A group of international music agents and festival programmers gathered in Beijing recently and saw shows from more than 10 Chinese bands. The result was rather disappointing: None of the bands really impressed them.
"From my perspective as a Western promoter, I think it's very important that you have some certain identity if you want to play abroad. What I'm looking for is not a band that copies a famous Western band. I'm looking for music that brings something extra," says Bertus de Blaauw, a booker from Mojo Concerts, presenter of the Netherlands' Lowlands Festival.
Jerome Williams, another Dutch agent, with the Earth Beat company, shares the same opinion.
"It is very important to be original. That doesn't mean it has to be traditional. It can be punk, electronic, or rock, but try to create your own style as a band," he says.
They were speaking at the International Urban Music Culture Summit, held last week as part of the Sound of the Xity, a series of musical events that also included performances and screening of music documentary films. Present at the summit were also programmers from the Sziget Festival of Hungary, Ulsan World Music Festival of South Korea, and Hong Kong Arts Festival.
Every now and then some Chinese bands take overseas tours, but few of them, if any, have been really accepted by the international market.
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