Gig Gurus

While different venues around town have hosted their own “festivals” or programs of sorts as far as jazz is concerned, Hong Kong only saw its first official city jazz festival last year. Organizer Clarence Chang has worked in the music world for 25 years now, and says the festival had been on his mind for a long time. As the Asian consultant for American jazz label GRP Records, he used to take musicians everywhere across the region except his hometown. “I was embarrassed to tell them we didn’t have a festival, when just about everywhere else in Asia, including Mongolia, did,” he says. Chang knew it wasn’t because of a lack of local talent. After all, plenty of Hong Kong’s own musicians have performed at other festivals overseas. And as the owner of the record shop Jazz World in Central, he also knew it wasn’t due to a shortage of local fans. This Saturday anyone can stop by and check out European performers Michael Schiefel and bconnected at Civic Square by Elements. For info on other acts this year visit www.hkja.org.

Liu has been bringing over the best acts from Beijing’s high-voltage indie rock scene for the past two years, and says she owes it all to The Cure. While up in Beijing checking out the local scene in 2007, she discovered that members of three of the biggest bands there—­PK14, New Pants and Hedgehog—were planning a trip down to catch the legendary British rock band play here. She immediately decided to use the opportunity to let the bands be heard here, and managed to put together a gig for them in less than two months. The outcome was beyond her expectations. “I was surprised by how successful it was,” says Liu, who was able to pay back both the fee for renting the Fringe Club on a Sunday and the cost of the bands’ transport. Since then, Liu has brought over other Beijing sensations such as Carsick Cars, Queen Sea Big Shark, Joyside and Snapline. For tickets and information regarding the CWS Rockraiser Festival this Saturday, October 10, visit www.rockraiser.org.

Last year’s Clockenflap was quite possibly the hippest local event of the year. The outdoor festival at Cyberport featured cutting edge British bands such as The Young Knives and Waxed Apple alongside homegrown indie acts including DP. Fortunately, this year’s event, on Nov 7-8, only promises to be bigger and better. Stretched over two days, Clockenflap 2 will see explosive UK duo Blood Red Shoes and US digital pop sensation YACHT rock out with local favorites Chochukmo, Poubelle International, Uptown Rockers and more acts to be announced. Aside from awesome music, the festival will include film and arts tents, as well as a bamboo eco-village created in partnership with Ecovision Asia. Organizers Jay Forster and Mike Hill have been involved in the local music scene for over a decade now through local music and arts collective Robot. The two came up with the idea for Clockenflap to fill the void left after the end of annual music festival Rockit. “It’s a pretty bleak landscape if you don’t have at least one outdoor festival a year,” says Forster. At the same time, he believes local appreciation for indie rock has grown rapidly in recent years. “The DJ scene boomed 10 years ago, but people are starting to recognize that all the number one and number two in the world DJ stuff is bullshit.” Forster and Hill have just committed to another five years of Clockenflap at Cyberport, and hope to eventually branch out to other countries such as Singapore. For tickets and other information visit www.clockenflap.com.