Music Roundup: April 2009

The original plan was to spend a substantial amount of space hyping up Oasis, who were slated to hold their first China shows on April 3 & 5. But now those concerts have been cancelled, and in light of this tragedy, the world will gather in our fair city throughout April to mourn our loss.

Well, not really. It only seems that way. But yes, musicians from around the world will be descending upon Beijing in April.

Starting things off, in the true sense of world music, is Fethi Tabet, who hail from Algeria and will be playing alongside fellow world music dynamos Panjir at Yugong Yishan. And while in the neighborhood of Africa, I should point out that the Afrobeat All Stars will play Ginkgo on April 18 in another free event at the place formerly known as Room 101, which is proving itself a solid spot to catch free live music.

If Latin is more your bag, both Spain and the Americas will be in town – Spanish pop rockers El Columpio Asesino hit Yugong Yishan at the end of the month, while Brazilians Choro Duo make a stop on April 9 (also at Ginkgo) and Mais Uma on April 30 (at Peking University Hall). Technically, though, the latter plays 
Brazilian jazz but is actually from Denmark.

On the topic of Scandinavia, here are other folks to look out for: Swedes New Tango Orchestra on April 3 & 4, and Norwegians Bonk (Apr 30) and K Jell (Apr 3 & 18). As for the rest of Europe, German ghostrockers Mio Myo come to town with two shows 
(Apr 9 & 10), classical composer/singer from France, William Sheller, 
joins The Chinese Quartet (Apr 19), and representing the UK will be Playmaker, Dragonforce and Mayming. Continuing down under, Tamas Wells performs indie-pop at the National Library Concert Hall for a lot of money, while Blue in Red does blues and jazz for free at Ginkgo. Both are Australian.

And where is the United States in all of this? At Centro, it seems. Starting April 6 and continuing until August, singer Andromeda Turre will entertain with steamy jazz numbers. The next closest thing to Americana will be Kurt Cobain impressions by Chinese bands on April 8 at MAO.

As for other Chinese acts, take note that Queen Sea Big Shark and PK14 are back at it following their Love Noise-documented tour of China, and Zhou Yunpeng gathers local folk stars in a charity concert on April 10-11.

Russia is not on the above list, unfortunately. But Beijing’s very own DJ LIman (see photo, above) is said to be climbing the charts in Moscow, and he’ll show you why he gets love from Russia on April 14 & 24.