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“I want 12,000 people dancing on Nanjing Road,” declares Marek Frydrych. This is one highlight of the Shanghai Carnival Frydrych, chairman of TROY Corp. has designed to usher in the three-week-long Shanghai Tourism Festival from September 14 to October 6.
The festivities will begin to the sound of two Chinese brass bands, which will greet visitors at the two entrances of Nanjing Pedestrian Road in the center of the city.
In the midst of Century Plaza on the pedestrian road, in a cloud of fireworks, golden paper flowers, clowns and acrobatics, dozens of mysterious, masked performers will show how the Carnival originated and developed into diverse styles in Brazil, Venice and France, and unmask themselves as the grand finale to the show.
Shanxi drummers, Shanghai Symphonic Orchestra and rock band “Snail” will perform, showcasing the contrast between the traditional Chinese, classical Western and avant-garde music, and the 40 semi-finalists in the 2002 Shanghai Tourism Look Contest will also take part in the festivities.
The first four hours will feature a galaxy of stars, including British singer/DJ Boy George, Hong Kong pop singer Eason Chen, British model/pop singer Samantha Fox, and Paolo Gualano Brazilian-Latin Revue, a 30-member Brazilian ensemble playing and dancing Samba and all the latino rhythms.
Bruce Wool from London is commissioned to compose music for the night.
At midnight, the DJs will take over: Boy George, a Swiss DJ Adamski and Swiss band Cheesebeat featuring two DJs and two musicians playing electronic music will spin dance tunes until 4 a.m. the next morning. The 10,000-square-meter Century Plaza will become an enormous dance floor.
Will 12,000 people be dancing in the streets? Maybe, maybe not. But Frydrych believes a street party will bring out the merry spirit in the people and provides an exciting opening gala for the annual tourism festival.
The Carnival marks the first time that the Shanghai government has commissioned to a company the opening ceremony of the city's annual tourism festival. Frydrych, a Chinese history major who came to Shanghai in 1984 to work for the Polish Consulate and has been here ever since, believes that what will attract people to Shanghai is culture.
But Shanghai's cultural development, he says, has lagged behind the spectacular growth of commerce, industry and finance. So he proposed to Vice Mayor Zhou Muyao about the idea of holding a carnival to highlight the city's cultural spirit.
Frydrych's proposal has born fruit. “This year we invite foreign companies to organize the opening ceremony and take part in the sourvinor exhibition. We have received many letters from dozens of countries to express their interest in the festival,'' said Dao Shumin, Vice Director of Shanghai Tourism Administrative Commission.
While Shanghai people are less outgoing than their Western counterparts, Frydrych, who also owns the Tropicana restaurant, is convinced that a street party will bring out the party animal in them. “I see at Tropicana that people want to dance,” he says confidently. “They may be shy the first time. But the next time will be better.”
Some 600 artists from 20 countries and regions have been committed to take part in the carnival, Frydrych says.
The street party will break up at 4 a.m. on September 15, but the carnival continues until September 21, as part of this year's tourism festival, with a variety of cultural and entertainment events in Century Plaza and People's Park from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. every evening. Artists and bands who debut on the opening night will stay at the plaza on Nanjing Road, while People's Park will become a studio for fine arts show and other performers.
By the park's limpid lotus pond, seven pianists will play classical pieces for visitors. At the hillside in the park, old black-and-white and silent movies produced early last century will be screened in open air.
Glass-painter Liu An will draw on the Park's glass house from the inside. Visitors can watch the progress of Liu's work each day, until the house is finally transformed into a giant “Tiffany lamp” illuminated from the inside. Some other artists will present their works inside this magic glass house as well: painter Cheng Qing and poet Zhai Yongming.
Located to the left of the glass house, a stage will be set up among illuminated trees for concerts works of Western classical, traditional Chinese, rock and pop, and jazz.
The company plans to build a stage and keep the stage for long there. They will help organizing different monthly or weekly events on the stage.
The show of Ringmaster Dr. Penguin from Britain will with his 17 friends will entertain kids at the children's playground in the park.
“Popular participation is the soul of the Carnival. I want to make something so interesting that we set the tradition of a Carnival every year. I hope the Carnival grows to become Shanghai's largest entertainment event of the year,” he says.
(eastday.com September 6, 2002)
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