Gangnam Style with Chinese Characteristics

Here's a little late-week fun -- a vid using old PLA red song troupe footage mixed with the meme-inducing Gangnam Style by Korea's PSY:

(on Youku here)

And if you've not seen it, check out this equally awesome vid of the same Red Army footage using MJ's "Beat It".

h/t to Tea Leaf Nation

Update: A few more Red Army remixes:

Ghostbusters
We Will Rock You
The Lion Sleeps Tonight…

Jason Chu

City of the North – a love song to Beijing

Described as "a love letter to Beijing - and all its struggles, challenges, and unexpected beauty," the following song was written and performed by Jason Chu, an American hip-hop artist that has been living in Beijing for the last several years.

He explains:

Later this month, I'm finally returning home. As many expats know, leaving this country brings with it a mixture of emotions - everything from relief t…

让我 rap

Courtesy of Study More Chinese:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EfHuGMrNxc8#!

What do you all think? I'll say this: I like the track. It's easy to follow. The rhymes (at least to me) make sense, which already puts him ahead of the pack in rap music. In fact, you could say I'm 非常满意 with his effort.

With music being a great supplement for language learning, and with me liking rap, it…

Photo: Rock This

From the always amazing photostream of Michael Steverson. In his words: "Sugar Rush performs at The Terrace in Shenzhen, China. First image of a photo documentary on rock music in China. I've been working on the project for a while now and I'm hoping to wrap it up by the fall. I'll be dropping some of these onto Flickr over time."

Submit Your Photos
Every week(ish) we'll feature an interesting, funny, beaut…

Video: PLA MJ Mashup – Hilarious

When I first saw the title of this post, "Chinese Red Army performing 'Beat It'", I had assumed it was just the latest attempt at a mass MJ viral tribute. Which I guess it sort of is, just with less criminals. Either way, I laughed my bits off.

The Er Hu solo around the 2:50 min mark is stellar. If you closed your eyes you'd assume it was Eddie V himself.

ChinaSmack also gave a rundown of this video, and li…

eXpo: offering some movement this May Fourth

One of my favourite Chinese sites, Neocha, has teamed up with the very talented producer Dave Liang, of The Shanghai Restoration Project, and created eXpo, a 10-track collection of Chinese electronic music that goes on sale today.

I generally accredit Neocha as the source of reversing my opinion about creativity in China. The site is a SNS for Chinese creatives of all disciplines, and while it's all in Chinese, it…

Another Laowai’s Soundtrack

Back in May, I made a post entitled "A Laowai's Soundtrack", where I listed 20 songs that helped define my China Experience. As the New Year ring's in, I figure it's as good of a time as any to revisit that.   Just as before, the purpose of this is to share a bit of music with people who may not get too much new pumping through their knock-off iPod. Also, to hopefully try to catalog  my journey, and hopefully all of…

A Laowai’s Soundtrack

I am one of those people who associate music with times and places in my life.  As the academic year in China comes to a close, a few songs stick out to define the highs and lows of the rookie year of my China experience.  If you are about to start your own trip to the Middle Kingdom, or would like to reflect on some old times, be sure to acquire these songs to guide your thoughts.

(QUICK NOTE:  I tried to…

Afterquake — music to remind us that help is still needed

It's hard to believe it's already been a year since tragedy struck Sichuan -- killing nearly 90,000 people and displacing millions.

And while time can't pass fast enough in putting that horrible day firmly behind us all, today is a good day to remember that its survivors are still in need.

Working hard to remind us all of this is a fantastic new project by folk artist Abigail Washburn and Dave Liang of the Shan…

The next NEXT player from Neocha

Neocha, the net's premier source of Chinese indie music, has just released the newest version of their NEXT player. We spoke to Neocha founder Sean Leow about the first version NEXT player and Neocha nearly a year ago, and have been using it rather faithfully since. Despite its awesomeness, everything evolves and NEXT 2.0 has done just that.

From 56minus1:
What’s new in NEXT 2.0:

Genres - Only want to listen …