China's godfather of electric rock Cui Jian assaulted Beijing late Saturday with his loud and angry wall of sound in his first officially sanctioned concert in the capital in 12 years. Some 10,000 fans gathered in the Capital Gymnasium to hear the 44 year-old perform the latest versions of his songs, many of which have been banned by a government wary of Cui's social and political criticisms.
"It was 12 years ago that I last performed here just after the release of the Balls Under the Red Flag album," the Beijing-born, classically trained musician told the crowd.
"If we have to keep on waiting then maybe they will let us come back and play here again in another 12 years."
PHOTO: AFP
Cui has enjoyed a rebirth this year with the release of his fifth studio album Show Your Colors, dedicated to the pitfalls of China's unprecedented urbani-zation, and a videotaped concert performance that was aired on state-controlled television in February.
The easing of restrictions against Cui's angry rap-inflected rock has come as the government shows an increased awareness of the commercial value of modern music.
British electronic music whizz Matthew Herbert is hoping to become the first musician ever to use the sound of cancer in a dance track.
PHOTO: AP
"I've found a guy, an American, that can record the sound of it," he said during an interview before a performance in Paris. The London-based musician is working on the follow-up album to Plat du Jour, released worldwide this year, which was made using sampled recordings of food to raise awareness about the industrialization of modern farming methods.
"My new record is going to be a disco record. So people might be out having a good time on a Saturday night but they might be dancing to a disco record and the beats are made from cancer," he smiles.
The know-how for this extraordinary feat would be provided by NASA via a scientist specialized in recording cellular activity. Herbert, 33, estimates he has sold 750,000 records worldwide. His unique blend of music is a collection of recorded sounds, mixed together into thought-provoking music with the help of computer technology.
The Plat du Jour album took him two years of research and six months of recording, included no traditional instruments, and used recordings of a free-range chicken being killed and the noise of more than 3,000 people biting into an apple. He also recorded an armored tank driving over a recreation of a meal cooked by British chef Nigella Lawson for UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush when the president came to London to thank Blair for his support in Iraq.
J.K. Rowling's latest book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince sold more than twice as many copies in the US in its first two weeks as any other author's book in a whole year. The latest in Rowling's series about a boy wizard won the Best Seller Award for the top-selling book in America in the year to Aug. 1, even though it only went on sale on July 16.
US digital media company, Snocap, run by Napster founder Shawn Fanning, said it signed deals with various independent labels. Snocap said it reached agreements with V2 Music, Matador Records and the Beggars Group under which the labels will upload and register their music catalogs with SNOCAP's database services, enabling the digital distribution of their content through commercial peer-to-peer services.
Soul singer Lemar won UK act of the year and best album at Britain's annual tribute to music of black origin, the Mobo Awards, last week.
The former Fame Academy star beat Joss Stone and Estelle to snag Act of the Year and won best album for Time To Grow, during the 10th edition of the Mobos in London's Royal Albert Hall.
The awards cover R 'n' B, hip hop, reggae, jazz, gospel and world music. Lemar said he was "over the moon to win." Public Enemy was honored with an award for outstanding contribution to black music, while American singer-songwriter John Legend won best R 'n' B act, beating Lemar and Mariah Carey. The best Reggae act went to Damian Marley, who also accepted a posthumous achievement award for his father Bob Marley.
May 26 to June 1 When the Qing Dynasty first took control over many parts of Taiwan in 1684, it roughly continued the Kingdom of Tungning’s administrative borders (see below), setting up one prefecture and three counties. The actual area of control covered today’s Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung. The administrative center was in Taiwan Prefecture, in today’s Tainan. But as Han settlement expanded and due to rebellions and other international incidents, the administrative units became more complex. By the time Taiwan became a province of the Qing in 1887, there were three prefectures, eleven counties, three subprefectures and one directly-administered prefecture, with
It’s an enormous dome of colorful glass, something between the Sistine Chapel and a Marc Chagall fresco. And yet, it’s just a subway station. Formosa Boulevard is the heart of Kaohsiung’s mass transit system. In metro terms, it’s modest: the only transfer station in a network with just two lines. But it’s a landmark nonetheless: a civic space that serves as much more than a point of transit. On a hot Sunday, the corridors and vast halls are filled with a market selling everything from second-hand clothes to toys and house decorations. It’s just one of the many events the station hosts,
Among Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) villages, a certain rivalry exists between Arunothai, the largest of these villages, and Mae Salong, which is currently the most prosperous. Historically, the rivalry stems from a split in KMT military factions in the early 1960s, which divided command and opium territories after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) cut off open support in 1961 due to international pressure (see part two, “The KMT opium lords of the Golden Triangle,” on May 20). But today this rivalry manifests as a different kind of split, with Arunothai leading a pro-China faction and Mae Salong staunchly aligned to Taiwan.
Two moves show Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) is gunning for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) party chair and the 2028 presidential election. Technically, these are not yet “officially” official, but by the rules of Taiwan politics, she is now on the dance floor. Earlier this month Lu confirmed in an interview in Japan’s Nikkei that she was considering running for KMT chair. This is not new news, but according to reports from her camp she previously was still considering the case for and against running. By choosing a respected, international news outlet, she declared it to the world. While the outside world
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