Looking for good contemporary Chinese music
May 28, 2013 4:03 AM Subscribe
My partner is in Shanghai for a week and I'd like to ask her to bring me back some music that can't be easily found in the UK. Fussiness inside.
My tastes run to classical/jazz and while I am open to pretty much anything, I'm not really interested in C-pop (is there C-rap?) unless it is of exceptional quality. Artist or album recommendations welcome. What would be a good record shop? Bonus request: if there are any streaming radio stations playing this kind of music, hints for those would be welcome too.
My tastes run to classical/jazz and while I am open to pretty much anything, I'm not really interested in C-pop (is there C-rap?) unless it is of exceptional quality. Artist or album recommendations welcome. What would be a good record shop? Bonus request: if there are any streaming radio stations playing this kind of music, hints for those would be welcome too.
Best answer: Because there is no music industry except M/C-pop in China, all good music is made independently, and is difficult to find through mainstream channels -- "normal" record stores only sell Chinese pop and imported Western pop, with some Western jazz and classical.
Uptown Records (website is out of date, but the address is correct) is the best record store in Shanghai. Their focus is on vinyl, but they also stock CD releases from local artists. The owner and clerks are all heavily involved in the local underground rock scene, and can give your partner knowledgable recommendations for rock and jazz.
I'd also suggest going to JZ Club or Wooden Box one night -- they have some local jazz CDs for sale, plus the musicians are all very friendly, and would love to get the word out about their scene.
posted by bradf at 11:07 AM on May 28, 2013
Uptown Records (website is out of date, but the address is correct) is the best record store in Shanghai. Their focus is on vinyl, but they also stock CD releases from local artists. The owner and clerks are all heavily involved in the local underground rock scene, and can give your partner knowledgable recommendations for rock and jazz.
I'd also suggest going to JZ Club or Wooden Box one night -- they have some local jazz CDs for sale, plus the musicians are all very friendly, and would love to get the word out about their scene.
posted by bradf at 11:07 AM on May 28, 2013
Response by poster: I hadn't really thought about the lack of non-mainstream music distribution, sad really.
Abiezer I like those, Jurat TT has a youtube channel which I can commend to Mefiites.
bradf, she might find the idea of going to a jazz club without any knowledge of the language a bit intimidating, but I'll suggest it and she how she responds.
posted by epo at 12:25 PM on May 28, 2013
Abiezer I like those, Jurat TT has a youtube channel which I can commend to Mefiites.
bradf, she might find the idea of going to a jazz club without any knowledge of the language a bit intimidating, but I'll suggest it and she how she responds.
posted by epo at 12:25 PM on May 28, 2013
epo, I mentioned JZ specifically because it's foreigner-friendly -- the waiters and bartenders, as well as most of the musicians speak English.
posted by bradf at 1:36 PM on May 28, 2013
posted by bradf at 1:36 PM on May 28, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
One is Mamer - he's ethnically Kazakh from Xinjiang, and while that album on Realworld obviously isn't so hard to find abroad he's got some local label stuff too as I recall you might want to explore. Seen him live a few times and he's a folk/psychedelic/jazz fusion type affair I'd say.
Jurat TT is also from Xinjiang but ethnically Uyghur. He's collaborated with Mamer in the past, hence me knowing them both, but has his own band. Again heavy psychedelic influences, maybe a bit more bluesy too and the odd bit of rock, all on the folk base.
posted by Abiezer at 5:19 AM on May 28, 2013 [1 favorite]