Yan Jun on China's Experimental Music Scene and Its Challenges
Yan Jun, a Beijing artist central to China's experimental music scene, discusses his multifaceted role as artist, writer, curator, and label owner in an interview with Rudolph Hudsucker. He describes the scene's emergence from the post-Cultural Revolution void, the influence of dakou CDs and broadband internet, and the crystallization of a network in the early 2000s. Yan criticizes the current scene for lacking maturity and quality, citing laziness and musical malnourishment among Chinese artists. He reflects on his 2001 'Tree Village Declaration' against the film 'Beijing Rocks', now advocating for avoiding declarations to fight the 'spectacle machine'. Yan plans a Beijing tour of home concerts and emphasizes DIY ethics. The interview touches on China's unique capitalism, the impact of the Cultural Revolution, and the dark mood post-1989.
Key facts
- Yan Jun is a Beijing artist, writer, curator, and label owner (Subjam, Kwanyin Records).
- He began the weekly music event Waterland Kwanyin in 2005 at 2 Kolegas pub, ending in January 2010 after 167 shows.
- Yan curates a monthly performance at UCCA in Beijing.
- He organizes the annual Mini Midi festival at Midi Music Festival, attracting up to 1,000 people.
- The first wave of experimental musicians in the 1990s used dakou CDs dumped by Western record companies.
- Hong Kong musician Dickson Dee brought experimental musicians like Otomo Yoshihide and John Zorn to China.
- Broadband internet in the early 2000s allowed deeper understanding of avant-garde music.
- Yan co-wrote 'The Sound of the Underground, Experimental and Non-Academic Musics in China' with Zbigniew Karkowski.
Entities
Artists
- Yan Jun
- Rudolph Hudsucker
- Dickson Dee
- Otomo Yoshihide
- Keiji Haino
- Jon Rose
- John Zorn
- Eye Yamatsuka
- Zbigniew Karkowski
- Lee Kit
- Liu Xiaobo
- Iannis Xenakis
- Karlheinz Stockhausen
- Jason Kahn
- William Basinski
- Dave Phillips
- Derek Bailey
- John Oswald
- Chris Watson
- Alvo Noto
- Carsten Nicolai
- Merzbow
- Yao Jui-chung
- Mabel Cheung
- Zhang Wanting
Institutions
- Afterall
- Subjam
- Kwanyin Records
- 2 Kolegas
- UCCA
- Midi Music Festival
- White Fungus
- Nobel Prize
Locations
- Beijing
- China
- Taiwan
- Hong Kong
- Japan
- Shanghai
Sources
- Afterall —