The normal abnormal

Fanzuixiangfa doing a vocal recording at XP. [Photo provided to China Daily]

So what exactly lies behind this buzzing excitement in the music scene in Beijing and elsewhere in China that has the likes of Liem so enthralled?

It may be that growing up in a cultural atmosphere that has lacked a rock music tradition, Chinese people are more readily receptive than others to rock music and the bands that play it. In addition, the lack of ground rules in the fledgling industry give it a distinctly free-and-easy, anarchic feel that seems to encourage artists to explore new types of music and to throw themselves into experimentation.

In recent years in China, as rock music has gradually seeped up from the underground into the mainstream, more and more young Chinese have formed bands that are dynamic, fresh, talented and eager to express their thoughts and channel their energy in performances in front of ever bigger audiences in bars, at music festivals and even on national television, rather than limiting themselves to the echo chamber of rehearsal studios.

Into this scene have stepped part-time musicians from the West who have come to work in China. They feel particularly free to let their creative juices flow, having come from places that demand higher standards because the rock music industry there is much more sophisticated and demanding, which tends to inhibit them and limit their opportunities to play to audiences.

Liem, who has lived in Beijing for six years, recalls the days when rock music in China was a distinctly marginal, underground pursuit. Not only was it virtually absent from national television, but this music form seemed to be almost taboo, and many of the venues that ventured to stage rock music gigs did so shrouded in secrecy. Two cases in point are Mao Live and 2kolegas, two Beijing venues widely known to early Chinese rock aficionados, the former being little more than a metal box without windows, and the latter being, for most people, out of sight, out of mind and out of earshot.