Presenting international pop music as a
form of artistic expression is a tricky proposition in China. The government’s
strict censorship regime extends not just to the content of books, magazines,
films and the Internet, but also to music. Hence, one of the most thankless
jobs in the country is that of a concert promoter.
While aged balladeers like Whitney Houston,
Michael Bolton, Celine Dion and Mariah Carey have had relatively little trouble
gaining a license to perform concerts in China, more risqué musical offerings
are frequently ‘cancelled’ some time between the concert announcement and the
set date. In recent years Robbie Williams, Britney Spears, Oasis and, now,
Justin Timberlake have all announced and then been unable to deliver concerts in
China.
Of those that did perform,
Elton John
produced one of his most insipid shows in recent memory, Linkin Park
gave an
outdoor stadium gig in mid-Winter, and both Norah Jones and Diana Krall
threatened to walk off stage due to repeated interruptions by mobile
telephones in the crowd. Infamously, the 2006 concert in Shanghai by the
Rolling
Stones made headlines mostly for the set list editing imposed by
government
officials, which deemds four of the band’s most famous songs –Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Woman, Beast of
Burden and Let's Spend the Night
Together – as too risqué to perform.
The licensing regime for foreign performers
was noticeably tightened after a controversial March 2008 performance by Icelandic singer
Bjork, during which she made reference to Tibet. Even today, online articles about
the concert are blocked by the Great Firewall of China.
Given this backdrop, congratulations are
due to the Park Hyatt Shanghai, which celebrated its first anniversary this
week with a private party headlined by a rousing concert from Chico and the
Gypsies, led by the founder of the Gypsy Kings, Chico Bouchikhi. Featuring all the
Gypsy Kings hits from the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band presented their addictive brand of Spanish
Gypsy music that fuses both Flamenco and upbeat Rumba Catalan. The response of the audience to the concert
was duende – a euphoric, almost
trancelike state “that spontaneously arises in the listener when he experiences
a performance on a level far beyond what his ears and eyes bring to him.” Bamboleo,
indeed.
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