Hao Yun unplugged

The singer-songwriter who penned the wildly popular Just Married, promises more of the same breezy touches at his upcoming concert. Chen Nan reports

Singer-songwriter Hao Yun is full of nostalgia for the narrow hutong of Shagou, south Beijing, where he lived with his parents two decades ago. There were no high-rise buildings or cars then, just crowded courtyards and countless bicycles.

Hao says this shaped his distinctive style and his songs are an ode to the city.

"I can still smell the steamed stuffed buns and hear the idle chatter of my neighborhood. I miss everything of the city back then," says Hao, who was born in Zhengzhou, Henan province, and moved to Beijing when he was 13.

"This city has witnessed my growth from 13 to 31, from gawky teenager to confident adult. I have transformed from a long-haired, skinny 20-something to a portly man," he jokes. "Most importantly, I have found a career to which I am fully devoted and a wife I love."

He has just released his second album, Suddenly, I Think About My Dream, and will hold his first solo performance in Beijing on Oct 23. The unplugged concert will feature all of Hao's popular songs from his two albums, including Winter 2009, Escaping Puppet, and the wildly popular 2009 number Just Married, which had millions of online hits in just one month.

"An unplugged concert is like a girl without cosmetics, natural and confident," he says. "That's the way I want to show my music."

Just like his songs, Hao is easygoing and funny. He both answers and deflects questions with a ready laugh and a mischievous smile.

"A married man is very happy because he can be as lazy as a pig. Making money is his top mission," he jokes in the song Just Married. He even wrote his cell phone number into the song to express his love for his wife. "33521 are the last few digits of my cell number and sound like Shanshan wo ai ni, or Shanshan, I love you," he says, referring to his wife.

His first album, Haoyun, Beijing, was released in March 2008. The songs, which he produced in his own studio, captured both the sounds of Beijing and the feelings of its people as they watched its rapid transformation.

"That first album was a fulfillment of a dream," he says.

"Now that I have been making music for years, I want to have something of my own rather than doing work for other people," says Hao, who produced movie soundtracks and recorded live music events, before becoming a fulltime singer-songwriter.

Unlike other musicians, who work with a band, Hao does everything on his own - from writing the lyrics, to composing the music and sound mixing.

"I just want to put all the 10 tracks into a CD, which I can give my friends and say, 'Look, here is my own album'," he says.

For his live performance, Hao will have a band comprising six talented local musicians, who are also his longtime friends - drummer Yang Chao, bassist Jing Xi, guitarist Ding Qi, keyboard player Yan Tianwu, harmonica player Zhang Ming and sanxian (an old 3-stringed Beijing instrument) player Ma Xiaoxiang.

"I love watching the live shows of old bands such as the Rolling Stones who always had the same line-up. I hope my band can stay together as long as possible. Like I said to them, 'I want to grow old with you on and off the stage'," Hao says.

The singer was pleasantly surprised when his first album caught the attention of Universal Music China, who offered him a contract in 2008.

"When I first got the contact, I had no idea how big this was," Hao says.

Like his first album, the second too takes a light-hearted look at everyday life. He jokes about his stock-market challenged friend Lao Li and ponders an impending middle age.

"Don't expect to see me sing a romantic love song full of poetic lyrics," he says.

The new album's cover photo, that has a laughing Hao playing his guitar under a cloudy sky, captures the optimistic feel of the record, despite the hint of sadness in songs such as Sorrow Season.

Hao says that the ideas for his songs come to him in bits and pieces. Although he agrees that folk music has fallen out of favor in recent years, he says people still like to see a man sitting on a chair playing an acoustic guitar.

Hao held his first concert, titled Let You Hear the Sound of Beijing, in August 2009 in which he presented the sounds of daily life - from the noise of construction sites, and the pigeon whistle, to common greetings. Hao combined his lively guitar playing and laid back vocals with the melodious sanxian and harmonica, to create an inescapably upbeat mood.

"One of my heroes is Cui Jian," says Hao, who recorded Cui's live concert several years ago and was shocked by the musician's live power. "He supports a ban on lip synching, which is important to original singer-songwriters."

He says he doesn't feel like a star even though he is often recognized on the streets and asked for an autograph.

"I am quite satisfied with my life now that I am making music and telling my own stories."