Aug
5thGrooving in the Grasslands: Behind the scenes at Zhangbei InMusic Festival
Zhangbei, around 4 hours drive from the capital, close to Inner Mongolia, has been referred to as China’s Woodstock, but it commonly known as one of the more chaotic, gritty local festivals on the calendar. I went out there for the first time on the last day of last year’s festival and had so much fun I wanted to head back again this year. This I was planning on heading out again on the bus and camping, but the offer of joining friends who were performing was too good to turn down, so at 7am on the Sunday morning I headed out on the musicians bus with a bunch of sleepy bands due to play on the last day of the 3 day festival. 4 hours later, after passing wide open grasslands, wind-power turbines, and leaving the grey skies of Beijing far behind we arrived at band central, a holiday park full of chinese tourists staying in permanent yurt-style rooms just across the fields from the stages. If we were still in Hebei, it didn’t feel like it, during lunch we were serenaded by three horsehead fiddles – with a backing track of drum & bass and flashing lights and dancers! After last year’s experience, and the drama I had heard about, but not been affected by myself, this year seemed a lot more organized. Sure the acts were running late, starting the day about an hour behind, and ending up over 2 hours late, but I can say behind [...]
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'dazeFEAST 2012 - June 23rd at 2 Kolegas.
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