The rock and jazz saxophonist Liu Yuan 刘元 dies a 64 Liu Yuan, China’s most important jazz and rock and roll saxophonist, passed away on December 2 at 64. An article by Sixth Tone remembers the life of Liu Yuan,...
Last year, I said that Sinophone music was haunted by death and disappearance, but it was also the year when Chinese bands could again tour the world. This year, it’s about the same: we lost one of the most important...
Karaoke and Typhoon in Taiwan A Guardian article on “typhoon day” in Taiwan as the super typhoon Kong-rey was approaching the island in the last days of October 2024. Many Taiwanese make the most of this day off by going...
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...
Xiami Music Festival in Aranya RadiiChina article on the last Xiami Music Festival in Beidahe, featuring Xu Wei and Zhao Lei. The famous music streaming platform Xiami was closed in 2021, during the pandemic, before coming back as a music...
Pictures of Teresa Teng Chiang Mai’s hotel suite surface on social media Pop legend Teresa Teng’s hotel suite in Chiang Mai where she spent her final days has recently been made public according to a VN Express article. Pictures of...
Taiwan version of “The Big Band” begins Yes, Taiwan has now it’s own version of “The Big Band” (乐队的夏天), the iQiyi show which jump-started the carreer of many old and new Chinese indie-rock bands. It’s called “Let’s Listen to the...
Noise in Hong Kong Not the noise you were expecting. But multiple noise complaints were received on the second day of the S2O Hong Kong Songkran Music Festival (the so-called “World’s wettest party”) held at the Central Waterfront, according to...
Another live venue closing in HK- again: Star Hall After Music Zone last month, it’s the turn of Star Hall (a medium 3,600 seats capacity live venue) to close down in Kitec this month, according to a SCMP article. Star...
Young Dan 回春丹 Controversy in Taiwan Hui Chun Dan is an indie rock band from Guangxi, who rose to fame during the third season of The Big Band. Another cross-strait controversy: they sent a Weibo message mentioning “Taiwan, China” before...
Midi Kids Bands Competition An article by China Daily on the latest “Midi Kids Band Competition” – an annual competition organized by the Midi School of Music. The article focuses on two winners of the competition, a Xinjiang band named...
I’m trying a new format, a press review of what happened regarding popular music in the Sinophone world, so I don’t forget stuff and can finally close some tabs on my phone. Since it’s the first one, I will be...
As usual, here is a short review of the year 2023 in music. Not a “best of”, but rather a list of things that happened in 2023, some were good, some were bad. Some were weird (Shijiazhuang’s “rock city” project)....
Du 20 au 24 septembre 2023, une exposition présentant des archives que j’ai collectées durant mes recherches doctorales sur le punk chinois (photographies de terrain, t-shirts, albums, posters, etc.) était installée au Centre de la Vieille Charité à Marseille, durant...
Lately, a decision by the Shijiazhuang municipal government to brand the city as the “Rock and Roll Home Town” (搖滾之城 also a clever [?] pun, as the “shi” 石 in “Shijiazhuang” literally means “rock”, 家 jia “home”, and 莊 zhuang...
