| Tang Dynasty | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Beijing, China |
| Genres | Chinese rock Art rock Progressive rock Ethno-Rock Heavy metal |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Labels | China Fire-Magic Stone-Rock Records (1992-1997), Jingwen Records (1998-2001), Jingguan Records (present) |
| Associated acts | Budaoweng Black Panther Breathing Cui Jian White Angel The Micro-organists |
| Members | |
| Ding Wu (vocals, acoustic guitar) Chen Lei (guitar) Gu Zhong (bass) Zhao Nian (percussion, drums) |
|
| Past members | |
| Zhang Ju (deceased) Kaiser Kuo Andrew Szabo Liu Yijun (guitar) |
|
Tang Dynasty (Chinese: 唐朝; pinyin: Táng Cháo) is a Chinese ethnic-art rock and prog-metal band that is often credited as being the first heavy metal band in China.
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Tang Dynasty rose to fame with their first major album "A Dream Return to Tang Dynasty" (1991/2). The album officially sold about 2,000,000 authentic copies throughout Asia and abroad, not counting the multitudes more of pirated copies. Their sound is part progressive rock and artistic metal and part traditional Chinese vocal techniques with lyrical poetry and musical arrangements meant to hearken back to the glorious days of ancient Chinese civilization; in particular, the art and cultural epitome of Chinese history as popularly represented by the era of the Tang Dynasty.
Tang Dynasty soon became the icon of Chinese hard rock music, and their guitarist Liu Yijun (刘义军), also known as "Lao Wu", became the first rock guitar hero in China. Bassist Zhang Ju, died in 1995 while riding his motorcycle from fellow rock bassist friend Chen Jin's home, when an accident occurred involving a collision with a truck on the Zizhuqiao freeway overpass in western Beijing. This dealt a heavy blow to the band. Liu Yijun left the band in 1996 and was replaced by original founding member Kaiser Kuo, a Chinese-American who formed the band with Ding Wu and Zhang Ju in 1989.
In 1991, the band released its metal rock version of The Internationale in Chinese.
The band's 1998 release "Epic" was their second album, 7 years after their debut record. Epic did maintain a level of artfully composed series of new prog-metal rock songs that helped bring success to their debut album, but may otherwise be described as a little bit more of a straight-ahead rock album with somewhat less ethnic orientation. The album received lukewarm reviews. Nevertheless, the album was still popular enough to elicit waves of unauthorized copies in the pirated market. In June 1999, Kaiser Kuo again parted company with Tang Dynasty and later formed another well-recognized Chinese metal-rock band, Spring and Autumn (Chunqiu). Kuo was replaced for a period by former Iron Kite front man Yu Yang, and then by young guitar virtuoso Chen Lei, who joined the band in late 2000. In 2002, Lao Wu rejoined the group and Tang Dynasty is at its present five-man band form, featuring contrasting styles of Chen Lei and Lao Wu both exchanging and interplaying guitar work, and fattening-up their overall live sound with Ding Wu's occasional coloring in their sound palette with a third guitar. In January 2009, Lao Wu announced his second departure of the band due to "personal reasons" and "in cooperation with the idea of music with the band"; he is now working with an Austrian neo-classical rock artist on an album stated to be out by 2010. Ding is currently filling the spot of the second guitarist.[1] As of February 2010, Ding Wu has announced that the band is preparing for the fourth release due out later in the year[2]
Tang Dynasty released their third album "Langman Qishi" in mid-2008, featuring "Feng Shan Ji" as the album's lead track. [1] Tang Dynasty are featured in the documentary by Sam Dunn, Global Metal.[3]