Chinese pop music finds growing audience in LA

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A leading Chinese music festival was held last Saturday at Santa Anita Park, the first of its kind in Los Angeles, California.

More than 5,000 people showed up for the Modern Sky Music Festival in San Gabriel Valley, a rarity for a community with a large Chinese population.

The community is accustomed to authentic Chinese food, but "most people have no idea about this [Chinese] amazing art and music," said Michael Lojudice, General Manager of Modern Sky Music Festival USA in a comment to Xinhua.

His words echoed the speech of visiting Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong, who said Tuesday that China and the United States should enhance people-to-people exchanges to build stronger ties as it is where the two countries "have the least disagreements and the most consensus."

The park is an 83-year-old horse racing destination, famous for the legendary thoroughbred Seabiscuit's thrilling performances.

Modern Sky Music Festival has brought some of the most popular Chinese musicians to the stage of the United States this year, the fourth year that it took place in the country, and organizers believed that the festival is likely to continue and grow its influence.

The female singer A Si performs in Yunnan. /Photo via qq.com

"Modern Sky Music Festival created a great opportunity for us to communicate with Chinese music fans, meanwhile we may refresh foreign people's stereotype," female singer A Si said.

Ma Di, an iconic indie folk musician who toured the US including Los Angeles last year, returned and joined the stage last Saturday.

He said since he's back for a music festival this year, he noticed the crowd of the audience is much bigger comparing it to a live house concert.

"Over the past a few years we're seeing more and more live music goers," Ma Di said. "It's because people are being exposed to indie music, and they start to understand more."

Singer Ma Di performs on stage. /Photo via cnhubei.com

His return excited many indie-folk enthusiasts, most of whom are Chinese students. Among the crowd sits He Dahe, a rising indie folk musician living in LA.

He said the live music culture is a significant part of college culture in China, but it seems to be missing for those who study abroad.

Although many students can adapt to the new culture well, He Dahe thinks Chinese's perception of art and culture will tend to stay Chinese.

"If I ask myself, what do I like to listen the most? It'd still be our own music - something that I can relate to," he said. "So it needs to have Chinese elements, and more importantly, it needs to be Chinese language."

The enthusiasm determines the event to be more than a gathering for Chinese speakers to ease nostalgia. The fact that Chinese artists are performing abroad, signifies a greater exposure of Chinese music to the world.

Modern Sky record label, the parent company behind the festival, is the largest independent music record label in China. It hosts Coachella-sized music festivals in different Chinese cities every year.

After experiencing the explosive growth at home, the record label introduced the first US Modern Sky Festival to New York in 2014. In order to become a global-friendly music festival, Modern Sky invited several recognized western indie stars.

China's national Strawberry Music Festival /Photo via sina.com

The approach this year is similar; the focus of line-up shifted to Chinese artists and US artists signed to the Modern Sky US label.

Jordan Corso, frontman of American bands Cotillon, said that the population of Chinese residents in the US is growing, and he thought the influence of the festival will thereby evolve.

"With the artists like myself and The Molochs, we bring out western audience from Los Angeles," Corso said. "Just like bringing western artists to China, the Chinese artists' fans are being exposed to those western artists. Our fans are being exposed to the Chinese artists for the first time."

Corso is also the manager of Modern Sky's US label.

Although the language barrier is a big challenge for Chinese music's promotion overseas, Corso is optimistic about the rise of Chinese musicians' awareness and influence.

"It's happening currently. With our artist Re-TROS who released a record on our US label this month," Corso said.

Re-TROS (Rebuilding the Rights of Statues) a Beijing-based band specialized in postpunk started in 2004, and has been one of the most recognizable Chinese rock band.

"The feedback has been tremendous from western media and western audiences. That's been the first band that I've worked with personally that has grown real western volume."

Jason Li, a student who has been living in California for many years, said that he is also optimistic about the future of Chinese music. "China today has a stronger presence. I think the culture will spread naturally. From the food to the language, to the thinking... Chinese music and musicians will eventually grow global influence."

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency