Eric Campbell looks at how young musicians express themselves in the new China.Xiao Rong, lead singer of the cult punk rock band, Brain Failure, hadnt even heard punk music until seven years ago. Back when punk was fashionable in the west, it was banned in China as counter-revolutionary. Now, once-banned music is flooding China, as economic reform has let in millions of pirate CDs, videos and DVDs. But most of the new music isnt about politics. Xiao Rong tells Eric: I think every country has its political issues but society is developing and the people are forging ahead.Eric also talks to Cui Jian, one of Chinas best-known older performers, who pioneered rock concerts in China in the 80s, and performed at Tiananmen Square during the protests. Now, he has to be careful about his public performances. This is China, he tells Eric, something between possible and impossible.Nonetheless, in 2002, Cui Jian won approval to stage Chinas first ever Western-style outdoor rock concert, billed as Chinas Woodstock. Held on a wet weekend halfway up a mountain in the southern province of Yunnan, near Tibet, it brought together the cream of Chinas new music scene.
CAMPBELL: Its a national holiday in the peoples republic of China and young Beijingers are banging their heads together.This is anarchy in the PRC.There are few police and almost no security just lots of alcohol, drugs and hardcore rock.
17:00
Xiao Rong is lead singer of the cult band, Brain Failure.He wasnt born when punk bands started doing this in the west. But this is not a revival its the first time round.Back in the 70s this would have been outlawed as counter-revolutionary.Xiao Rong didnt even hear this kind of music until seven years ago.
17:45
XIAO RONG: I was born in 1979. I was 16 or 17 in 1996. I happened to hear this type of music and really liked it.
18:13
I also had some foreign friends who brought back some music. Thats how I knew of western music.
18:26
CAMPBELL: These days China is being flooded with once banned music.Economic reform has let in tens of millions of pirate CDs.Hardcore fans are picking up on new trends as fast as anyone in the West.But it would be wrong to think that this new youth scene as a challenge to the Communist elders.
18:33
The music scene here is much more about fashion than youthful rebellion. Theres really nothing being sung here thats going to upset any Communist censors. Bands have learned that they have to avoid politics if they want to perform. And that as much as anything is why this kind of music is now allowed.
Xiao Rong admits he never sings about unemployment or party corruption. But he says thats not what todays youth cares about.
XIAO RONG: In the 1970s,
19:19
in China and other western countries every country had serious political shortcomings in its system. But now, I think every country has its own political issues but the society is developing, and people are forging ahead.
19:31
CAMPBELL: Back in the 60s and 70s, the youth scene was all about politics.While Western hippies were discovering rock idols, young Chinese had just one idol Chairman Mao.His Cultural Revolution sent them on a decade-long rampage to smash bourgeois culture.Music
19:54
It wasnt until the early 80s that rock started slipping through the cracks of Chinas opening economy.Back then, Cui Jian was a young musician with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra.
CUI JIAN: My personal experience is different from the other young Chinese maybe, because I used to be a
20:38
classical trumpet player. So Ive got a lot of chance to listen to Western music.
21:06
Throughout the 80s he pioneered rock concerts in China, even performing to protesting students in Tiananmen Square.But the violent crackdown on the protests put a chill on large gatherings of youth. Even today, Cui Jian still has trouble getting approval for big concerts in Beijing.
CUI JIAN: In Beijing its pretty hard. No one can say No its not allowed. No one can say that.
21:13
Thats why lots of people are still trying to do that. So you know, this is China this is something between possible and impossible.
21:49
CAMPBELL: In 2002, Cui Jian showed how far things have come winning approval to stage Chinas first ever outdoor rock festival.It was billed as Chinas Woodstock 33 years after the original one in America.Held on a wet weekend in the southern province of Yunnan, it brought together the cream of Chinas new music scene.
CUI JIAN: I think a lot of Chinese people have no experience, have no ideas about what is a festival. Maybe they know the rock music and maybe they have been to rock concert but its different from the festival. The festival is really, really more fat more heavy. And if you spend
21:57
two days thats different from concert. From today I think a lot of Chinese people will realise this is the life.
22:58
CAMPBELL: But the festival ALSO showed the authorities continuing nervousness with this sort of music.Five hundred soldiers from the Peoples Liberation Army were brought in as the front line of security.As the local vice-mayor, Zhang Hongping explained, you cant be too careful with rock.ZHANG: Most of the people here are young,
23:04
and rock music is very stimulating. When young people hear this kind of very stimulating music they often lose their reason.
23:35
CAMPBELL: Just to be on the safe side, every song had to be approved in advance by the Communist censors though Xiao Rong managed to slip in some unauthorised lyrics. It may have helped that he was singing them in English.While the State now allows this kind of music, it doesnt encourage it. Television and radio all State-controlled prefer to broadcast easy listening and syrupy pop.
23:45
Back in Beijing, the only place Brain Failure can rehearse is a small room in a friends apartment that they share with a dozen other bands.The room has been completely sound proofed to stop the whole neighbourhood complaining. The band members all have to work day jobs to survive, but Xiao Rong hopes it wont be too long before they can play fulltime.
24:31
25:05
CAMPBELL: Its still going to be a long way to the top. Bands like Brain Failure cant make any money out of CDs, theyre pirated as soon as they are released.Instead they rely on performing live and at small outdoor concerts ever reliant on permission from Communist officials.But for all the restrictions, some believe Chinas alternative music is actually more innovative than the Wests.Among them
25:19
Cui Jians American manager, veteran rock promoter Paul Fry.
PAUL FRY: Theres an exciting thing happening here
25:50
now where self-expression is happening. Where youre having bands writing their own material. Theyre doing it themselves like the early groups in the West did.
22:58
Back at Woodstock, we saw a hint of that innovation. A fusion of Western and local culture, at once global and Chinese.By the second night, even the police seemed to be enjoying themselves watching emerging bands like the Tibetan-influenced Dadawa.
26:07
The PLA conscripts crept out of their trucks to sneak a look at the show. And nobody seemed bothered by the rain.
26:52
26:58
It wasnt quite the spirit of the first Woodstock, but it was a major step in the long march of Chinese rock.
27:02
The finale was the legend himself, Cui Jian.CUI JIAN: If you really have feelings to explain you definitely can find a chance. The musics the one and the best one the most beautiful one.
27:25
The music and more than you want more than you can explain
27:43
a lot of things in music.CAMPBELL: Even in the last great Communist State, the times are-a-changing.
27:46
CAMPBELL: Its a national holiday in the peoples republic of China and young Beijingers are banging their heads together.This is anarchy in the PRC.There are few police and almost no security just lots of alcohol, drugs and hardcore rock.
17:00
Xiao Rong is lead singer of the cult band, Brain Failure.He wasnt born when punk bands started doing this in the west. But this is not a revival its the first time round.Back in the 70s this would have been outlawed as counter-revolutionary.Xiao Rong didnt even hear this kind of music until seven years ago.
17:45
XIAO RONG: I was born in 1979. I was 16 or 17 in 1996. I happened to hear this type of music and really liked it.
18:13
I also had some foreign friends who brought back some music. Thats how I knew of western music.
18:26
CAMPBELL: These days China is being flooded with once banned music.Economic reform has let in tens of millions of pirate CDs.Hardcore fans are picking up on new trends as fast as anyone in the West.But it would be wrong to think that this new youth scene as a challenge to the Communist elders.
18:33
The music scene here is much more about fashion than youthful rebellion. Theres really nothing being sung here thats going to upset any Communist censors. Bands have learned that they have to avoid politics if they want to perform. And that as much as anything is why this kind of music is now allowed.
Xiao Rong admits he never sings about unemployment or party corruption. But he says thats not what todays youth cares about.
XIAO RONG: In the 1970s,
19:19
in China and other western countries every country had serious political shortcomings in its system. But now, I think every country has its own political issues but the society is developing, and people are forging ahead.
19:31
CAMPBELL: Back in the 60s and 70s, the youth scene was all about politics.While Western hippies were discovering rock idols, young Chinese had just one idol Chairman Mao.His Cultural Revolution sent them on a decade-long rampage to smash bourgeois culture.Music
19:54
It wasnt until the early 80s that rock started slipping through the cracks of Chinas opening economy.Back then, Cui Jian was a young musician with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra.
CUI JIAN: My personal experience is different from the other young Chinese maybe, because I used to be a
20:38
classical trumpet player. So Ive got a lot of chance to listen to Western music.
21:06
Throughout the 80s he pioneered rock concerts in China, even performing to protesting students in Tiananmen Square.But the violent crackdown on the protests put a chill on large gatherings of youth. Even today, Cui Jian still has trouble getting approval for big concerts in Beijing.
CUI JIAN: In Beijing its pretty hard. No one can say No its not allowed. No one can say that.
21:13
Thats why lots of people are still trying to do that. So you know, this is China this is something between possible and impossible.
21:49
CAMPBELL: In 2002, Cui Jian showed how far things have come winning approval to stage Chinas first ever outdoor rock festival.It was billed as Chinas Woodstock 33 years after the original one in America.Held on a wet weekend in the southern province of Yunnan, it brought together the cream of Chinas new music scene.
CUI JIAN: I think a lot of Chinese people have no experience, have no ideas about what is a festival. Maybe they know the rock music and maybe they have been to rock concert but its different from the festival. The festival is really, really more fat more heavy. And if you spend
21:57
two days thats different from concert. From today I think a lot of Chinese people will realise this is the life.
22:58
CAMPBELL: But the festival ALSO showed the authorities continuing nervousness with this sort of music.Five hundred soldiers from the Peoples Liberation Army were brought in as the front line of security.As the local vice-mayor, Zhang Hongping explained, you cant be too careful with rock.ZHANG: Most of the people here are young,
23:04
and rock music is very stimulating. When young people hear this kind of very stimulating music they often lose their reason.
23:35
CAMPBELL: Just to be on the safe side, every song had to be approved in advance by the Communist censors though Xiao Rong managed to slip in some unauthorised lyrics. It may have helped that he was singing them in English.While the State now allows this kind of music, it doesnt encourage it. Television and radio all State-controlled prefer to broadcast easy listening and syrupy pop.
23:45
Back in Beijing, the only place Brain Failure can rehearse is a small room in a friends apartment that they share with a dozen other bands.The room has been completely sound proofed to stop the whole neighbourhood complaining. The band members all have to work day jobs to survive, but Xiao Rong hopes it wont be too long before they can play fulltime.
24:31
25:05
CAMPBELL: Its still going to be a long way to the top. Bands like Brain Failure cant make any money out of CDs, theyre pirated as soon as they are released.Instead they rely on performing live and at small outdoor concerts ever reliant on permission from Communist officials.But for all the restrictions, some believe Chinas alternative music is actually more innovative than the Wests.Among them
25:19
Cui Jians American manager, veteran rock promoter Paul Fry.
PAUL FRY: Theres an exciting thing happening here
25:50
now where self-expression is happening. Where youre having bands writing their own material. Theyre doing it themselves like the early groups in the West did.
22:58
Back at Woodstock, we saw a hint of that innovation. A fusion of Western and local culture, at once global and Chinese.By the second night, even the police seemed to be enjoying themselves watching emerging bands like the Tibetan-influenced Dadawa.
26:07
The PLA conscripts crept out of their trucks to sneak a look at the show. And nobody seemed bothered by the rain.
26:52
26:58
It wasnt quite the spirit of the first Woodstock, but it was a major step in the long march of Chinese rock.
27:02
The finale was the legend himself, Cui Jian.CUI JIAN: If you really have feelings to explain you definitely can find a chance. The musics the one and the best one the most beautiful one.
27:25
The music and more than you want more than you can explain
27:43
a lot of things in music.CAMPBELL: Even in the last great Communist State, the times are-a-changing.
27:46