What does it take to make a celebrity in China. There are many elements, but I can one thing for sure, and that is good PR and Marketing. Upon doing the Artistry tour, one of the artists I had to contend with was Hu Yanbin (胡彦斌) as well as the band Hua er (花儿). Now, I am not going to say anything about what my opinion of his music is, but I can say that he seems to enjoy what he is doing and people (at least some) like what he is doing. In short, he is popular so people are happy. What I do wonder though, is how long does this popularity last, and how much of it comes from the singer/talent himself?

What I have seen, especially in the Asian celebrity scene is celebrity performers which seem to be controlled far too much by their respective managers and companies. It seems as if these companies see the talent as just another product to be packaged, and when this one is no longer interesting, cast it off and find some other new one. Unfortunately, I think this formula, while it does showcase some good talent, all too often burns out great talent.

Perhaps instead of focusing on churning out the temporary super-pop hits, focus on creating entertainment with more longevity, albeit perhaps without the immediate popularity and immediate money stream. Perhaps this all comes back to the culture I have experienced here in China, where the focus is on making as much as you can now, and not concerning yourself with long term gains.

China has some amazing talent out there. Let’s just hope some more make it through the giant marketing machine of the industry to create some new classic entertainment.

Here are some more of my pictures from the Hennessy Artistry tour:

I recently had the pleasure of having Soler perform at one of my events for Hennessy. They are an interesting mix of ethnicities that would make your head spin. Their passion has always been for the music, and you can tell in the way they play. They are one of the very few bands to make it big in Hong Kong/China that has real talent.

It is refreshing to see a group of this caliber that are truly passionate about their music and not just after fame and glory. Upon talking with them you learn just how charming and humble these guys really are. All in all, a refreshing break from the norm around here.
Also of notable mention are the DJs from Union music, hailing from around the world, but now finding themselves around the world. They quickly learned what the Chinese expect and play what Chinese people like, yet still manage to play really good music in my opinion. Anybody that has been in the DJ business knows that is sometimes a hard line to ride.

The new Tanghui bar is turning into an artists den. On most nights they have live bands rocking it up. Mondays now they host actors and other industry people in “Acting Up“. Actors can meet like minded thespians, and a lot of improv has been seen going on around.

Now Tanghui is calling all those aspiring musicians to come down and match wits in the Battle of the Bands! There will be several rounds all on upcoming Saturdays and Sundays, finally culminating in the final battle on September 23rd and 24th.

If that wasn’t enough, the East West Theater company is preparing to stage a murder mystery event at Tanghui sometime in September. A real whodunit type party, the guests will have to figure out who killed who. The EWTC performers have not disappointed yet, so I am looking forward to this one!

One way or another, I see Tanghui as becoming the haven for those performer and creative types in Shanghai. Rock on!

Update:
Tanghui will also be hosting a pemiere of a short movie this coming Sunday. It was shot entirley in Shanghai by locals anf foreigners living in Shanghai. For those apiring filmmakers, it will be a great opportunity to show what Shanghai based talent can do!

This is something that Shanghai could use with more of. No, RESISTANCE is not some anti-government group bent on “resisting” the imperialist regime. In fact it is far from political. Using their words: “RESISTANCE ASIA is a movement that puts music first, helping people to understand and enjoy intelligent and unique music.”

Basically fed up with all the bad club music RESISTANCE puts the focus on the music. They create a whole culture with their music. Once you hear their music, you know what it’s all about. Check out their website for more info on their upcoming events.

This ain’t your momma’s party. In a sort of underground way, RESISTANCE has been creeping up on Shanghai. Probably many of you have heard the name or seen the logo around someplace. All you need to know, is that if you see a party with the RESITANCE logo, you know there is good music and a fun time to be had. If you want to go chat with your friends, this is not the party for you.

Just after planetkarl.com got the info about Tyson’s proposed visit, I came across this interesting article over at Shanghaiist. Apparently Shanghai is full of celebrities these days. The Rolling Stones are set for a tour date in Shanghai as mentioned in this site.

Some of you may remember their first planned trip into China way back in April 2003. Well in case you missed that one, you can catch them April 8 in the Pearl city.

Update: Sorry, or course they actually never made it into China in 2003 due to SARS. Thanks J.Hall.

Yes folks, in Hong Kong on Wednesday, was held the China Music Billboard Awards. Quite a mouthful eh? Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue like “Grammies”. Actually, they are more of an equivalent to the MTV music awards.

Reading on, they was an amusing excerpt from a article I found:

…this year’s awards seem to reflect music listeners’ tastes and public opinion more than ever.

Right, so before it was more about what the music corporations and government said what was good. Who cares about public opinion when they have to listen to you? Seriously though, it is good to see the music market in the whole China - Hong Kong - Taiwan triad becoming more for the people. No, really. Perhaps it is through more crossovers such as this we can see people start to forget about all the animosity built up between these three groups.

Even so, it is of note that the winners were separated into two areas namely Hong Kong/Taiwan and Mainland China. This means there were winners in the same categories twice, once for each region.

It was organized by the major pushers in the music television market- Shanghai Media Group, CCTV and China’s answer to MTV, channel V. Of note is that these companies are headquartered in Shanghai (SMG, V) and Beijing (CCTV) and the award were held in Hong Kong. This could be for a number of reasons, but I feel it was twofold- To gain a more open playing field and to appeal to a bigger audience.

There were many artists, winning many awards and hopefully we can see this sort of thing get more international exposure in the future.