Monthly Press Review – 9 (October 2024)

Chinese musical ‘East Ski’ to open in Shanghai with rapper Zao An

China Daily‘s article on a new musical entitled “East Ski”, incorporating Chinese “traditional” elements and hip-hop, featuring the winner of the second season of The Rap of China Zhao An, but also VaVa, GAI and Air. Another win for Chinese hip-hop?

---

Hong Kong to organise an immersive listening experience for Coldplay’s latest album

It’s not enough that Coldplay will play a concert in Hong Kong, but they also organize a “listening experience” for their new album in October at Sai Ying Pun. Hong Kong have apparently not suffered enough.

According to SCMP, ticket prices for Hong Kong’s Coldplay concerts range from HK$399 to HK$2,099.

---

The aftermath of Ye’s listening party in China

As we said last month, Ye’s listening party in China has made the international headlines. Music Industry Weekly analyses the implications of the events, while RTT states that Ye announced a new album, Bully, during his Chinese event. CNN is asking why Ye can perform in China, despite of its tough censorship mechanism? For those interested in that question, I wrote an article on the subject.

---

A new patriotic song for Hong Kong

It’s been a while since we had a new patriotic song released in Hong Kong. According to ANN, a new 1 minute song, broadcast during October 1st, was launched, promoting the “Lion Rock spirit”of Hong Kong people, Chinese technological advancements, and Hong Kong Olympic medals. Brought to you by The Working Group on Patriotic Education under The Constitution and Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

---

A Greater Bay Area pop-Kong concert

A news release by the HK Government on the “POP KONG concert on October 31 and November 1 (Thursday and Friday) to showcase the talents and creativity of young artists from both Hong Kong and the Mainland, injecting fresh impetus into the music scenes of the region.”

---

Adam Wright on organizing secret music parties in HK

An interview by HKFP of Adam Wright from Omni Agency on organizing shows and festivals in Hong Kong, sometimes in secrecy.
In SCMP, an article talks about the Midori festival, also organized by the same team in a secret location.

---

Wellsaid new album

The fantastic alt-rock band from Hong Kong Wellsaid is returning with a new album (we talked about it last month). HKFP published a very interesting interview with the band, while the SCMP also quotes the band on their album Regretopia.

---

Peach Illusion new album

A Bandwagon article on the Chinese indie pop band Peach Illusion 桃子假象 and their new album, Still In Love.

---

Rock and Roll and the Chinese textbook (again)

An interesting article in the Diplomat on the infamous Chinese textbook on National Security which viewed rock and roll as a bad influence on Chinese youth. The author quotes Yang Haisong, singer of legendary post-punk band PK14, and explains why no one is bothered by that.

---

A CGTN documentary on Funky, the Japanese drummer of Buyi

With the last season of The Big Band, the Chinese media fell in love with Funky, the old Japanese drummer of veteran hard rock band Buyi. CGTN even made a documentary.

---

Varihnaz in The New York Times

After their participation to the last season of The Big Band (and their acclaimed performances), Vivan Wang wrote a very good article on the Guangxi-based hippie-indie-rock band Varihnaz 瓦依那 in The New York Times entitled “Part-Time Farmers, Part-Time Rock Stars: A Chinese Band’s Unlikely Rise”.

---

---

---