Discovering Jamaica’s musical influence on Beijing

This Olympic period, Jamaica provides much in terms of entertainment, both in athletics and music. Many of the fastest in the world, along with musicians like Sean Paul and Julian Marley, will be performing in Beijing during the Olympics. So how has Beijing ... Read more »

Why local entertainment will win during the Olympics

Post-Bjork China has seen the MIDI Festival postponed, Beijing Pop Festival cancelled, Gongti area venues closed and prohibitive performance permit costs, resulting in an Olympic season lacking in international entertainment. Cities hosting the Games usually have an Olympiad of cutting-edge, international music ... Read more »

In a wave of openings, we learn what makes a club last

The Olympic season brings with it a wave of high-profile club openings, giving the city new, world-class venues that even Shanghai could only dream about a year ago. But after the throngs of Olympic visitors head home and ... Read more »

Categories CW's Restaurant & Bar Awards overlooked

A few weeks ago, CW held its annual Restaurant & Bar Awards. Defining the categories can be a tricky task, and yours truly made many an astute suggestion. Sadly, my category suggestion for Most Outstanding Male City Weekend Nightlife Columnist for The Beat was ... Read more »

The flying fingers of Xinjiang’s Dr. Akbar

Musicians from the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in west China are steadily carving out a reputation in Beijing as musicians who push the boundaries of folk music. One such musician is guitarist Akbar Abliz. I first saw Akbar play years ago and was ... Read more »

Is Beijing jazz a scene of standards or innovation?

Like many forms of “Western” music in China, jazz has had its challenges gaining ground with local audiences. Officially prohibited during the Cultural Revolution, the genre was then viewed as a bourgeois and decadent social evil.

“To look at the jazz ... Read more »

Cleaning up Sanlitun for Olympic Guests

In growing Beijing industries like nightlife, security has been a focus over recent months as our city prepares to host and toast the rest of world.

As earlier reported in City Weekend, two of the biggest potential nightlife destinations for August visitors, Gongti North ... Read more »

BJ experimental music scene founder, Yan Jun, talks Mini Midi

Anytime I hear the words “sound art” or “experimental music,” I think of stuffy shirts and straight-faced, intellectual seriousness. Yan Jun, sound artist, poet, music critic and event organizer behind the Mini Midi Festival, puts these clichés to rest.

“It ... Read more »

The ABCs of events promotion in Beijing

I'm a collector-accumulator of various things; some valuable, some invaluable and some of no value. Reaching into a drawer, I pull out four items at random: a keychain from the U2 Elevation tour, a plastic ice cube with an LED light inside ... Read more »

Electronic maestros like Goth Trad aren't just spinning records

Live electronic performance can involve laptops, MIDI controllers, drum machines, samplers, sequencers, turntables and effects units in various combinations. DJs like Richie Hawtin use drum machines and effects to alter the sound of records on turntables, while others like Beijing ... Read more »

Why every Spanish label rep and his hermano is in Beijing

This past week, I was fortunate to meet some Spanish record label reps investigating the Chinese music market at a one-week seminar called "The Sound of Spain." The labels' catalogs were focused on chill out, folk and rock, as ... Read more »

The post-experimental-neo-avant-garde troupe rocks on

All too frequently when speaking of live bands, the words “experimental”, “avant garde” or “post”-something are used. These terms, often employed by shifty journalists rather than musicians themselves, typically reveal one of two things: bands or musicians that are willfully disdainful of traditional musical ... Read more »