Regarding the title: This post isn’t about politics, it’s merely a whimsical twist on the title of Neil Young’s classic song that was too irresistible to pass up.
Cultural exchange can only take place on common ground. What is needed is something shared. A universal language. Thankfully, for those of us who don’t play ping pong (except on Nintendo Wii), there’s rock and roll.
Rock music is an ideal medium for cross-cultural understanding in many ways. Drums, bass, and melody are multilingual. Even the lyrics carry rock and roll’s rebellious undertones, which are recognizable in any region.
That’s what brought Ning and me to the 2009 InMusic Festival, held in the grasslands where Beijing ends and the Mongolian Steppe begins.
Here’s a short video documentary that we made:
Interestingly enough, InMusic occurred on the 40-year anniversary of the most famous music festival of all time, Woodstock. So since someone is bound to ask it, I will go ahead and bring it up, “Was it Chinese Woodstock?” The short answer is no. The fact that this concert was allowed to happen means that nothing too devious was likely to take place. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty of self-expression in the air. Despite the presence of a volunteer army (who seemed more interested in singing along than security … check out the video to see what I’m talking about), it definitely smelled like teen spirit … and Chinese BBQ.
More info about the InMusic festival on a blog dedicated to the Chinese music scene, China Music Radar.
