Mini-festivals spread across China as large-scale music events cancelled
From Shenzhen’s Tomorrow Music Festival to the Wetware and Yin Yang festivals at the Great Wall and La Fête de la Musique in Shunde, smaller events are carrying the torch for live performance in China
China’s live music scene may have suffered a large blow with the cancellation of Beijing’s Strawberry Music Festival just a few weeks ago, but a number of niche mini-festivals are helping to carry the torch – no least the Tomorrow Music Festival in Shenzhen and Wetware in Beijing, both due to be held from May 18-21.
Now in its fourth year, the Tomorrow Music Festival is an eclectic gathering of avant-garde, electro, folk and noise artists held in Shenzhen’s leafy OCT Loft area – an artsy neighbourhood forged from converted factories. The principal festival venue is B10 Space, curated by artist Teng Fei and independent music curator Tu Fei.
B10 usually hosts touring bands from Beijing, Hong Kong or overseas, but for the Tomorrow Music Festival it transforms into a platform for proponents of sonic experimentation.
High points of the festival are expected to be gigs by British post-punk act Blurt and a solo performance by Wu Tu, frontman of Chinese rock veterans Shetou. Other notable acts include Japanese experimental acts Fushitsusha and Mikami Kan, while Alan Cummings, a senior fellow at SOAS University of London, will be hosting a talk about Japanese music.
