The first ever Strawberry Music Festival came to a close in China on May 3rd, in Tongzhou Canal Park in Beijing. The festival was sponsored by China’s largest indie music label, Modern Sky and had some big names, and an interesting mix of artists. There was indie headed towards mainstream pop (AOK band) and mainstream headed towards more indie (Joanna Wang), indie going even more indie (Cao Fang) and artists that are supposedly pop but haven’t released anything so you can’t be sure (Amu of Superboys fame.)
In comparison to Modern Sky’s Modern Sky Music Festival held in the fall, which is more about image and style and fanaticism, the Strawberry Music Festival has a more relaxed friendly feel. It’s not supposed to be a channel to vent anger but to encourage joy and love – “Strawberry. Love”. People could be seen spontaneously dancing, singing, playing games on the grass, and of course laughing and eating strawberries. During its three days, it brought a new type of music festival to China, or so its sponsors say.
Those looking for the old however, can look to China’s biggest and longest-running music festival, the Midi Modern Music Festival held in Zhenjiang, which started today (5/5) with opening act “father of Chinese rock” Cui Jian, a constant subject on this site, to whom I send lots of love and strawberries.
Get a better mascot, pronto, Modern Sky
What happened to keeping the swine-flu infested foreigners out China?
Prices have gone way up in China. Almost one dollar for that pin? No way.
2010 should see Brisbane band Atmosphere play at the Strawberry festival. They are awsome and play awsome Rock n Rol
tis’ true. chinese things so much more expensive now (like brands and such). i went and got an abercrombie shirt and returned to the US just to find it 50% cheaper. and not on sale or anything.
ive heard things like for every 1 USD you spend in the US you spend 3 USD in china . USD, not yuan
of course street vendors are still cheap…but the stuff in the malls or shops are not. anymore. TT TT
You mean Cao Fang? I have no idea, but I think it’s equipment because I think I saw a picture of Joanna Wang blowing into something similar.
Btw…I fail. The blue square thing is actually the mascot for the Shanghai 2010 World Expo. No wonder they’re so worried.
Looks like fun. I’m glad these indie artists are getting support, since there some really good artists outside of the mainstream. It looks like there are a lot of people there.
BTW, what is that girl blowing into (?) in the second to the last photo?
That looks like so much fun!
I’m glad that China’s Indie scene is getting more and more prominent. ^^//
@Nepheliad – I’d say the festival was fairly notable. It was covered on the major Chinese newspapers a lot during its run and there were quite a few articles before then.
I was debating whether to post on this, but the fact that it was reported on a lot swung me in favor of doing a post. That and the fact that I was impressed that Modern Sky was doing well enough two start two festivals within years of each other.
When did China get so hipster???
No but seriously, I had a friend who just got back from China and she says that the music scene there is getting really great.
This looked like a lot of fun!
Strawberries yum….
Eh, flus of any kind aren’t really as big a deal during the summer, plus this one hasn’t really been proving particularly severe. Besides, from the looks of pic 11, it looks like they’re pig supporters. (Bad joke, I know.)
And I’ve actually seen that mascot before, but I didn’t recognize it last year. I’d been wondering what that was for.
Looks like it was a heck of a good time; seems more like the sort of concert I’d want to go to. As for advertising Amu, was this a very notable concert? If not, I can understand why they wouldn’t bother, given the genre.
Oh my, quarantining. I hope to goodness I don’t get quarantined when I go back to China this year [the only reason why my mother’s hesitating on buying plane tickets back].
LOL. I’m liking the strawberry theme going on. It’s very cute. But what is with that picture of the guy next to the police… I mean, what is he wearing on his head??
@chinkirox
I guess it kind of is like that, in that they’re both concert type venues with tents galore, except it’s more or less stationed in Beijing, like the Modern Sky Music Festival cause that’s where China rocks it out the most, and it’s going to be held yearly. Modern Sky for the fall and Strawberry will be for the summer. And then if they get big enough, they can be like Midi and get help in lesser known places for rock, such as Zhenjiang for some reason.
@idarklight
I thought the shirt was in German. Eeek. Don’t hate on me, people who know German. I liked how Hunan TV’s news site had one small article on Amu at this thing. Way to keep him on the radar eeMedia.
Lol at the “pick up square”…is that shirt suppose to have random letters?
is that like the warp tour or bamboozle?
i hope they wont quarantine mee!!!! lol jkjk
the strawberry concept is so cute