Tag Archives: wujiang

What’s going on? Suzhou Strawberry canceled…

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UPDATE: There has been an official update on Douban. Apparently,

because of the recent thunderstorms, the basic facilities (at the Wujiang site) have been badly damaged, and can’t be fixed in a short time. so the festival has to be postponed, the new dates to be announced

It seems like the Gods of Chinese Music are conspiring against us on the eve of another landmark May Holiday where music festivals are slated to take over the country

First, Midi Festival in Beijing is forced to leave its spiritual Haidian Park home

Second, a spate of closures and cancellations in Beijing.

Third, and most seriously, it seems like the inaugural Strawberry Festival in Wujiang near Suzhou has been cancelled. Details are sketchy at present. We have picked up the following though:

  • mlive has stopped selling presale tickets
  • all volunteers have been informed that training is cancelled
  • the site setup has been stopped
  • Zuoxiao Zuzhou was taken to the local police station straight from the airport yesterday. He is out now, but he mentioned on Weibo that the festival organizers should not use the microblog broadcast on big screens: too risky
  • some bands such as Sound Fragment have confirmed the cancellation

This is all really bad for our industry. Part of an increasing cyclical trend away from freed0m of expressi0n?

UPDATE 2: courtesy of @mightyboom (this is the most believable for us)

Suzhou Strawberry Fest has been cancelled due to an unexpected uproar at Zhouzhuang Folk fest last weekend.

Last weekend’s Zhouzhuang Folk Festival, someone sent a message containing “Aye Way Way (sic.)” to the public tweet channel, which has been shown on the big screen. Aye Way Way, the famous Chinese dis-a-dent artist, was ‘kidnapped’ by police at Beijing Airport early this April. The message was deleted immediately, however, it did not stop people from tweeting more. Shortly ahead of Zuo Xiao Zu Zhou, a famous underground folk musician, came up on stage, young folks started yelling “Aye Way Way”. The whole ‘accident’ wasn’t planned at all, but it was one of the greatest reactions within China regarding the authority detaining Aye Way Way.

Until now, Aye Way Way has been missing for almost a month.

“Modern Sky”, known as the most influential Chinese indie label, was the host of both Zhouzhuang & Strawberry Fests.

Bob Dylan in Beijing, Baidu goes legit and other linky goodness

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We are pushed for time again this week, but we have been reading lots and there is lots out there. Here are some browser windows we would like to close sometime soon…

Bob Dylan Beijing review

A strange seating arrangement (thanks as always to the wonderful PSB), but by all accounts (a few first hand ones too), it was a special atmosphere with Dylan smiling throughout and even coming back for an encore. Shanghai on Friday night.

Bob Dylan, Gongti Worker's Stadium, Beijing

Baidu to do legitimate music streaming?

In May, Baidu will attempt to distance itself from the slings and arrows fired in their direction over recent years by launching Baidu Ting, a legitimate music streaming service, that will be supported by ad-revenue. The article doesn’t cover important bits and pieces, like how much revenue will be shared with the creators, and it doesn’t seem like the service has reached deals with the major international labels. It also doesn’t say if there will be a mobile element, but anything that publicly recognizes the problems of piracy and tries to address them, especially from a major player like Baidu is to be appreciated.

Modern Sky does a folk and poetry festival in Zhouzhuang

According to Jake Newby at Kungfuology. This festival has been running for a few years, and we assume the organizers are bringing Modern Sky in to legitimize it. Nice lineup, definitely worth a visit.

Strawberry Lineup announced

The Wujiang leg, at least. No real surprises in the listed artists. The festival is pretty cheap though.

Cui Jian 3D show biography

Tentatively titled Stereo Symphony On the New Long March, the roughly 75-minute film will feature footage shot around two New Year’s 2010 concerts Cui gave in December at Beijing’s outdoor Workers’ Stadium cut together with interviews with the rock legend and his fans.

More festival expansion

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According to a leaked Q&A, Strawberry Festival will continue its expansion, but rather than going to Xi’an as they did in 2010, Modern Sky will hold two events consecutively in Beijing’s Tongzhou Park (as usual) and a town called Wujiang, near Suzhou.

Midi and Modern Sky have been head to head in Beijing during the May holiday for the last 3 years. Now the South will experience the same as the two festivals happen an hour away from each other.

We’re pretty sure lineups will follow soon: the only confirmed act so far is Mr. Big for Midi.