Besides open mics you are usually going to get paid for gigs.
I know I have played government sponsored monkey shows before. Better call beijing, its really out of control!!!!
The music scene is missing a few things. The first is sufficient enough musicians to get things going. I dont know how many times have I been to an open mic and there has been no bass player. I know the kind of scene you want marc, but its going to be impossible with this many people. I have lived in cities where they had scenes like that, but there were 5x the amount of musicians. 3 bands would play in one night at one bar.
The next issue is venues. Besides mask and wenlin jiyi there arent many decent venues to play for a full band. Even mask is tough because the stage is too small, and any other place wont have grounding and whoever is singing risks getting electrocuted.
My last issue with open mics is this: too many bands come and try to make a performance out of it, not share the stage. Open mic isnt a place for bands to practice or perform, its a place to jam with other people. no one should be on the stage for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time if there are other people there waiting to play. I have been to many open mics and left early because the band wont get off the stage and wont even ask if anyone else wants to jam.
Right, no bass player, so you need to teach a local Chinese musician how to play your music. That solves the bass player problem. Are you willing to do it? The number of Chinese and non-Chinese musicians in Kunming is absolutely huge, the problem is no one is willing to work to make a healthy music. environment But they sure as hell are willing to work to make 1000RMB a pop at a monkey gig. Aint that right? There are several venues with drum kits: Mask, Wenlin, Nashville, Camel, Bridge. If there is no drumkit, then we bring in an E-Drum. Grounding issues can be solved by changing wiring. For god's sake, the air we breathe everyday and food we eat is already polluted, may as well add in the risk of getting electrocuted. If you don't like how an open-mic is run, well that's cool, but you can certainly start one up at another venue. That is actually the ultimate goal, get as many jams and open-mics going as possible. Give the commercial gig scene to the Chinese musicians, abandon it, it is of no use to us.
Can somebody give Marc a massive bong please?
So anyway, all others in touch with reality, what do you think about the rates structure?
Do we agree on these, or should we go higher/lower?
marc you have to be realistic, if a decent music scene didn't come up in 10 years you're not gonna see it soon/...rocket u right, not enough musicians in town and another bad thing, people leave so early, the time to set up a band and get a good sound and players are already leaving km, that's something bad on this city about steady cultural life...i dont think u can blame monkey gigs for that, actually they give space to performers who are not confident enough to jump on stage, they can practice with no pressure on a monkey show and then get things done and join a band..
bar jams are messy and often taken over by small groups,just they should be more organised by an host or something, back home you have a limited amount of time to perform and that makes things more enjoyable for performers and audience..
rocket I already wrote I support your idea, let's try to meet to talk about it in front of a beer and try to improve things, where and when would be good?
Until some form of psychic unity arrives from the heavens and plants the notion into the brains of every laowai who picks up a guitar or tambourine in this fair city, a union will not work. Like Roberto said, there will always be a student or itinerant backpacker who will play for less. I think the two issues in this thread are mutually exclusive: forming a music scene that respects music more and monkey shows. They're two different animals and as a vet of playing in KM for 5 years, I've always treated them that way. However, I've also seen my fair share of musicians in this town who really enjoy both types of performances and get more than just money out of the monkey shows...just like geosax stated. Why such seriousness to this issue? Music is music. I grew to hate the monkey show circuit for many of the reasons listed above but there is no reason to impose some high and mighty moral code on newbies or oldies who use the circuit as a parallel revenue stream or as a way to connect with others. Are we going to get together and issue official cabaret licenses next? The way KM is developing, I'm certain that a government crackdown on entertainers is coming, much like GuangZhou, anyway.
I was a drummer/beginning guitar player when I first came to KM and I used the circuit to get better in a performance setting. Thankfully there were open mics around that let me develop as well. There have been a lot of ebbs and flows to this music scene, but I think its pretty damn healthy, although, definitely in need of a better venue.
Marc0746, there is no way that more gigs will be created for Chinese musicians if each and every one of us boycotted. Why do locals stare at us? Because we're different and many local people have led culturally/ethnically homogenous lives since birth. A foreign face is something that draws bodies to an event out of deep-seated curiosity. This is what our employers are counting on so they can bait and switch prospective customers into considering buying their product. "Just another Chinese band" won't draw. I hate this, but I think it does no harm to Chinese musicians...the gig wouldn't have been there for them anyway! Some of us have seen how difficult it is to be accepted at a monkey show with even ONE band member who is Chinese!
In a more productive vein, I think it would be awesome to somehow get our hands on a sweet loft-style venue and have it completely controlled by investing local musicians. Any and all welcome. Nicely tuned sound system. Adjoining practice spaces. Video and audio recording available. Cheap beer. All for music. Breaking even, not amassing profits as the goal.
Ok, give me another bong hit and a few more beers, and I for sure will come around to adhering to the thinking of the current regime. Yes, reminds me of the stoner from Colorado a few years ago outside of the Psycho Graphics T-shirt shop who wanted to kick my little white butt because I wouldn't let his stoned pathetic buddy get on stage and play open-mic. Yes, we are all controlled by one chemical or another, right.
The message is clear, commercial gigs belong to the Chinese musicians, that is where there strength lies, in entertainment. But westerners are different, our strength lies in defining what is known as a true music scence, as it exists in every major city in the west. It too can exist in the east. It's not going to come from a couple of honkies dumping money into their own venue, unless you open 50 at once. It's going to come from a boatload of honkies introducing a western-style music scene to the already existing bars in Kunming.
Send another bong hit my way...
On an invididual basis, I sincerely ask each one of you: "What have you personally done to contribute to the growth of music in Kunming in the past 5-10 years? What have you done to give both Chinese and Western musicians an equal platform on which to practice music?" The answer, not a thing, except make excuses for why Kunming music sucks so bad, or make excuses for why something won't work. Sounds like true communism in most beautiful and elegant form.
The self righteousness over-floweth...
Yeah, right, put that mirror on your own face. It's clear there are no supporters of Kunming music in this forum. I am Jesus, the son of God, I am the self-righteous, please crucify me, do with me as you wish, and I forgive everyone of you, because Father, they know not what they do. Happy now???
I guess that means the forum doesn't want to come to our humble Blues Jam this Wednesday at Wenlin, haha:) That's ok, no problem, I understand. Oh by the way, there's a monkey gig next week, 1000 a man, need a bass player, 4 people minimum? Anybody in?
