Since the beginning of the 1980's, Chinese music has been transformed from the revolutionary songs and "Model Operas" that dominated during red-est days of Red China to a very vibrant, if eclectic mix of music forms and genres. Some of it is pretty good, other stuff, well...it's still an interesting social factor.
There are two main currents in Chinese music of today, tongsu and yaogun. Tongsu is the dominant mainstream form, not always state-produced but invariably state-controlled. In substance, it resembles the suruppy "soft-pop" known as Canto-pop (music from Hong Kong, in Cantonese), albeit with Mandarin lyrics and thems more concerned with patriotism than the wuuuuv (and sex) that dominate Canto-pop. Tongsu music is written by a small handful of song-writers, and performed by an endless stream of singers who are selected more for appearance than singing ability and who primarily are members of song-and-dance troups, or gewutuan. The main dessimation of this music is by television (which in the early 1990s reached about 80% of the population and is now pretty much universal), through singing contests and fesitivals. Tapes of these are available as well, although most are just soundtracks from the festivals and in music stores are often crowded out by Gangtai (Hong Kong and Taiwan) Music.
Yaogunliterally means "Rock Roll", and for the most part the translation of the music itself has been equally exact. But not all of it... Yaogun ranges from standard (but still pretty good) rock-pop bands to some very clever merging of styles, traditions and instruments. Yaogunstarted in the mid to late 1980's when a handful of Beijingers, inspired by the Western music they were being exposed to for the first time, began forming bands and playing covers. They quickly moved on to write their own material, and the rest, if you'll forgive the cliche, is history. The most famous of these yaogun pioneers is Cui Jian,with his song Yi wu suo you ("I have nothing"). It's style resembled the tongsu branch,
Xibei Feng
(Northwest wind) which drew from peasant influences in its simplicity and roughness, but introduced modern instruments and content. Popular in the late 1980's, most Xibei Feng songs came from soundtracks of the films of China's Fifth Generation (if you don't know who they are, shame on you!); the best known example was the song, Sister, go Bravely Forward , from the film Red Sorghum. The
difference with Lao Cui's music was the content: pretty innocuous, compared to American music or what even China is churning out today. But, at the boom of Chinese materialism, an insinuation that one has nothing, is nothing could be interpreted as kinda subversive.
Although the best known, Cui Jian was neither the first or the only yaogun pioneer, nor in my opinion the best. The "First Wave" included such bands as Tang Chao (Tang Dynasty), Hei Bao (Black Panther), Cobra, Mayday, the ADO Band, Breathing, and the Tutu Band. While many of these bands did not produce albums until the arrival of Hong Kong and Taiwanese record labels in 1992, they had all begun writing and performing yaogun since the mid- to late 1980's.
In the year or so prior to the events of June 1989, China's artistic and cultural climate reached a then unprecedented degree of freedom. The innovations of early yaogun were revealed to another round of budding musicians. Some, such as Zhang Chu, were already working in the tongsu industry and were looking for a more satisfying musical outlet; for others, yaogun was their first and only musical expression.
As the restrictions of the 1989 crackdown loosened in 1991-1992, the young groups and musicians of this "Second Wave" began to appear. A greater proportion of "Second Wave" musicians are solo performers, rather than members of bands. The also represent a greater variety of styles, ranging from folksy, palatable-to-mainstream ballads of Ai Jing and Zhang Chu to the harsh, heavy metal sounds of the Fly and Overload.
The flood of yaogun albums in 1992 introduced this music to the world outside Beijing. But publicity and popularity for yaogun musicians came with the price of loss of total control of the artistic product and one's own lifestyle. The effects have shown in the music. Some "First Wave" groups and individuals, such as Hei Bao have continued to produce but have lost their touch. Other innovators, such as Tang Chao and He Yong, have not produced new material for years. Even Cui Jian, despite his excursions into rap and reggae, has lost his place on the cutting edge, and is derided by younger musicians as an "old man." His latest album, "Power of the Powerless," although popular with the mainstream, is generally derided by rock fans.
The "Second Wave" musicians have continued to impress the world with their capacity to churn out large quantities of good albums. But now perhaps it is time to hear from a "Third Wave" who may not yet have albums out yet but are likely building upon the accomplishments of their predicessors while bumming around Beijing and chain-smoking. The "Third Wave" is still unknown except for a few bands like Catcher in the Rye and the Face, but yaogun will probably retain it's chaotic nature and continue to evolve, producing more and better music.
© L. Movius, August 1998
