Living in Guangzhou had many advantages, and one of the biggest was the cheap availability of food. As the centre of Cantonese cuisine, Guangzhou (previously called Canton) is more than well placed to provide some tasty treats. My brief experience with Northern food revealed a somewhat stodgy bread-based diet and combined with my return to London I discovered that I missed real Guangzhou Dim Sum.
Recently I've been trying to find examples of good modern Chinese music. It's been a hard search. Most Chinese music appears to be made entirely for the karaoke market. The reason for this is probably one of simple economies - the karaoke market in China is huge. Almost everyone takes part in it, both men and women, young and old. Karaoke centres are vast buildings with hundreds of private rooms where people go to sing on all manner of occasions - with friends, lovers, even on business.
TV is also full of karaoke-style shows. At any moment of the day it is likely that somewhere there is a TV station in China broadcasting amateur singing. It's taken very seriously, with big competitions and major prizes. Often a popular karaoke singer will go on to start a successful pop career. It even goes deep inside the state with CCTV7 broadcasting the unintentionally funny army karaoke show (or at least, that's my interpretation of it).
I wrote recently about catching the Muse concert in Hong Kong, and here I am on the other side of that, somewhat tired, but pleased nonetheless.
Hong Kong rocked far harder than I could have imagined, and it was good to see that alternative music is alive and well there. The Asiaworld Exposition Hall is a monstrous building just past Hong Kong Airport, and the industrial grey concrete seemed befitting.
It's funny how the world works. Only the other day I was complaining to a friend about the lack of musical events here in Guangzhou (or, at least, musical events I'd want to listen to) and that if anyone did come over and play, someone such as Muse for example, I'd buy a ticket in a heartbeat. A couple of weeks later and I'm watching TV when an advert comes on for a concert... Muse are playing in Hong Kong - just two hours away. That's close enough for my prophecy! It took more than a couple of heartbeats, but suffice to say that I'm already booked in and feeling pretty pleased.
Let me start this by stating that Jazz is not my thing. Not at all. It instantly brings to mind Starbucks-esque nondescript croonings that send me to sleep faster than just about anything.
With that in mind the rest of this post is about Jazz. Twice.
It was with some trepidation that I found myself paying a visit to the Backstreet Jazz Bar, situated in the lovely environs of Guangzhou's Ersha Island. Around the corner is the Xinghai Concert Hall, and at the end of the street is the Pearl River. You can't be any better situated.
Theme: Guangzhou