Sally Can't Dance: Experience the Front Line of China's Experimental Music Boom this Weekend
The (avant-garde) musical event of the month is without contest the fourth edition of Sally Can’t Dance. This lineup of mostly Chinese musical misfits will astound anyone that believes music shouldn’t be confined to outdated conceptions of theory or traditional instrumentation.
It’s a great entry point into the world of China’s highly developed underground other music (meaning not "indie" rock). Over the course of two nights (Nov 7-8) at School Bar you will experience everything from singing bowls (of the Tibetan variety), whirling dictaphones, maniacal guitar shredding, laptop tomfoolery, and plenty of other musical madness that is hard to classify but important to hear.
Unlike past Sally Can't Dances, which mainly featured a long list of individual performers, this year there will be longer sets and developed collaborations. Each day will feature six sets from artists using a more or less Fluxus approach towards composition. One highlight will be Torturing Nurse. Prolific is an understatement for this Shanghai-based sonic provocateur, who since 2004 has released over 100 recording around the world.
Sally Can’t Dance is co-organized by Zhu Wenbo (Zoomin’ Night) and Josh Feola (pangbianr / SmartBeijing), and will go on both Saturday and Sunday, with day (4-7pm) and night (9-12am) sessions.
More stories by this author here.
Email: danielkippwhittaker@thebeijinger.com
Photos from the organizer, prismomag.com
