exploring the universe of chinese music

[Cavesa]

Hi,

I could do with advice on music. I have tried a few links from this subforum and youtube links from those links but , frankly speaking, I was terrified. Most of what I heard was really bad american music in Chinese. A few songs were nice but too similar to each other. I found one traditional song as well, by accident, and I liked it the most. I was a bit shocked because I have just started exploring the Chinese culture out of curiosity and I am quite confident I will like some of the movies, tv series and literature, only the music surprised me this way. What makes me more optimistic is that I have barely scratched the surface and I would be probably just as horrified had I started exploring current euro-american music through MTV :-) I suppose advice from the more knowledgeable and experienced will help.

So, what I am and what I am not looking for:

1.Preferably music in Mandarin. I am now playing with the tones and consider learning it so I'd like to listen to its sound.

2.Taste of all the genres :-) From traditional music through the current pop music to the minor genres (like chinese metal or whatever else you find interesting).

3.I do have my own taste in music and would surely like to find similar things as a bridge to the new area but I realize it is nonsense. After all, if I wasn't expecting new cultural experiences, than I shouldn't have considered learning Mandarin at all.

4.I don't care whether the lyrics and the song as a whole is suitable for beginners. I am at point zero, exploring the ground and I just hope to find motivation like "one day, I might be able to understand this awesome band".

5.Perhaps some men-singers who sound like men and not like Tokio Hotel. So far, I have found more women whose voices I liked than men. I know it is just because I didn't listen to that many things and most of "men" I found were chinese Justin Biebers :-)

Thanks a lot in advance. I'll appreciate anything. Either youtube links or names of artists or a links to webs about chinese music or anything else related.

[liuzhou]

So you are surprised that Chinese pop music sounds like pop music. What did you expect?

It really would help if you actually said what you like to listen to instead of wailing that you found something you didn't. What kind of western music do you like?

When you say that you found one traditional song that you liked, it would help to mention what kind of traditional song - Beijing or Shanghai Opera, perhaps? An obscure folk song in some minority language? Or just an old movie hit from the 1940s/50s?

1 . Preferably music in Mandarin. I am now playing with the tones and consider learning it so I'd like to listen to its sound

That won't work. Singing drops the tones. Otherwise it would get messy.

[heifeng]

I have tried a few links from this subforum and youtube links from those links but , frankly speaking, I was terrified.

Are you referring to our Song of the Day thread? You were terrified by this? Hopefully not.....

However, if this is not the thread you are referring to above then maybe you would like to check it out. Some links may be broken but the singers & song names are still searchable. Many have contributed and it has a diverse range (not the MOST diverse range, but it has some interesting songs)

[grawrt]

The song-of-the day thread is awesome I discovered desserts chang from there *swoon*. I dont think chinese music is going to help much with tones like other people have said but it is fun. My friend and I died after listening to 花儿乐队。

Uhmm since you said guy singers:

I liked the song

一起去跑步 by cosmospeople

　

I dunno if theyre a band or a one time thing but 雨镈 Yǔbó is kind of trippy. You asked for a guy-guy voice and I think he sounds manly... lol. a few songs I liked; 划过天空的翅膀, 这谜一样的冬季.

and the girls (cause I like more female-singers than males *shrugs*)

Lala Hsu; 不難, 你敢不敢, 理想人生.

Faye Wong; bu liu (heard this on popup chinese ^__^), 爸爸妈妈(her name is Wang Rong but I think its the same person...), Jiang Ai

Tao Jing Ying - stand up girls( found this on the song-of-day thread and thought it was cute), and 嫉妒 ji du

Desserts Chang, baobei, rose-colored glasses, uhm I forgot the other name. But most of her songs are uploaded on youtube and easy to find.

cyndi wang- Jie Mao Wan Wan

Chinasmack sometimes posts popular songs in addition to news so its nice to check out every once in a while.

oh and.. Whenever I feel like finding new music I look through this play list:

[Ruben von Zwack]

Now that's a bit unfair. Do I judge Western culture - or, in fact, Japanese or Korean or Brazilian - by the mediocre trash most people seem to enjoy?

Enough of the lecturing , on to more joyful things:

My favourite musicians are:

周杰倫 (simplified 周杰伦) Zhōu Jiélún, aka Jay Chou, from Taiwan, but he is popular all across China and Asia and in the USA too. Personally I don't care too much for the RnB and Hiphop, but his Zhongguo Feng style songs and the rock songs. You don't have to like him, but unless you know him, you don't know Mandarin music. He's been making music for more than 10 years now, and releasing 1 album every year, so naturally, if you look through his oevre, of course you will have to go through a lot of boring stuff in order to find the gems.

Jay Chou: Huo Yuan Jia (aka Fearless) http://youtu.be/7hBRJvjhoJw

PK 14 and Dear Eloise from Beijing (independent / punk / etc.)

PK 14 "How Majestic is the Night"

Dear Eloise http://tenzenmen.com...s/dear-eloise/�

薩頂頂 (simplified 萨顶顶) Sà Dǐngdǐng from PRC (electronic music, a bit like Björk)

Sà Dǐngdǐng live "Xi Ran Ning Po"

I also love Mandarin Oldies - 潘秀瓊 Pān Xiù Qióng aka Poon Sow Keng (spellings differ) for example.

Speaking of Oldies, everyone who's got a heart must admit Teresa Teng is adorable. Again, you don't have to like her, but one's gotta admit she was highly original and special - just one of a kind.

Teresa Teng "几多愁 Jǐ duō chóu (How Much Sorrow)" http://v.youku.com/v...c3Njg3MDU2.html (ignore the silly ad before the vid starts)

Tan Dun does amazing film scores (IMO he sounds comparable maybe to contemporary estonian composer Arvo Pärt)

In classical music I like Guqin best of all instruments. It's like ancient blues music might have sounded.

[Cavesa]

Thanks a lot for the ideas. For some unknown reason, I didn't notice the song of the day thread (yeah, it sounds strange). I tried some in the "recommend me..." threads.

Yes, exactly. I don't want to judge culture by just a few songs I disliked, that is why I'm asking for advice on where to start better. Of course I expect pop music to sound like pop music but there are always differences in between artists and songs, even inside the pop genre. And why would I judge culture? I said I found some movie or literature ideas that I might like or if not those, than surely others. I just had more luck in search there to find a better starting point for me.

I'll dig the link of the traditional song, I think it was a folk one, perhaps in a newer interpretation. It's hard to judge since I know nothing about this area. That is one of the main reasons why I am so interested in Chinese culture after all.

So, what I've been listening to from the euro-american music recently: Nightwish, Zaz, Xandria, King Charles, Within Temptation, Queen, quite a lot of 80s music, Diablo Swing Orchestra, oldies like Abba or some songs of the Mamas and Papas or Bonnie M or Simon and Garfunkel, film music like the LOtR or Dirty Dancing soundtrack, sometimes SkaP, some songs from Adele, Scorpions, Avantasia and others, sometimes middle ages songs or their remakes, sometimes classics, a few bands/artists from my country and so on.

It's not that unusual mix, I don't avoid pop just because of being pop. I hope to find things I will like, I just need to explore a bit further.

The note about Mandarin sung with dropped tones is very interesting. Does it cause comprehension troubles or is the lyrics always understandable from the context without any doubt?

Thanks for all the tips, I'll get through them all during the next few weeks, I'll be temporarily without internet but I'll let you know how it went. I apologize if I caused any misunderstanding and offended anyone, I certainly didn't mean to.

[Ruben von Zwack]

Ahaha sorry I'm just so passionate about some of my favourite music so I was being a little overly sensitive. Right now, I am editing my coment above to add links to make it easier for you to start searching.

[OneEye]

I like 許巍 pretty well. Kind of a 90's "alternative rock" feel:

Sodagreen (蘇打綠) is nice, and pretty popular in Taiwan. Nice androgynous voice (may not be your thing):

Dadawa gets called "the Enya of China," but I think she's much more listenable than Enya:

陳綺貞 is really popular in Taiwan. Some of her stuff is too saccharine for me, but some of it's OK:

And of course, 二手玫瑰 is always fun:

[count_zero]

To a westerner, most Chinese pop music is completely unlistenable. It's derivative garbage and the lyrics also are garbage.

However, this should give you a good introduction to some of the worthwhile stuff out there.

http://www.timeoutbeijing.com/features/Music/14310/Chinese-musical-genres.html

[tooironic]

I'm a huge fan of music. You name the genre, and I can name a number of artists that I listen to on a regular basis. I'm also a huge fan of Chinese language and culture. And yet the number of Chinese artists I can recommend I can count on one hand.

I'm not saying that there aren't great Chinese musicians, singers and bands out there - just that they're hard to find, and I haven't come across that many.

Among the dizzying number of derivative artists in China, there are some which are actually producing something original and innovative. I've only been lucky enough to stumble across a few, namely Wang Fei/Faye Wong (王菲), Gong Linna (龚琳娜), 萨顶顶 (Sa Dingding), Hu Defu (胡德夫), and, on good days, Sun Yanzi (孙燕姿) and Li Yuchun/Chris Lee (李宇春). Notice the severe lack of solo male artists - I haven't been inspired by many, apart from the usual suspects Jay Chou (周杰倫) and JJ Lin (林俊杰), both of which I find a little underwhelming and a bit on the contrived side.

By the way, if it's any consolation, how I described the Chinese music industry could also describe the respective music industries in the US, UK, Australia, etc. China certainly doesn't have the monopoly on mass-produced, uninspired pop music! But at least these countries have a decent number of viable alternatives to the crap that you hear on the charts. China's alternatives to this - at least what I've seen - seem to be few and far between.

But I would love to be proven wrong. And I look forward to any more suggestions users can put forward.

[liuzhou]

most Chinese pop music is completely unlistenable. It's derivative garbage and the lyrics also are garbage.

I think you could safely omit the word 'Chinese' here.

[realmayo]

What we call "pop music" comes from the western musical tradition therefore it's hardly surprising the OP would struggle to find traditional Chinese music there. It's a bit like expecting to find traditional Chinese airplanes!

[count_zero]

> But at least these countries have a decent number of viable alternatives to the crap that you hear on the charts. China's alternatives to this - at least what I've seen - seem to be few and far between. But I would love to be proven wrong. And I look forward to any more suggestions users can put forward.

I think you are absolutely right. About 80 percent of my Chinese albums are traditional Chinese instruments or folk, which is a testament to the poor quality of their pop, indie, electronic music etc.

However, this is a good compilation album with some Chinese artists:

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Chinese-Room/release/861139

And here is the Splitworks Soundcloud account

[roddy]

花儿乐队, I'd forgotten about them. 穷开心吧！

I've been listening to 万能青年旅店 a lot this year, and

still makes me stop and listen properly.

[Ruben von Zwack]

@count zero, as you say you have a lot of classical music, would you mind helping me out with some recommendation? I've been searchng to buy some albums, but most what I find is too sugar-coated for my taste.

Japanese "Gagaku" and Korean court music is quite my taste (or in European classical music, I actually don't like "classical" but what's defined as "ancient" or "old" music, I guess for similar reasons). Is there anything correspondingly "simple" in Chinese classical music?

I like the way the guy in my link above plays the Guqin. And I also think this lady on the Guzheng is ace

[Cavesa]

Thanks a lot for all the insight. I have just started with Dadawa and that sounds interesting! And I'm looking forward to trying all the others mentioned.

Realmayo: sure, pop music came from euro-american culture. I am interested in both Chinese pop music and traditional music. Truth be told, I had expected to find a natural blend of those two right away which had been probably naive. I got an impression (from the timeoutbeijing article, posts here and a few others) that the Chinese music is divided into their own and pure genres and imported copies. An those two seem not to mix, as if they were two different species of animals.

Hey, Dadawa is really good! In which language/dialect does she sing? (I am just curious. Of course I can't hear any difference :-) )

This seems to be the beginning of an awesome adventure. Thanks a lot to everyone.

[liuzhou]

Dadawa gets called "the Enya of China," but I think she's much more listenable than Enya

Can't agree more. I've always hated that lazy description. Dadawa's (朱哲琴) most recent album - 七日談 (7 Days) - couldn't be any less like Enya. That and her first, Yellow Children are my favourites.

Hey, Dadawa is really good! In which language/dialect does she sing?

Tibetan, Mandarin,

Also worth searching out are her producer/collaborator, 何訓田 - He Xuntian's own albums - particularly 波罗密多 (Paramita) and 如來如去 (Tathagata). She sings on one track on each. She also collaborated with The Chieftains on the song Tear Lake which is also worth finding.

[realmayo]

I suppose you could say the US invented Coca Cola and in China you can easily buy Coke and Pepsi but also Chinese versions which taste very similar, just a bit sweeter and perhaps not as good. Then there's tea, which is full-on traditionally Chinese. And the rarer hybrid, Wang Lao Ji for instance?

Anyway, that aside, my suggestions would include some that people have already mentioned, Wang Fei, Sa Dingding. I'll definitely check out the other suggestions people have made, sounds like I might like them.

Yes, definitely listen to Teresa Teng -- may sound initially like sugary sweet pop but lots of excellent songs and singing there I reckon.

Three suggestions not already mentioned:

I really like songs by 陈琳 Chen Lin as 'good Chinese pop'. Sorry if that's an oxymoron for some people.

There's this of her's http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjA5MjUyMDMy.html which includes Dou Wei 窦唯 playing the flute -- I think lots of his stuff is definitely worth listening too.

Also see if you can find anything by He Yong 何勇 which may (or very well may not) appeal.

Here's a link: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTU4MDYxMDQw.html

Have to admit that those last three suggestions rather 'date' my experience of Chinese music to 10+ years ago!

[liuzhou]

I'm a bit puzzled that Wang Fei/Faye Wong (王菲) is being described as non-derivative. Half her material is straight cover versions of western hits (not always credited as such). The other half is as derivative as it comes. More Canto-pap.

Yes, she can handle a tune, but...

[Ruben von Zwack]

Hmm, maybe how you view Faye Wong might depend on what you're listening to overall in general? I'm not so crazy about Faye Wong too, except for her song "Undercurrents" (sorry, in the office + can't look up the Chinese edit: sorry should have been Cantonese original name now), but then, I like Sa Dingding or in Western music stuff like Einstürzende Neubauten, so I blame my taste and not Faye Wong.