The seed of a musical evolution

Midi Music Festival started out in life as a graduation ceremony and was the country's first of many music festivals. Chen Nan reports.

From a graduation ceremony at a Beijing music school to being the country's biggest outdoor rock music festival, Midi Music Festival has been "like a seed growing up fast and strong" over the past 11 years, says Zhang Fan, the head of Midi Music School.

In 2000, the first Midi Music Festival was held in Midi Music School - the country's first school of rock music, founded in 1993 - with 20 bands performing for two days, an event that attracted nearly 4,000 people.

In 2011, the festival will feature a series of events, lasting for six months, from the upcoming May Day holiday to the National Day holiday in October.

"Our goal is to make it a national event throughout the year," Zhang says. "People will be able to find an outdoor music festival to attend each month and in different cities.

"Going to a music festival has become a kind of lifestyle choice for ordinary people nowadays. It's not just a holiday for rock fans, but also a place for families and friends to have fun together."

When Midi Music School was founded, rock music appealed to a small but fervent band of devotees, who were hungry to explore the Western musical genre.

"When I was appointed as head of the school, I was a 26-year-old man who had fallen for rock 'n' roll," Zhang recalls, adding he was inspired by Cui Jian, the Chinese godfather of rock music, and his album Nothing to My Name.

"I listened to the song in 1986 for the first time. It was also the first time I was listening to a rock song with Chinese lyrics since all the rock songs were imported from the West then," he recalls.

In 2002, Zhang, together with some of the school's other graduates who are big names in the Chinese rock world - such as Miserable Faith, AK 47 and Brain Failure - succeeded in moving the festival outside the school, which marked the establishment of the first outdoor music festival in China.

Though the festival was not profitable for the first five years, Zhang says, the audience kept expanding.

In October 2010, Midi Music Festival, held in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province, attracted nearly 100,000 fans, with more than 100 bands from China and abroad performing at the four-day event.

In 2009, Midi Music School held the first Rock Music Awards and the lifetime achievement award-winner was Cui Jian.

Zhang is proud to note that his idol, Cui, calls Midi Music "the only music festival taking place in China for the sake of music".

"My intention was to tell people that rock musicians should be treated like stars. They deserve respect like artists in any other field," Zhang says. "Being a rock band in China used to be so miserable. The rockers were poor and the performance conditions were bad. Now, it's so much better. At least they can make ends meet by performing and most importantly, they are respected."

Government support has been crucial for Zhang. In 2011, Midi Music Festival received funding of 500,000 yuan ($76,780) from the Beijing government.

Since Midi Music Festival arrived on the scene the festival circuit has grown wildly and in 2010, nearly 100 music festivals were held throughout the country.

"I think the boom in festivals around the world has been a combination of things," says Shen Lihui, the founder of Modern Sky Record Company, which is the organizer of Modern Sky Music Festival and Strawberry Music Festival.

"First, music fans love live music and enjoy the chance to get together with other fans of their favorite artists. Secondly, as record sales decline and global superstars have become rarer, the idea of offering music lovers a variety of acts has become very attractive."

Shen's festivals were the first to become cultural carnivals and showed what could be accomplished when cash and creativity were combined.

Shen expanded the Strawberry Music Festival, based in Beijing, to take it on the road to Xi'an, Shaanxi province, in 2010.

"Beijing is considered to be the core of rock music, but many musical talents have fan bases in other cities," Shen says.

Both Zhang and Shen say they are not concerned about competition from the increasing number of music festivals popping up around the country.

"We have different audiences and we have something new each year," says Shen, who added a skating contest to the Strawberry Music Festival in 2010.

Midi Music Festival has rock-themed photo exhibitions and video shows to go with the music.

"Midi Music Festival will carry on because it maintains the spirit of rock and music quality. I believe that it also works for other music festivals, though we have different characteristics," Zhang says.

(China Daily 04/30/2011 page7)