa Bargeld of Einstuerzende Neubauten, and Michael Pettis who is teaching economy at Peking University and also runs D22 Bar, an important venue for independent rock and experimental music in Western Beijing.

There are also important activities in other provinces. In Guangzhou, Dickson Dee organizes many events at Mooka Space, and Chengdu is famous for its Little Bar, a stronghold for indie rock and experimental music for the last 10 years. In Hangzhou, there is the above mentioned 2Pi festival and 2Pi Records label. Shanghai hosts the everactive Junky of Shasha records/NOIShanghai) and Harbin, a strong noise community which is mainly Internet-based. Important artists like Ronez is based in Guilin and Zenlu in Shenzhen.

Noise, ambient, IDM/breakcore/8bit, new minimalism, field recording based soundscapes and many other styles of experimental music are being created in China by Chinese sound artists today. Labels like KwanYin Records, 2PI Records, NoiseAsia, Doufu Records, Shasha Records, Little Sound, Lonar Records, Shanshui Records release locally made as well as foreign experimental music. There are also distribution channels for this kind of music in China now, mainly through a organization called Sugar Jar. New festivals start every year and new venues for presentation of experimental music appear in big cities. China has also become a very popular destination for experimental music artists from Europe, North America, Australia and Japan. There are even special festivals that are being sponsored by foreign embassies to promote cultural interchange. The Notch Festival, for example, is the result of a co-operation between Nordic countries and China.

China means “trendy”, Beijing means “cool”. Anybody working in the culture and art field anywhere in the world has a reason to visit Beijing; it is one of the hottest cities in the world. Beijing is so super contemporary. In this context the scene for experimental music has developed so fast. It is impossible to get a hold of what is actually happening at the present moment – the scene is constantly changing and the borders are being pushed forward. Young Chinese sound artists are not afraid of total experimentation. There are experiments made at any level, which means integrating anything that might seem new ¨C and after all these years of the hardline communist regime, many things are indeed new. With the lack of an experimental tradition, Chinese sound artists are not afraid to misinterpret anything or move too far from any tradition or style. This attitude of course creates a lot of bad music, but such a fearless and totally open attitude also delivers very unique artworks. Within the sound arts community there are also critical voices saying that everything has developed too fast and it is now time to slow down and consider details and aesthetics. Yan Jun says: “We need more practice, not only a social party. The next challenge will be to consider quality. I really hope things will start to mature here soon. Changes are not the most important thing. What is needed is a discussion about what is a real and a good change. We all know that China is changing very fast in basically every field, and I think that in the close future, Chinese culture and art will be much more interesting than people in general might believe. But in the long run there is a lack of natural evolution. I mean every intellectual and artistic tradition was almost destroyed with the Cultural Revolution. Then we have tried to rebuild the inner and outer world as well as experimenting in every possible way for about 30 years now. That might shock he world, but it is not enough for real creation. This country is behaving like a child who is discovering a new world everyday. In the future, I think we need to focus on what we really want.

LINKS

Yan Jun
http://www.yanjun.org

Li Jianhong and 2pi Records
http://www.2pi-records.com

Dickson Dee and his noiseasia label and activities as organizer
http://www.noiseasia.com

Dajuin Yao and Post-Concrete label
http://www.post-concrete.com

Sugar Jar: distributors of Chinese independent music
www.sugarjar.cn

Torturing Nurse
www.myspace.com/torturingnurse

Chinese New Ear and Global Noise Online: database about Chinese experimental music and sound art
www.chinesenewear.com

A short history of electroacoustic music in china
http://emfinstitute.emf.org/articles/gluck.china_06.html
(originally issued on World New Music Magazine, published by the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM))