Expats

Flowery times ahead for fall's biggest festival

By Han Bingbin (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-15 07:55

It might be late by some 40 years but "flower power", of a sort, is on its way to Beijing this fall in the form of a music festival with poetic overtones.

Entitled "Music Funhill" and slated to run from Sept 21 to 23 in Changyang town in Fangshan district - right across the Mid-Autumn Festival - the event is set to be the capital's major music festival for the season.

And in a typically hippie style, it describes itself as the single most quality-oriented music festival, aiming to reach the audience through a humanistic and environmentally friendly way.

In order to promote its hippy-like theme of "hope, freedom, philanthropy and equality", the festival has chosen four types of flower - sunflower, dandelion, rose and daisy - to promote its musical mentality.

More poetically, four stages have been designed with the flowers in mind, on which only particular genres will play to suit the mood.

Powerful mainstream pop songs will be presented on the sunflower stage, while other mainstream songs of a quieter nature will take place on the daisy stage.

The other two stages are intended for less popular choices with the dandelion stage to feature crisp folk songs and the rose stage to play host to adventurous electronic songs.

Fans will meet Chyi Chin, the Taiwanese pop king of the '80s and '90s, who will present a number of his classic hits that will probably bring about nostalgic tears, and Joanna Wong, who quickly achieved enormous fame for her smoky voice that often relays Jazz songs with a unique flavor.

In addition to nostalgia and jazz, local rock stars will fuel the fun with raw power. Zhang Chu, former member of the legendary rock band Moyansanjie, and Xie Tianxiao, China's new rock 'n' roll king, will both join the show to sing their hearts out.

Claiming itself as a genuine international music festival, Music Funhill has also invited artists from Europe to invite more screams.

Names include Ian Brown, former vocal lead of British band the Stone Roses, British new pop star Mr Hudson, Grammy nominee band Zero 7 and another two bands from Sweden and Denmark.

David Elliot, artistic director with the British Council in Beijing, said he is "very excited that three top artists from Britain will come", and that he's "very surprised they have so many Chinese fans".

Elliot, who claimed he grew up with music festivals as a way of life, was happy to see an increasing number of music festivals in China.

"I am looking forward to coming back here (as a music fan) in a couple of weeks' time," he said, after attending the event's press conference held last Wednesday in Beijing.

China Daily

(China Daily 09/15/2010 page)