1. HEARING AID
EDITOR
DESIGNER
Hearing Aid is a quarterly magazine
that talks about the music trends
and habits across China.
In this issue, we go back in time
and look at what was happening
musically 20+ years ago. We then
zoom to the present and look at
what’s happening right now and
who are the biggest winners and
losers in today’s music scene.
Hearing Aid also turns the spotlight
on one of China’s less well known
music stars… 47 year old Zhang
Qiang. She’s China’s Queen of
disco and she wants to make
you dance.
01
“助听器”—— 一本关于中国音乐趋势和
环境的杂志。
在本期中,我们不仅追溯流行音乐近二十
余年的历史,更加关注近期音乐市场的最
新动态和导向。
“助听器”同样也为大家介绍一些“非主
流”音乐…张蔷,47岁的disco女王,你一
定不能错过!
W+K SHANGHAI
ISSUE ONE
KATE LU
TIFFANY
WONG
AUGUST 2014 INTRODUCTION
2. For most Chinese, Beyond represented
a spirit… as desire to pursue your
dreams, and their lyrics helped
them stand out by saying things few
would ever dare say out loud such
as “forgive my unruly and my love of
freedom.”
Beyond were a rock n roll band but
defined a time.
02
Beyond 华语地区史上最具影响力的摇
滚乐队(没有之一)于21年前的6月30
日因舞台意外致死,此事轰动整个华语
乐坛。
黄家驹,作为乐队的灵魂人物,他的离
世宣告着人们,热血摇滚的Beyond时代
已经结束。
去年是黄家驹逝世20周年,Beyond的粉
丝们纷纷以不同的形式纪念这位史上最
伟大的主唱和吉他手。
Beyond影响了一代华人,虽然他们的歌
多为粤语,但包括中国大陆,新加坡,
马来西亚,beyond精神影响着整个华语
地区。
对于绝大多数华人来说,Beyond是一种
精神,一种追求梦想的精神,他们的歌
词说出了留藏在大家心中一直想做却从
未说出口的梦:“原谅我这一生不羁放纵
爱自由。”
Beyond是一个摇滚乐队,可他们,定义
了时代。
HEARING AID
ISSUE ONE
AUGUST 2014
Beyond - the most influential rock n
roll band in Chinese music history
- lost their singer, Wong Ka Kui
this month 21 years ago. He was
involved in a tragic stage accident
and it shocked the whole nation.
After he died, the band carried on
for a while, but they became likea
band with no soul and everyone
knew the Beyond era was over.
Last year was the 20th anniversary
of his death and many Beyond fans
got together to remember one of
the greatest guitarist and singers
in both Hong Kong and mainland
China history.
Beyond influenced a whole generation
and despite their songs being in
Cantonese, mainland China took
them to their heart – as did countries
like Singapore and Malaysia.
W+K SHANGHAI
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
3. HEARING AID
Jack Ma said, he wanted to
build a whole online eco-system
in China and this
summer, he started entering
the music market.
Using online streaming
music website Xiami, Taobao
created a new division of their
mega-site that is focused
purely on music – where
you can buy the latest CD’s,
concert tickets, headphones,
speakers, instruments and
music products.
How did Taobao use Xiami
to help develop this side of
their business?
When you listen to an album
on Xiami, you can’t buy
a physical CD directly, so
Taobao will have a button
that links you to music.
taobao.com so you can buy
the CD directly and quickly.
This means Taobao can
leverage Xiami’s large
editorial music content
without having to invest too
much money creating their
own content.
03
马云曾经说,他要在中国建立一
个完整的在线生态系统,今夏,
他尝试开始将自己的生态系统继
续向音乐市场扩建。
基于在线试听和下载网站虾米,
淘宝衍生了新的音乐产品购买
网站,你可以在这里买到唱片
CD,演唱会门票,乐器配件,
和音乐周边。
为什么说淘宝音乐馆基于虾米
音乐?
当在虾米网站在线试听时,
你并不能直接购买实体CD,
所以, 淘宝在试听页面设置
连接按钮, 将购买流量直接
连接到m u s i c . t a o b a o . c o m
这样,淘宝音乐馆就可以依靠虾
米强大的编辑力量而无需再重新
制作全新的基于音乐的内容。
Here’s a example of how
music.taobao.com connects
to Xiami.
1 Let’s say you go to
Xiami and are interested
in learning more about
Reggae.
2 Xiami introduce you to the
icons of Reggae and let you
hear their songs. If you like
it and want to own it, there
is a button that takes you to
music.taobao.com where
you can buy the album.
3 But the nice touch is once
you’ve done that, it will also
show you other things you
can buy to either improve
your knowledge of reggae or
you look of a reggae fan.
举例:
1 对雷鬼音乐感兴趣的人会
在虾米点击雷鬼专题。
3 同时,你也可以买到很多
关于雷鬼音乐的周边,他们
让你看上去更有雷鬼范儿!
2 首先虾米将为你推荐一些
雷鬼“灵魂人物”和他们的音
乐试听。如果你喜欢并且想要
拥有这些音乐,你可以直接去
淘宝音乐馆购买实体CD。
ISSUE ONE
AUGUST 2014
W+K SHANGHAI
WHAT’S HOT
4. Are talent show judges losing their
popularity?
Summer is the time for talent
shows in China. During this time,
every channel is trying to find the
most popular undiscovered singer
or produce.
In the old days, viewers used to look
at the judges as experts in their field,
but now, many judges are using the
show as their own stage.
People feel they are less interested
in discovering new talent and more
focused on promoting their own
career because they never miss a
chance to promote their own music
or upcoming concerts.
With all this self-publicity, we wonder
if it will stop their fans liking them
as much as before. We will see but
many think they’ve gone from stars
to desperate stars.
HEARING AID
ISSUE ONE
AUGUST 2014
Wang Feng (Judge from
the voice of China): “Your
performance remind me of my
young age.”
是选秀节目评委还是赚人气?
04
夏天,是选秀节目季,每年各大电视台
纷纷试图邀请最具潜力的歌手和制作人
参与节目。
几年前,观众们视这些选秀节目的导师
或评委们为音乐领域的专家,可是现
在,很多导师们似乎在将自己慢慢变成
选秀节目的主角。
有人认为他们并非真正意在发掘歌坛新
星,他们正抓住选秀节目这一机会努力
宣传自己。
这些导师们有些曾确实红极一时,可现
在,他们逐渐利用选秀节目的平台来宣
传自己,他们能够以此成为歌坛的不
老传奇么?我们拭目以待,不过很多人
说,他们现在早已今非昔比。
Yang Kun (Judge from the
voice of China): “I have 32
concerts this year.”
W+K SHANGHAI
WHAT’S NOT
5. HEARING AID
Little Apple – Chopstick Brothers
When people first heard the single
“Little Apple,” they thought it was
one of the cheesiest songs ever
written but it’s turned out to be this
summers hottest song.
Chopstick Brothers - known for the
track “Old Boys” in 2010 - are famous
for their songs that talk about the
dreams and feelings of every post-
80s teenager.
But for “Little Apple,” they introduced
more electronic music into their
style and created a video that
introduced China to the Little Apple
dance which turned it into more
than a song, but a phenomenon.
Their out-of-the-ordinary music style
gave a breath of fresh air in the
Chinese music scene.
小苹果-筷子兄弟
05
当第一次听到“小苹果”时,人们无法
想象如此恶俗的歌曲竟成为了今夏最流
行的单曲。
筷子兄弟——因2010年的“老男孩”走
红,他们的歌唤起了绝大多数80后关于
青春期梦想的回忆。
这次,他们将大量电子舞曲的元素融入
歌曲“小苹果”中,并创造了“小苹果
舞”,现在它已不仅仅是一首歌,而成
为了一种现象。
筷子兄弟“与众不同“的音乐风格为
中国的音乐市场注入了一股”新鲜“的
活力。
ISSUE ONE
AUGUST 2014
W+K SHANGHAI
SOUNDCHECK
6. China’s Disco Queen: Zhang Qiang
Zhang Qiang was China’s disco
queen way back in the 1980s. This
was an exciting time for music in
China as the country was opening
up to the World and more diverse
music was hitting the nations ears.
Over a very busy 2 year period,
Zhang Qiang released more than 20
albums and achieved sales of over
2.5 million copies – a record for the
time. [Remember, this was the 80’s]
At the peak of her career [1986]
Zhang left China and went to study
in Australia before getting married.
Zhang explained, “At the time, we
were curious about foreign life and
wanted to live in a foreign land”.
However, despite all this, she never
give up her passion for disco and
last year – at 47 years old - she signed
with Modern Sky, a record label
in China.
After releasing her album No
Question of Disco [with punk-pop
band New Pants] early in 2014, her
popularity skyrocketed and she
performed a massively successful
set at the 2014 Strawberry Music
Festival.
Zhang said: “Disco is in my heart”
and it seems it’s in other people’s
hearts too as she not only is an
icon for people born in the 1960s
and 1970s, but also for the younger
generation that weren’t around for
disco’s last period of popularity.
中国迪斯科女王:张蔷
06
张蔷曾经是中国大陆80年代的迪斯科女
王,那是一个令人振奋人心的年代,当
时中国因刚开始执行的“改革开放”政
策才能真正开始接触来自世界各地多样
化的音乐。
张蔷曾经在当时的2年时间内发行了超过
20张专辑并卖掉了总共250万张唱片,
她简直是那个时代的唱片纪录保持者!
(请注意,是80年代)
但是,她在事业高峰期(1986年)却选
择了去澳大利亚学习并结婚。
张蔷解释说:“那时候,我们都对国外
的生活十分好奇,大家非常希望能够到
国外生活”。
尽管如此,她对于disco的热情从未退
减,去年,张蔷47岁,她签约了国内的
唱片公司摩登天空。
2014年初,在摩登天空发行了第一张唱
片 《别再问我什么是迪斯科》后,她的
人气直线飙升,在草莓音乐节的演出也
取得了巨大好评。
张蔷说:“迪斯科音乐永远在我心中”,
现在看来,迪斯科同样也在大家的心
中,张蔷已不仅仅是中年人的偶像,她
让更多的年轻人知道了什么才是真正的
流行的迪斯科音乐。
HEARING AID
ISSUE ONE
AUGUST 2014
W+K SHANGHAI
SPOTLIGHT ON
UNEXPECTED
Contact: Share your news, questions,
ideas with us at kate.lu@wk.com