BLUES EN CHINA

Os ofrecemos algunos apuntes sobre el BLUES en CHINA, y más concretamente sobre el músico Zhang Ling  por lo visto uno de los más populares. 

           
                       




The Sound Stage

Who says the Chinese don't have the Blues?

After playing with seminal Chinese rocker Cui Jian, Zhang Ling has made a name for himself as a bluesman.  A talented bass player, "Big John" formed his band and is determined to spread the power of blues music, the foundation of all modern music, amongst the ill-informed Chinese populace.  And that's nothing to feel blue about.

The song featured in this episode is called Salmon.

ZHANG LING is:

主唱兼贝司 Singer and Bass：张岭 Zhang "Big John" Ling
口琴兼伴唱 Blues Harp and Backup Vocals：张晓松 Zhang Xiaosong
吉他 Guitar：王东 Wang Dong
吉他 Guitar：刘人友 Liu "Robin" Renyou
鼓手 Drums：黄海涛 鼓手 Huang Haitao

Follow them on Sina Weibo (China's Twitter): http://weibo.com/bigJohnblues

Scroll down midway through this page to listen to more of their music:
http://site.douban.com/zhangling/

Next episode:
Black Head

China Radio International presents you a window into the world of Chinese music.

The Sound Stage Podcast:
https://itunes.apple.com/cn/podcast/t...

Douban:
http://site.douban.com/thesoundstage/

WeChat Official 微信公众号:

CRITheSoundStage
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Wearing a soft slouch hat and holding a bass, Zhang Ling, one of the first Chinese musicians to play the blues is sharing his music at Sheffield City Hall with Trevor Sewell, who described by Stuart Epps (Led Zep, Elton John) as brilliant musician with a fresh approach to the Blues as part of the OISOI Music Festival – Oriental Blues Night, a new cross-culture community event organised by Tai Sun Oriental Group.

“Slowly slowly down, my baby, I have something to tell you, I didn’t drink too much in the Xi Di Blues Bar, they said I sleep like a dog, I held the glass tightly, but everyone knows that my heart is broken …” After performing the song called “Drinking Blues” which is about a heart broken man drinking in a bar, Zhang translates the lyrics into English. He says the rhythm simply came to him one day when he was driving along a crowded Beijing street. “I hope you can understand, I only can use music to explain.”

“The other night, I was drunk, that girl said she loves me and wants to spend her life with me, but later I found she also said the same thing to others.” Blues music usually brings to mind players from the “Deep South” of United States and singing in English, certainly, Zhang Ling makes a great progress for blues music in China. “Blues is not that popular in China, when I singing blues in Chinese, many people found it’s a bit strange.”

This is his second time performing in UK, unlike 10 years ago in London, Zhang Ling is pretty enjoying his life in Sheffield. “In my memory, it’s always raining in UK, when I first came here 10 years ago for a charity event, it’s awful, I was not used to the weather and food but so far, Sheffield gives me a good impression except ‘the big potato’ meal,” he laughs.

Twenty years ago, Zhang Ling formed China’s first blues band – the Rhythm Dogs and has been playing bass for Cui Jian, China’s godfather of rock for nearly 10 years. But he didn’t get well know by the public before the age of 47, when he first appeared on the stage of Sing My Song, one of the most popular reality talent show in China which premiered on June 3, 2014.

At that night, China’s most famous singer-songwriter Liu Huan, one of the four judges on the show shocked by him and Cried: “ He is the one of the best bass player in China. I didn’t expect you to come on the show.” This wasn’t Liu Huan’s first time saw him. “Two decades ago, he went to my gig in Peking University,” Zhang recalls. At that time, at the age of 20ish, Zhang inspirited by those pioneers of rock’n’roll incuding Cuijian, Hepeng, the Black Panther and formed his first band – Wu Yue Tian.

“During that time, we didn’t have many equipment, all I have is a Roland Midi keyboard,” Zhang says. “I wasn’t a bass player at that moment, but because I have a good personality, all the bass player must have a good personality, you need to be patient as a potential role to balance the band.”

In 1989, at the age of 22, Zhang studied Jazz in the Music School of Sydney University. “At that time, rock and roll became very popular, some people said I missed the golden time of China’s music industry. But I think I needed to get more knowledge from Sydney and brought them back to China.” After he graduated from the university, he met Cui Jian in Beijing, at that time, Cui Jian just launched his new album “Balls Under the Red Flag” which has blues and jazz elements. “Cui Jian is a rock singer who can take risks, he always tried new things in the rehearsal, so that’s why I followed him for nearly 10 years.

Zhang Ling performs  with his band in Beijing CD Blues Bar                   Photo provided by Zhang Ling   
Zhang Ling performs with his band in Beijing CD Blues Bar.           Photo provided by Zhang Ling
In recent year, Zhang spends a lot of time in CD Blues, his own bar, which has 20 years history in downtown Beijing. “I did all the directions for my bar, I collected many blues posters, blues music masters’ pictures and put them on the back wall of the bar, I also replaced the light bulb, paid the water bill, served customers sometimes.” For Zhang, live shows bring vitally to music so he always performs at his own bar with band and he also invites other blues band from across the world to perform there. “I don’t want to see blues died in China,” Zhang says.

“In every weekend, I usually will invite one audience from my bar and sing his own story and I play the rhythm for him. So I can always hear many different true stories, which touch me a lot. Every single story can be sung by music and it’s good for me to write lyrics,” he smiles. “Writing songs is not a rush job, we can’t imagine a good song without our own experiences, especially the blues music.”

“His lyrics and blues rhythms match so well, it feels like they belong to each other,” Lao Zai says, a songwriter and music producer. “For a long time, Chinese musicians have been looking for a way to present Chinese music to the world. But most of them only focused on the market and their own business. Zhang does a great job.”

After 2008, there were fewer and fewer blues gigs held in Beijing. He found many rock singers and bands started to garter together and have their own communities. “But unfortunately, we don’t have blues community in Beijing which make me feel very sad,” Zhang says.


But this night, Zhang is in UK, a country that has one of the world’s largest music industries and has lots and lots brilliant bands. “I am really appreciated to perform with Trevor Sewell, a wonderful blues musician in UK. And thanks the organiser Jay Wang invited me to perform here. As a former oversea graduators, I hope all the Chinese students can have a good life and gain more knowledge in UK.”


Chinese singer-songwriter Zhang Ling gave a show at Modernsky Lab in Beijing on Dec 19 along with Japanese musician Shun Kikuta.

The two musicians shared their music experience as well as jamming onstage.

Kikuta, a graduate of Berklee College of Music, has performed and recorded with blues, soul, R&B and jazz legends as B.B.King, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells.

Based in Chicago, Kikuta has released albums, including Chicago Midnight, Heart and Soul and Rising Sun.

Zhang was one of the first Chinese musicians to play the blues. Twenty years ago, he formed China's first blues band, The Rhythm Dogs, and has been playing bass with famed rocker Cui Jian for 10 years. He has also recorded with big-name Chinese singers like Faye Wong, Liu Huan and Li Yuchun.

In 2014, Zhang appeared on the stage of Sing My Song, a popular Chinese reality talent show, which won him a wider audiences as well as enabling more people to know the music genre.

Recently, he announced his cooperation with Modernsky, the Beijing-based indie record company, to further promote blues music in China.

                                 
           

Zhang Ling aka “Big John” 

singer songwriter and one of the well known bass player in China’s music scene. Zhang studied jazz in Sydney Australia at his early days and is fluent in English speaking and singing, He is well known for his original blues music in Chinese language. Ling’s unique bass playing and soulful singing style made him the fame as “the king of the Chinese blues”.Zhang Ling has also been a former member of the most famous Chinese Rock band “Cui Jian” for over a decade. among all the early pioneers of Chinese rockers, Ling has always been the most influential musician since the new China's opening up to the world in the early 80’s.Zhang Ling’s recent achievement was his performance on a top rating national TV show called "SING MY SONG”. By performing one of his own original blues song called “the Drinking Blues”, Billions of Chinese audience had discovered blues music through Ling’s music.Ling’s goal is to find the musical connection between China and the West through blues, writing stories and feeling of modern Chinese life with his own language of music. 

Funky- hailed from Japan as the emperor of drums, Funky has been drumming and producing in countless records in both Japan and China since 1974. He later moved to China and with his rock solid groove and work ethic he quickly became one of the most sought after drummers for both live shows and studio sessions. Now he travels frequently between the two countries to keep the audience grooving to his powerhouse drumbeats.

ZhangZhang - born in the tianjin city and cut his teeth as professional keyboardist at a very young age. His versatile and passionate playing landed him many opportunities to play with a wide array of artists such as world music diva Sadingding, Electro-funk band Acid live, Chinese Rap band SHUANGZI and many more. His extensive experience also includes official Beijing Olympics welcome songs and producer credits for many Chinese rock bands

Robin Liu - born in Tw and raised in New Zealand. Robin moved to Beijing 5 years ago to keep pursuing music. His unconventional and emotive guitar playing can be heard in experimental rock band 16mins, Psychic British Rock band the harridans, funk rock band Elephant fresh and many more. Free from style constrains and keeping an open heart attitude makes Robin an exciting addition to the team.

JinHao is China Music producer, Saxophonist ,Musician, Electro-acoustic band leader, Professional performer, Film music composer, president of Jazz Chinese music website "JINHAOJAZZ", Chinese musical actor.INSTRUMENTS USED Saxophone, clarinet, WX7, percussion, composition, Harmonica, Chinese Wind instruments.

Peformed in a quartet at the first “Shanghai’s Fujifilm French Sleepless Night” (Shanghai Fushi Faguo Bumianye).

During this time, at the request of French violinist Didier Lockwood, I took part in the “Meeting of Saxophonist Jin Hao and Erhu Player Ma Xianghua” national tour, performing at Shanghai, Wuhan, Beijing, and other locations.  Performed onstage with five French musicians, including Didier, and performed with French rock and roll star Louis Bertignac at the final show.In various countries of the world tour in hundreds of concerts.

Zhang Ling is a singer, songwriter and one of the well-known bass player in China's modern music scene. Zhang studied jazz in Sydney Australia at his early age and moved back to Beijing became one of the influential and bass player, tutor and singer-songwriter. Zhang is fluent both in English speaking and singing, though he is best known for his original blues music written and sang in Chinese. After his appearance on a Chinese top rating TV talent show "SING MY SONG", where Zhang Ling performed his original song "the Drinking Blues" in 2014, he became "the king of the Chinese blues". Billions of Chinese audience for the first time had discovered "blues" music through Zhang Ling's voice. Zhang's unique bass playing and soulful singing style made him a distinguished musician of all genre. Zhang Ling has also been a former member of the legendary Chinese Rock band "Cui Jian" for over a decade. He was among all the early pioneers of Chinese rockers, Ling has always been the most influential musician since the new China's opening up to the world in the early 80's. Ling's goal is to find the musical connection between China and the West through blues.

In a diverse music career spanning several decades, keyboardist/arranger Pete Levin has performed and recorded with hundreds of Jazz and Pop artists - including Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, Miles Davis, David Sanborn, Lenny White, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Robbie Robertson and John Scofield - receiving critical accolades for his work during a 15 year association with the legendary Gil Evans, and his 8 year stint with jazz icon Jimmy Giuffre.

                                               
            

It is a Friday night in late May. Night falls on Beijing as the entire city prepares for a mid-summer night dream. In particular, a group of music lovers are still awake, listening to blues together in the center of Beijing. The band on stage is a local band called Big John. They're performing for the 3rd Blues Music Festival in Beijing. Zhang Ling, the lead singer of the band is also an organizer of the festival.