 |
|
Chris Liebing is an event headliner.
|
China's first electronic music festival is set to shake Beijing this weekend, giving DJs and their disciples the official stamp of approval for what used to be seen as a decadent Western youth movement.
INTRO 2009 (Ideas Need to Reach Out) stars more than 20 foreign and local VJs and DJs playing 15 hours of continuous music at D-Park in the 798 Art Zone, to an expected audience of 10,000 people.
Although its status as the first electronic music festival is disputed, it should be a groundbreaking event, further graphic proof of the country's opening-up. While festivals have become one of the rites of summer, raves or dance parties have until now been forced underground because of their association with illegal activities and drugs.
The situation came to a head in 2005 when a shindig on the Great Wall at Jinshanling, three hours from Beijing, was said to involve up to 1,500 revelers taking drugs, urinating and copulating on the World Heritage Site.
Local authorities had allowed some similar events to be held on the Wall (and elsewhere) since 1988 but the ensuing media storm prompted legislation protecting the Wall from similar depredations, effectively closing the doors on more raves.
Even so, big-name DJs and clubbing have become an integral part of the country's evolving entertainment scene. Following the Olympics last year and the government's more nurturing approach to youth culture, raves have been re-branded.
INTRO will focus on electronic music as an art form, hoping to drag rave out from its underground shadows into the light of day.
Acupuncture Records managing director Miao Wong says electronic music is not intrinsically anti-social. On the contrary, it is simply a kind of music played by DJs and a lifestyle choice for its fans. "There is always a positive and negative," she says. "People can do bad things but we want to focus on the bright side and do it right."
The Party supports this party. It is part of the Meet In Beijing Arts Festival, which is sponsored by the China Performing Arts Agency (CPAA), under the Ministry of Culture, Beijing municipal government and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
First held in 2000, the festival will have 50 performing groups this year, comprising 600 artists from 20 countries, including Scottish ballet, Spanish flamenco and tango from Argentina.
Wong says government involvement means that electronic music culture is "steered in the right direction".
"The CPAA is like a window for the world," she declares. "Nothing like this has been put on before. Chinese culture is usually associated with the Peking Opera, kungfu and acrobatics, that sort of thing. It doesn't really show off modern Chinese urban culture and we are doing that."
