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Aug 29, 2008

Shot in the Dark

07 / 08 Soundbites captures a year of live music
There's some old adage about appreciating what you have while it's around because eventually it will leave you. Things can only be so good for so long.

After a recent prolific run of live music, Shanghai's alternative-music culture faces the looming uncertainty of a post-Olympic China, seemingly destined for a drought. Anticipating this imminent scarcity, Shanghai Soundbites' Tim Franco and GianPaolo Lupori preemptively offer 07 / 08 Soundbites-a graphic year-in-review of Shanghai's live-music scene. "Few cities evoke such powerful and conflicting images as Shanghai," comments Lupori. "Simultaneously loved and hated, wooed and disowned, Shanghai has a dubious reputation both at home and abroad."

Released at the end of June, 07 / 08 is a genuine representation of how the instability and transient nature of the underground scene ultimately inhibits the city's ability to organically grow its own live music culture. The artists that entertain and mesmerize us are mostly imported from elsewhere, easily disposed of, and often forgotten once out of sight; the venues are built, opened, raided, shut down and relocated at alarming speed.

Criticism of Shanghai's music community aside, 07/08 is a true achievement, the first book of its kind, a collection of approximately 120 photos that will ultimately serve as a photo essay to a year in the life of anyone who has been witnessing the manic ride of the Pearl City's love / hate relationship with live music. "Most of the underground venues in Shanghai are not well-equipped with proper lighting systems ¡¬ but this is also what gives [the book] its particularity," states Franco, who is responsible for all the photography. "The scene in Shanghai is ephemeral, emerging, so is its equipment, and this is also a feeling you get through the photos."

Featuring pictures of many Beijing bands, there is a tendency for 07 / 08 to focus on performance shots of out-of-town bands-a realistic portrayal of Shanghai's musical offerings. However, photos of local favorites and portraits of local crews balance the Beijing-heavy opus. Ultimately, there is no way to ever really know where Shanghai's music scene is headed, but 07 /08 cements how far this city has come, albeit for a brief moment.