I have been active in the "Lao Wai Gig" (a gig that only hires foreigners) scene since arriving in Chengdu almost a year ago. These corporate shows have always been particularly high paying, yet the music can be embarrassingly bad at times. Agents will take anyone who can hit a bongo or a tambourine as long as he or she has a foreign face. In some instances foreigners are hired to open doors, pour wine, or even just stand around and do absolutely nothing other than smile.
Lately I have felt a shift in this strange phenomenon. These days I have been getting calls specifically asking for jazz musicians. In some instances the agents are willing to bend the rules and hire Chinese if it means filling out the group with a pianist or drummer. When I first arrived here most people did not really know what jazz was, now it feels like there is a serious buzz in the air about it.
Although this development is very promising and exciting, a disturbing trend has been taking hold as well. Some of the agents calling for these gigs are now specifically asking for 'white only.' Through the grapevine I have heard that one particular group of black performers left a bad impression at several venues. Prejudices were quickly stoked throughout the corporate music scene and anyone with darker skin is suddenly finding it difficult to find work in this field. While this has not affected my band, it has affected some of my peers here in Chengdu. Some are beginning to make plans to head out and find work elsewhere.
Has anyone felt the affects of racism or other biases in different parts of China?
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Chinese New Year Plans Finalized, Sort Of
Just yesterday I was ready to post that our New Year plan was fixed. We had dates for gigs in Shanghai and Hangzhou, airplane tickets purchased, hotel reservations made, but a wrench has been thrown into the works. Apparently a plane ticket from Shanghai to our final travel destination of Urumqi in Xinjiang was double the typical price due to the high demand during the Chinese New Year travel season. Standing in line waiting for a train ticket would also have been prohibitively time consuming given our performance schedule. There would also be no guarantee of actually getting the ticket.
Our new travel arrangement is to fly from Chengdu to Xinjiang on the 25th of this month, spend a couple weeks traveling, slaughtering some lambs, drinking Bai Jiu, and mainly just trying to stay warm up there in the frozen desert. Once the crazy holiday bustle slows down, we will take the two to three day train ride from Xinjiang back to Chengdu, enjoying what should be some incredible views from the train window. Once we are back in Chengdu we will continue preparing for a jazz concert series being held by the JZ jazz clubs of Hangzhou and Shanghai. We should be slotted for a performance sometime during the next month. Check back for more updates though as this current plan could very well be tossed out in the next few days.
In other news, the band played a very well received show at the Little Bar 小酒馆 on Friday. The stage is almost exclusively used for rock and metal bands, so it was a pleasant surprise to get such a warm reception from the crowd and management. In fact, talks are currently underway to set up a semi-regular performance. The Lao Wai Jazz Note will keep you posted!
Our new travel arrangement is to fly from Chengdu to Xinjiang on the 25th of this month, spend a couple weeks traveling, slaughtering some lambs, drinking Bai Jiu, and mainly just trying to stay warm up there in the frozen desert. Once the crazy holiday bustle slows down, we will take the two to three day train ride from Xinjiang back to Chengdu, enjoying what should be some incredible views from the train window. Once we are back in Chengdu we will continue preparing for a jazz concert series being held by the JZ jazz clubs of Hangzhou and Shanghai. We should be slotted for a performance sometime during the next month. Check back for more updates though as this current plan could very well be tossed out in the next few days.
In other news, the band played a very well received show at the Little Bar 小酒馆 on Friday. The stage is almost exclusively used for rock and metal bands, so it was a pleasant surprise to get such a warm reception from the crowd and management. In fact, talks are currently underway to set up a semi-regular performance. The Lao Wai Jazz Note will keep you posted!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Tackling Written Chinese
For the first five or six months I spent in China I completely avoided the written language. For a while I learned Mandarin purely by listening and repeating, eventually learning the "pinyin" system, which is the English spelling of Chinese words. Initially frustrated by my inability to converse with people, my goal was to learn as many new words as quickly as I could. Learning characters seemed like a waste of time. My visual memory is definitely not up to the level of my musically trained ear, and characters seemed so complex and arbitrary.
My strategy worked, for a while. I definitely surprised myself at how quickly I picked up the spoken language and could understand and speak with people. After a few months in Chengdu however I started to realize it may have been a mistake to completely gloss over the written aspect of the language. Every text message I received, no matter how simple, required a translator. Looking for a particular store always required help from nearby shop owners. My favorite restaurants were always the ones with English menus, or at least those with pictures.
So as of a few months ago I broke down and got a couple Chinese text books for learning characters. My goal was to learn the characters for all the words I already knew how to say. It seemed daunting, but I at least wanted to give it a try. Now into my third textbook series (the first two earned well deserved places on the shelf) I believe I have struck language learning gold.
EazyChinese's "Magical Chinese Characters" series is exactly what I needed to make this process easier. One particular focus of this series is to explain why a character looks the way it does. Whether it's a visual depiction, shares the sound of a similar character, or carries some historic meaning, the book is great at finding a device to easily remember the character's structure. With the other books it was all about repition and forced memorization. The "Magical" series is about finding the rhyme and reason, looking at the glue that holds this surprisingly logical language together.
One thing this series lacks is guided practice. There is little room reserved for exercises or other memorization techniques. This is where you need to be a little creative. I've set up a system of flash cards and writing sentences to help retain everything I learn. There is a text accompanying each lesson to practice reading, and it helps to see any new vocabulary in context. The book also comes with a CD which could be used to practice dictation as well as listening skills.
Initially I was worried that spending all this time bringing my written skills up to the level of my spoken skills would slow down my progress. In fact, I think I've found that learning to read and write is really integral in understanding this language, and will definitely help me learn at a much faster rate in the future.
For anyone who has been reluctant to learn the written side, yet speaks decent conversational Mandarin, I fully reccommend EazyChinese. Here's the Amazon link.
My strategy worked, for a while. I definitely surprised myself at how quickly I picked up the spoken language and could understand and speak with people. After a few months in Chengdu however I started to realize it may have been a mistake to completely gloss over the written aspect of the language. Every text message I received, no matter how simple, required a translator. Looking for a particular store always required help from nearby shop owners. My favorite restaurants were always the ones with English menus, or at least those with pictures.
So as of a few months ago I broke down and got a couple Chinese text books for learning characters. My goal was to learn the characters for all the words I already knew how to say. It seemed daunting, but I at least wanted to give it a try. Now into my third textbook series (the first two earned well deserved places on the shelf) I believe I have struck language learning gold.
EazyChinese's "Magical Chinese Characters" series is exactly what I needed to make this process easier. One particular focus of this series is to explain why a character looks the way it does. Whether it's a visual depiction, shares the sound of a similar character, or carries some historic meaning, the book is great at finding a device to easily remember the character's structure. With the other books it was all about repition and forced memorization. The "Magical" series is about finding the rhyme and reason, looking at the glue that holds this surprisingly logical language together.
One thing this series lacks is guided practice. There is little room reserved for exercises or other memorization techniques. This is where you need to be a little creative. I've set up a system of flash cards and writing sentences to help retain everything I learn. There is a text accompanying each lesson to practice reading, and it helps to see any new vocabulary in context. The book also comes with a CD which could be used to practice dictation as well as listening skills.
Initially I was worried that spending all this time bringing my written skills up to the level of my spoken skills would slow down my progress. In fact, I think I've found that learning to read and write is really integral in understanding this language, and will definitely help me learn at a much faster rate in the future.
For anyone who has been reluctant to learn the written side, yet speaks decent conversational Mandarin, I fully reccommend EazyChinese. Here's the Amazon link.
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