Cui Jian

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CUI JIAN 崔健
Background information
Birth name Cui Jian 崔健
Also known as Lao Cui 老崔
Origin Beijing, PRC
Genre(s) Rock
Rap
Techno
Years active 1984-present
Label(s) Beijing East-West
Website http://www.cuijian.com

Cui Jian (Chinese: 崔健; pinyin: Cuī Jiàn; Korean: 최건; born August 2, 1961) is a Beijing-based musician, songwriter, trumpet player, guitarist and composer. Affectionately called "Old Cui" (老崔), he is considered to be a pioneer in Chinese rock music and the first Chinese artist to break away from conventional Chinese popular forms and incorporate a Western rock style into his songs. For this distinction Cui Jian is sometimes referred to as the "father of Chinese rock". In his later works, he has also begun to experiment with rap music, adding a drummer/MC to his band for The Power of the Powerless (1998).

Contents

[edit] Early career

Cui Jian grew up in a musical family in Beijing - his father was a professional Korean trumpet player and his mother was a member of a Korean dance troupe. Cui Jian himself started playing the trumpet at the age of fourteen and joined the Beijing Philharmonic Orchestra in 1981, at the age of twenty. He was first introduced to rock during this period, when friends smuggled in illicit recordings from Hong Kong and Bangkok. Inspired by the likes of Simon and Garfunkel, and John Denver, Cui began learning to play the guitar.

In 1984 he formed Seven Ply Board with six other classically-trained musicians, including the saxophonist/suona player Liu Yuan. The seminal band was heavily influenced by the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Talking Heads. They performed their own works - mostly soft rock and love songs - in local hotels and bars.

Cui Jian first shot to stardom in 1985, when he performed "Nothing to My Name" (一无所有; pinyin: Yì Wú Suǒ Yǒu) on a television talent show. The next year he left his permanent job with the orchestra. His band, now renamed ADO, included two foreign embassy employees: Hungarian bassist Kassai Balazs and Madagascan guitarist Eddie Randriamampionona. His first real album, Rock and Roll on the New Long March, was released in 1986.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, along with artists such as He Yong, Cui created a hybrid and experimental music mix that cut across divisions between pop music genres. Cui's songs drew on folk and traditional music types, such as the peasant songs of the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi. At times they knowingly parodied old Communist Party sayings and proverbs. In 1991, for example, he set the old revolutionary song "Nanniwan" to rock music.

His earliest and best known works were spiced with Western popular music styles, such as punk, dance and jazz. Cui's advocation of a new internationalism and political awareness connected with many university students of the time.

[edit] Tiananmen and aftermath

Cui Jian reached the apogee of his popularity during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, when "Nothing to My Name" became an anthem to student protestors. Before the protests were violently broken up on June 4-5, Cui frequently appeared with the students and was affirmed by Wu'er Kaixi, one of the prominent leaders of the movement, as highly influential among young Chinese of the time. The following government crackdown forced many rock musicians, Cui Jian included, into hiding in the provinces. Surprisingly, sanctions proved relatively temporary and Cui was able to return to Beijing shortly afterward. In early 1990, he began his first rock tour entitled the "New Long March", with ten concerts scheduled in Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an, Chengdu and others. 1 million yuan was donated to help pay for the 1989 Asian Games. Probably because of the wild enthusiasm with which his tour was greeted, the latter half was cancelled by government order.

[edit] Later career

Despite the government's relative permissiveness with regard to his music, he remained unable to play large concert venues in Beijing. However, he has continued to play to sell-out crowds, in both large and small venues, across China. He has toured both Europe and the United States 4 times respectively, as well as played a number of shows in Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. He is the only modern musical act from the PRC to have made such an impact on the global music scene, and continues to be a point of focus for international news media coverage of Chinese cultural affairs.

In 2000 Cui Jian was awarded the Dutch royal family's prestigious Prince Claus Award recognizing positive artistic and intellectual influences on the broader culture and society.

In 2002 Cui Jian initiated, produced, and played at a major rock festival in the mountains of Yunnan province. The "Snow Mountain Music Festival" was a major media attraction and was reported ad nauseum by the international press as "China's Woodstock". This experience started a trend of outdoor music festivals in China.

The unofficial ban on large Cui Jian shows in Beijing lasted until 2003, when he was set to open for the Rolling Stones' concert in Beijing. In a 2003 interview Cui, who had taught himself to play the guitar in the 1980s by learning Rolling Stones and Beatles songs, was quoted as saying that he had three dreams: to perform in his home city of Beijing again, to see the Rolling Stones perform live, and to perform together with the Rolling Stones.[1] Due to the SARS outbreak, however, the concert was cancelled, and so it was not until March 2004, opening for Deep Purple on their tour of China, that Cui was finally able to perform before a stadium audience. On September 24, 2005 he was finally granted permission to headline at the Beijing Capital Stadium, which signified a major turn-around in government attitude towards Cui Jian and rock music in general. Unfortunately his recordings do not garner airplay on China's state-controlled radio stations.

Cui did finally play with the Rolling Stones at the Shanghai Grand Stage on April 8, 2006, singing and playing rhythm guitar with the Stones for the song "Wild Horses."[2] Following the performance, Cui was quoted as saying, "This is the 20th-year anniversary of Chinese rock 'n' roll... We have an appointment. In the near future, they will be back, and we'll rock again in Beijing."

[edit] Discography

[edit] Filmography

[edit] External links and references

[edit] See also

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