Going Underground

At opposite ends of Nanshan, two pillars emerge to support the emerging Shenzhen underground.

Funky (Wen Fung) is a larger than life character. Tall, thick-set and intense, he looks more like a North-Easterner than a Hunanese. Yet he is proud to be a Southerner. When I tell him Beijiningers often say the south has no culture he grows annoyed and scoffs at the idea. “Guangzhou is full of culture, Changsha; so many cities are full of culture.” He shakes his head with distaste. “What do they know?” he asks dismissively.
After three years working as a professional drummer in LA, Funky returned to his beloved Shenzhen believing in the potential and opportunity the new city had for creating an underground music scene. He is now the music promoter and drummer extraordinaire of ‘c:union,’ (一渡堂) a music and art cooperative that relocated to the Loft Art District late last year. After Funky extinguishes his cigarette, we continue to discuss the criticisms labelled on Shenzhen by artists based in Xian, Beijing or even Guangzhou. “They say there is no history here and therefore no culture. They say the musicians are all money motivated. They miss what makes Shenzhen unique. It’s a migrant city and attracts high-calibre people from all over China and abroad. It’s the perfect melting pot - an excellent base for creating an art-scene. We have musicians from Xinjiang, Shanxi, Beijing and America, regularly playing in c:union; it’s an eclectic mix.”
I ask him if he thinks there is an underground scene in Shenzhen.
“What is underground music?” he replies. “Can underground music be professional or is it amateur by nature? Can underground musicians be famous? Let me explain to you,” he lights another cigarette and gulps at his tea. “Yerboli (Xinjiang folk singer and resident c:union musician) is professional. We just toured in Taiwan, next Beijing and perhaps Europe in the near future. This is not amateur. Is Yerboli famous? He’s not a KTV star, he is not on television or in magazines, but he is known throughout the artistic circles in China. So he is famous, and he is a professional. He is also a permanent Shenzhen based underground artist.”
Yerboli’s Band seems to summarize what Funky means when he talks about cosmopolitan Shenzhen. The band is made up of members from every corner of China, from inner-Mongolia, to Hunan from Beijing to Xinjiang.
I tell him what most disappoints me about musicians in Shenzhen is that they are all about making money and playing covers. He agrees this is a problem.
“Everyone wants to copy the western style. Bars employ business-musicians and cover artists. We in c:union are trying to change this culture, invest in talent and work as a family. I only allow original music to be played at the bar and I give people opportunities - whether they are from Mongolia or the US, if they have talent, I will let them play and if they are professional and popular, I will get my returns.”
Funky is not only promoting local talent but bringing touring bands to the city as well. Last week saw rockabilly band ‘El Destroyo’ shake the house and this Thursday the 19th Chinese punk pioneers ‘Reflector’ will be playing.
“They were one of the fist Chinese punk outfits to visit the US,” he claims proudly.
I conclude are discussion by asking him what he envisions for the future. As he nurtures local talent and promotes touring artists what will be the fruits of his labour? Characteristically Hunanese, he relays his optimism for the future ambiguously, by modifying the famous Chairman Mao by saying; “if good people are many, strength will be even greater.”
At the other end of Nanshan district Leon Clark, slap bass player in Punk/Funk outfit ‘Bolt Action’ is busy erecting another pillar in the newly carved-out underground cavern. “Two week ago we held a show in Jim’s Bar in Shekou.” The modestly titled, ‘Greatest Live Show in the History of Shenzhen,’ attracted nearly five-hundred people. “This proves there is an appetite in the city for good live music!” he exclaims.
Leon had been trying to promote such an event for sometime. Inspired by the RocknRoll review shows of the US and the Hong Kong underground sessions, Leon felt that Shenzhen musicians needed a break. However, when he tried to put his plan into action, bar managers all around the city seemed closed to the idea of a giant jam session. “I could get shows for my band,” he says leaning forward, “but they didn’t want the storm that I suggested come with it.” By “storm” Leon meant new and inexperienced bands.
Perhaps this is the problem, I suggest to him: The closed mindset of the bar managers. If nobody nurtures talent it will die out or go elsewhere. Leon agrees, saying this mentality is what had motivated him to put the show on.
“It was a chance for non-house bands to play, meet and interact with other musicians. Other bars didn’t want to gamble on such a project. Jim’s bar took a chance with us.”
Judging by the highlights on Leon’s on you tube channel, the musicians quite literally took Shekou by storm, prompting Jim’s bar to agree to second event to be held on April the 24th.
Like Funky, Leon is all about community. “Musicians and bands shouldn’t compete with one another. We should help each other.” Indeed, Leon seems to live by this philosophy, putting student bands from Shenzhen Polytechnic and Shenzhen University (Lava and Domestic Jokers, respectively) on the bill with mature, ex-pat rock outfits.
When I express that I feel there should still be some measure of quality control, even when your trying to help new-comers, Leon simply says: “The next event will be better,” before boldly adding “and all original music. No covers.”
While bars in Coco Park and Shekou still populate their stages with show bands and cover artists, it would seem that the cracks are beginning to show. An appetite amongst foreigners and locals alike for high quality and original music was perhaps, inevitable. Whether or not the optimism of Funky or Leon manages to create an established scene in the future, remains to be seen, but for now at least, any interested customer or aspiring musician can ignore the karaoke house and go rock-out instead.