China Music Festival: A musical and cultural experience

Arriving at PingGu

This is a long overdue blog. Now that we’ve moved into our home and settled in a bit more we hope to increase our blogging.

In April I met a hotel attendant at the Hilton. He’s a twenty-something year old kid making a living in Beijing. Since we were staying at the Hilton for nearly a month I ran into him often and would make small talk to get some speaking practice. One day I ran into him in the lobby and he invited me to go with him and another friend to the 2011 China Music Valley International Music Festival Beijing. This was the first music festival of its kind in Beijing and always looking for a cross-culture experience I thought it would be a great opportunity to observe China’s emerging youth pop-rock culture. So with the help of my new acquaintance I purchased a ticket and I was all set for the weekend.

Waiting in line to get in. Up ahead is the PingGu ski slope.

That Saturday I met my friend and another friend in the Hilton Lobby. Amongst the hustle and bustle of Beijing it’s often easy to overlook the restrictions imposed by the central government. However I was quickly reminded when one of the guys told me how exciting this was that a music festival of this size with high profile artists was taking place in Beijing. He mentioned that Bjork’s China tour was cut short after a “Free Tibet” outburst at one concert. We hadn’t even departed the lobby yet and it was great to hear this first hand perspective. I told the guy that I figured these types of events were good for the economy, tourism, revenue, etc. and that I thought the government would be all about anything that was relevant to social and economic development. He quickly responded that “they are about their development, they are all about harmony social harmony but anything that could even remotely threaten social harmony they are not about”. This friend of the friend was another twenty-something guy working for an American IT company. From the lobby we made our way down the street to KFC of all places. Not on my list of places to go in China but these guys were all about it. Of course right? What better than a crispy chicken sandwich, fries, and a Pepsi before rock’n out at the music fest? It wasn’t the local noodle bar and some Yanjing (Chinese beer) but the conversation was great and I continued to get speaking practice too. The IT guy expressed his slight chip on his shoulder for the fact that foreign companies impose a ceiling on Chinese employees. He talked about how tough it is to break through and obtain an upper-level management position. They both seemed a little insulted that a foreigner could come over to China work in upper-level management for a few years and still not know how to say much more than “ni hao”. I actually found that part to be interesting. Especially in the service industry where it seems it would be beneficial to speak the language.

There was a bit of a dust storm that day (ShaChenBao). When in doubt do as the locals do.

Waiting for a band to come on stage while it got progressively cooler outside.

Negative from Finland played earlier in the day.

Crowding in close for Avril.

A small feast in between bands.

After lunch we stopped by the local grocery market pharmacy and picked up some masks. It was supposed to be a bit dusty out that day. Then we caught a cab over to Agricultural Center where the buses were staged to head out to the festival. The Music Festival was held just north of greater Beijing at the PingGu Ski Resort. The bus ride was about an hour and a half. We arrived just in time for the third band in the day’s line-up. When we entered the gates we were handed a sticker with a letter on it. Our letter was “D”. We soon realized that there were two stages and the grounds were separated into four different areas that were barricaded and you could not traverse between the areas. “D” just happened to be the very back area. Well the guys I was with along with about fifty others weren’t having any of this. They quickly found the closest police up by the gate and began giving them an ear full. I guess from the perspective of the central government that’s a downside to the communist way of doing things. When you control all aspects of a society you're also expected to have all the solutions. Back in the states a police officer would be the last person I'd go to if I was trying to complain about my tickets. The crowd grew more and more agitated that the concert promoters mentioned nothing about segregated areas on the festival grounds. Eventually I just wanted to watch the bands and I urged the guys to give up and we’d find another way to get closer to the stage later on. As we departed from the rest of the mob we were criticized for being a bit fair-weather. This was interesting to say the least. It was like an instinctive communal mind-set amongst the crowd and they were in it for the long-haul. We made our way down to the stage grounds and found that an even larger crowd had convened just outside the “A” area which was closest to the stage. The crowd continued to grow restless and eventually it happened. Yes! They crashed the barriers and just like “a gold fish down the drain” in I went and the festivities began.

Being a native Austinite exoised to SXSW and ACL I have some perspective on music scenes. I mean come on, after all, you can’t be born and raised in the “Live Music Capital of the World” and not know a little something. So Beijing isn’t quite ready to compete with Austin, New Orleans, L.A., Seattle, and all the other great music towns just yet. The dusty grounds were just about the only thing that reminded me of ACL at Zilker Park in the heat of summer. It’s still spring time in Beijing so we didn’t have the heat to go with the dust. Of course then the Beijing Fire Department got smart and started hosing down all the dirt. This made for a nice muddy mess between the front gate and the stages. With that said the music line-up was nothing to shake a stick at. It included: Negative, a pretty good Finnish rock band; Rooney, a group from L.A.; and F.I.R. or (FeiErLeTuan) a super popular Taiwanese group that almost stole the show from the headliner. They were followed by Juliette Lewis who put on an electrifying performance (maybe a little too over the top for the audience though). Considering she murdered the language trying to say "thank you" (xiexie) and count to four (yi, er, san, si), Juliette Lewis was well received by the crowd. The headliner was Avril Lavigne. This was her first show in a couple of years and she was great. There were actually two performers after Avril but it seemed like me and the other 10,000 plus people in attendance made their way for the buses immediately after Avril wrapped it up. I made my way back to the Hilton to find Juliette Lewis with her panda hat having a drink in the lobby lounge.

Avril Lavigne on the big screen.

Juliette Lewis in her panda hat.

The experience proved to be a peek into China’s pop culture and was evidence of a growing craze for things western. From dyed spiked red hair to barricade crashing crowds and everything in between, there was a sense of rebelliousness and the desire for self-expression.