Not sleeping at night megacities, busy motorway

Not sleeping at night megacities, busy freeways, smog gray sky and restless rockers in tight leather pants. Photographer Matthew Niederhauser showed the reverse side of the urban boom in China.

1) "Hip-hop, rock and punk music is not the West, and the music of the city" - explains Matthew Niederhauser, a photographer who spent two years in China, backstage and on the road, watching the emergence of underground China. Trio «Hedgehog» were unheralded musicians until they became famous in 2007 after incendiary concerts in Beijing club «D-22." (Matthew Niederhauser, Christina Larson)





2) When we hear about the new face of China, we imagine skyscrapers and highways, which every day becomes more and more; but this is only one aspect of urbanization. Meanwhile, social conflicts and a growing gap between rich and poor in China's major cities in many respects resembles the social upheavals in London and Manchester in 1960-70h years. While in London, due to the effects of urbanization were born «Clash», «Sex Pistols» and «Joy Division», in today's China are popular such groups as «The Scoff», «PK 14 »,« Demerit »,« New Pants »and illustrated herein« Snapline ». (Matthew Niederhauser, Christina Larson)



3) Even in a country with a population of 1.3 billion an underground musicians have nowhere to turn. Chinese media, particularly television and radio, are under government control, and disaffected rebels there do not favor. To issue a newspaper, or a record, you need an official permission of the Communist Party. Therefore, live concerts need young bands like the air. (Matthew Niederhauser, Christina Larson)



4) Do Niederhauser has dozens of portraits of musicians on the background of recognizable red walls of the dressing room «D-22", the Beijing club, one of the few places in the capital rave. Among other hot musical points Beijing - «Mao Livehouse» and «Yugong Yishan». (Matthew Niederhauser, Christina Larson)



5) The "traditional" culture of China, the country with a huge, historically fragmented territory largely a myth. But the current modernization, as noted by Niederhauser, creates a kind of uniformity, both in the southern Changsha and Harbin in the north are built the same malls and parking lots. The discontent or confusion due to changes - sources of worry modern city dwellers. (Matthew Niederhauser, Christina Larson)



6) Go on a tour of the country, where the track either just opened or never asphalted, it is not so simple. In 2008 Niederhauser rode to China with a group of «Demerit». Picture taken at a concert band that night moved from city to city by train tourist class, dragging the entirety of equipment. They stayed in cities with 10 million inhabitants, went to a local club, is often the only, and played for a handful of grateful listeners. "Dregs of society", the famous song Demerit, can be called a protest anthem "x ** What I have to be true to you? / We do not want to be victims of greed / hate you, because you have no future / People are dying of hunger / No release, we are powerless ... Send me to work, to fight, send me / Send me to die for you / hate you, because you have no future / we are just the dregs of society. " (Matthew Niederhauser, Christina Larson)



7) Chinese underground attracts more attention and fans, so notorious. In 2006 and 2007, at a music festival in the open air near Beijing gathered thousands of fans. "It was then that the government and worried," - says Nidukhauzer. Last year, the Ministry of Culture of China has taken all measures to prevent the participation in Beijing "Festival of Big Sky" foreign musicians and local groups Rebuilding the Rights of Statues («Fighting for the rights of Monuments"). (Matthew Niederhauser, Christina Larson)



8) If one of the Chinese underground musicians sing openly about the urban hopelessness and public pressure, then there are those whose spontaneity and immediacy with which they set the foundations of logic and not upside the head, can not help but admire. In the picture - two members of the group «Second Hand Rose», combining rock and folk Chinese music. (Matthew Niederhauser, Christina Larson)

9) Group «PK-14" has a special place in the pantheon of Chinese underground. It was formed in 1999 in Tyandzin in the east. Frontman Yang Hai Song says reminds him Tyandzin English Manchester: "The same cold, gray, depressing." But Beijingers painful return home at a more subtle reason: "The city was quite different; Life does not stand still, and it catches the eye ... I do not know whether this is good or bad, but it's true. To achieve something, you need to go through this painful period for China, cruel time development of the state. " (Matthew Niederhauser, Christina Larson)



10) Ask the Chinese musicians about their idols, and in response you hear the familiar names: Bob Dylan, «Clash», Woody Guthrie, «AC / DC», «Joy Division». In Yang Hai Song from «PK-14", which last fall during the tour of the United States traveled to Washington, his head did not fit, it is the homeland of the post-hardcore band «Fugazi»: «It is encouraging not only their music, but and philosophy. For us, the District of Columbia - it's a special place. " However, according to the singer, what is happening in China - is not just an imitation of Western musical trends and unusual eclectic mix of styles and traditions. (Matthew Niederhauser, Christina Larson)



11) The center of musical life in China - Beijing, not Shanghai. While in the capital are the best museums and universities, is not so civilized as it might seem, says Niederhauser. In the Chinese capital lives a famous Chairman Ca, an artist whose madness was decorated with posters of the best club. (Matthew Niederhauser, Christina Larson)



12) Young Hai Song from «PK-14" tells the story of the creation of one of the best songs of the group, «Red River» («Red River"): "The two had an argument. One says that it is necessary to cross the river, so it will be better. And the other one says: "Hardly. I doubt that we shall be changed "." His fans (see. Photo) understand that we are talking about changes in China. (Matthew Niederhauser, Christina Larson)



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