have to agree with Olaf on this 1. Was over the moon when I heard Da Lata &
Shaggy were going to play in Beijing the weekend I was there. Got in touch
with DJ Youdai from Beijing who kindly got me on the guest list...Da Lata
were exceptional musicians, but didnt really move me. Even more perplexing
for a Chinese speaking crowd - who did seem to enjoy the rhythms...
More to my liking was Bebel Gilberto - dont know why but she moved me in
San Francisco even tho her live gig was 80% reproduce the album..
btw: Beijing 3500 crowd went mental for Shaggy - who encouraged everyone
to wave their hands in the air....Shaggy must've been prompted to change his
set for the Chinese crowd as it was a lot less Shaggy than I would have
thought (ie less explicit lyrical adlibbing being done here)& the opening
number had some serious heavy rock guitar innit....nevertheless it was quite
something to hear everyone sing along to 'angel' in English realising I was
in china!
ps: beijing wasnt at all what i expected...they are seriously into their
jazz, a couple of cool clubs with acid jazz/live jazz musicians playing but
i spose you need to have the money to get into them in the first place...
there seems to be a very small chinese hip hop scene 2, but wasnt there long
enuf to find much of it... mainly heavy metal... record stores were few &
hard to find.. but i did find one or two selling a combination of uk indie
(radiohead) & some old jazz reissues...had i spent more than 3 days there,
could have found more..... markets were filled with pirate cd hawkers who
would corner you & show you everything in their bag till you resisted &
bought something ...you could buy madonna or u2 for a couple of dollars,
but you couldnt find them legally for sale -- all lyrics have to be chinese
govt approved before official release.... a catch 22 that perpetuates
piracy!!! beijing is gearing up for its 2008 olympics bid so it's getting
more modern than any western propaganda would lead you to believe, ie
traffic is bad, dust pollution is awful.
moving further to catch a glimpse of Da Lata...i really
don't know, i like to listen to their music at home, but i checked
them twice live now, it just doesn't come across...it's more listening
music than something to play live for a big audience.....good solid
musicians, good
performance, but didn't do anything for me in this setting....
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