Beijing Musicians Turn COVID-19 Response Up to 11

Drew Pittock, Contributing Editor | Apr 28, 2020 1:00 pm | Add a comment | 736 reads

If art imitates life, then it was only a matter of time before creatives found their place amidst the backdrop of COVID-19. From quarantine mind maps to minimal dance routines on makeshift “stages,” Beijingers have shown that three months of being stuck inside is enough to push anyone well beyond the limits of their imagination.

Likewise, musicians across the capital have also seized this opportunity to not only work the virus into their catalog, but to use their tunes for charitable means.

Joker's Belief

Although Joker’s Belief has been a regular fixture of Beijing’s rock scene since 2015, next month will see their first international release, Days as Lost Dogs. The four-song EP doesn’t officially come out until May 8, however, it’s currently available for pre-order at USD 2.99 on Bandcamp, Amazon, and iTunes. What’s more, all the money made from the pre-order will go towards donating masks to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).

"The situation in the UK seems pretty awful to be honest," says guitarist Sam Wakefield, a UK-native who has lived in Beijing since 2014. "I’ve seen reports of NHS workers who are wearing bin bags and washing face masks so they can reuse them," adding, "I have no idea why the UK doesn’t have the correct PPE and equipment they need. But, they don’t."

Given that three of the band's members lived in Britain for varying lengths of time, the country seemed a natural choice for donations and fundraising efforts.

"We decided as a band that if we were going to put out an EP at a difficult time like this, then we had to do something that was going to help the situation in some way," explains Wakefield. "Fred [Shi, bass] studied in the UK for a long time, and Alan [Kelly, vocals] also lived in London for a while. We’ve all used NHS, so that made sense as our fundraising destination."

Joker’s Belief blends funk, rock, and soul to achieve their signature sound. Over the last five years, the group has headlined shows in Beijing and played to large crowds at festivals throughout China, but up until now, they hadn't put anything out for mass consumption. As Wakefield explains, "It took us a while to work out how to capture our sound on tape, but we finally worked it out." The result is four tracks that "capture the spirit of the daily struggles, bliss, and the search for identity that we all face in our days as lost dogs."

To download Days as Lost Dogs on Bandcamp, click here, and follow the band on Facebook here.

Beijing Underground

Whereas Joker’s Belief is using their music to help healthcare professionals on the frontlines of Britain’s battle against COVID-19, Jean-Sébastien Héry AKA Djang San, the brain behind music collective Beijing Underground offered musicians a space to reflect and respond to the crisis with a compilation called Music in the Time of COVID-19.

"When the pandemic started we saw venues and bars in China all closing down, and the music scene here suffered a lot from it, and still does," says Héry. "Musicians found themselves without a home for playing live music, and many started recording music at home to kill time."

Héry himself had been making music at home, and created two albums, Coronavirus Music and West East North South, however, as he heard of more and more musicians producing work, he decided it was time to collate everyone's efforts.

"The concept around this compilation is that all the tracks have been composed using the inspiration from this strange moment we are all stuck in," says Héry. "Poets even joined as Anthony Tao and Liane Halton of Spittoon fame also contributed a poem on music... and as more people in the scene want to be on the compilation, a few more tracks will be added in there (so don’t forget to check again)."

In addition to poetry and music, the collective effort also included Zuhui Ghang, a South Korean illustrator whom Héry tasked with painting the cover, and Romaine Levêque, a photographer who shot the painting and prepped it for the digital world.

Music in the Time of COVID-19 is available on Bandcamp for free, with the option to "name your price." When asked what he might do with money made from downloads, Héry says, "There is no plan so far to give the money to a charity because I don’t know any. The goal is basically that people download the music and find an escape through sound for the duration of the compilation." Nevertheless, he adds, "I would have liked to gather money to send masks to France and other countries, but it has become increasingly difficult and expensive to do so. If anyone knows a charity that makes sense, they can contact me of course."

As COVID-19 continues to ravage the globe, Héry intends to continue curating his compilation series. “If you live in Beijing, you are a composer, and you want to be on the next compilation,” says Héry, "please send me your track at zhang.sian@yahoo.com. Actually, if you are from anywhere else in the world you can also send me your tracks. If I have enough I’ll do a compilation based on tracks from everywhere. Why not?”

To download Music in the Time of COVID-19, click here, and follow Beijing Underground on Facebook here.

This Is Why We Make Music

Without a doubt, livehouses have been some of the most severely affected establishments since the beginning of the coronavirus. Whereas restaurants, bars, and supermarkets could turn to delivery in an attempt to salvage some semblance of income, nightclubs and concert halls had very little in the way of innovating new revenue streams. Sure, some of them turned to livestreams and sharing past shows on platforms like Bilibili, but short of keeping up brand awareness, there certainly wasn't any money to be made from these ventures.

Hoping to cushion the financial blow from COVID-19, a litany of China's finest underground musicians, bands, and labels have come together to build a platform through which they can sell their merch, and then donate the profits to venues and organizers in China.

As Will Griffith of Live China Music explains, "Tapping into the idea that music needs a community in order to survive, Shanghai band Shanghai Qiutian, and good friends of Live China Music, have spearheaded this monumental fundraiser campaign entitled, Why We Make Music, a joint platform created by many Chinese underground musicians and bands. The idea is that bands and musicians have donated their work to help the struggling venues and labels who have been hit hardest by this pandemic."

The Weidian platform features bands like Chinese Football, SNSOS, Snapline, and Carsick Cars hawking everything from LPs and T-shirts to buttons and totes. Once you've selected your merch in the store, you'll have the opportunity to pick one of eight preselected venues and/or organizations to which your money will be donated.

To browse the Weidian store, scan the QR code below: