Good work is being done by Rue Moyer over at Shenzhen Local Music to bring Shenzhen-based musicians together and breathe life into the local live music scene. He has previously said the local music scene was paltry when he first arrived five years ago, and at night, the soundscape lacked the diversity of even other first-tier cities, let alone places like London or New York. Using music as an example, I dug a little deeper to see whether Shenzhen lives up to its reputation as a cultural wasteland.
As he was leaving the city last month, one Shenzhen expat lamented that previous cities he had lived in in the Middle East held concerts of interesting heavy metal and alternative bands from the West, while Shenzhen had…Westlife. Expats have long lamented the poverty of the music scene throughout mainland China.
The local government is investing money and talent to increase Shenzhen’s recognition as a city of culture, but as has been argued before, a government or corporation cannot simply provide culture like a permissive parent. Culture is what happens when people get together and do what people do, reflect on the past and dream about the future.
Shortly before the Olympics in 2008, blogger Chinabounder said “Mandopop – that is Mandarin pop music – is characterized by softness. No hard edges are exposed on which listeners might cut themselves some independent thinking.”
This is not an exclusively Chinese phenomenon. In Ancient Greece, the musical system was one of eight keys. Each key represented a different emotion. But Plato, when he was describing a harmonious society in his “The Republic,” wanted all keys — except for the type that relaxed the listener, and the type that stirred patriotic feelings — to be banned. Westerners who have had some level of success singing Chinese songs include Uwechue Emmanuel (郝歌) who specializes in conventional love songs that “relax” the listener, and Red Laowai (红老外), who sings patriotic songs in praise of China and its government. This supports Plato’s theory of a harmonious society needing to censor its music.
Although they do not occupy the mainstream, there are singer-songwriters, based in Shenzhen no less, who do write songs that explore dark themes and involve more melodic and rhythmic innovation. These include Zhong Bin, whose lyrics explore themes such as modern alienation and having no roots, and Liang Ying, who draws influence not from Chinese artists such as Teresa Teng and Faye Wong, but from Western acts such as The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.
In late March last year, a group of these musicians who had produced the album “Sound of Shenzhen” performed at the Shenzhen Concert Hall. It was around this time that Bob Dylan was over the border in Hong Kong, but a music scene by and for locals is a much more significant development than expat musicians (who would be making music wherever they were) making music.
So, true culture is out there. It just has the good sense to keep its head down.
