2007: 12/1 - 12/8
By UR-061
I've just spent 8 days in Shanghai hanging with the VOID crew - Nat Alexander, Shanghai Ultra, DJ Fish and Ben Huang. They invited me as the special guest for the grand opening of The Shelter, a new underground venue in Shanghai. Its hard to imagine a place where underground music culture is considered a new thing, but this is the case in Shanghai. Western culture isn't anything new to China, but it usually comes in the form of McDonald's, MTV and Hollywood movies.
Upon arriving I was clued in on what was going on - various promoters of hip-hop, house and techno nights decided to come together and focus their energy on The Shelter. Although Shanghai's youth are experiencing file-sharing websites, all you can drink nightclubs and shopping malls, very few are being exposed to the alternatives in the west's mainstream culture. This is where the Shelter and the VOID crew come in.
In addition to promoting their nights to the resident expats in Shanghai, they are also nurturing the curiosity of Shanghai's youth. Not an easy task.
The grand opening of The Shelter had over 700 people with a mix of expats and Shanghainese in attendance. During my 3 hour set I got a renewed sense of the genuine cross cultural appeal of techno music. In between mixes I overheard conversations in Chinese, English and French. I saw a variety of skin colors getting down to the mix of P-Funk, James Brown, UR, Model 500 and Lil Louis classics. I received a thank you note from someone who had not heard underground house or techno music in Shanghai in their 8 years living in the city. Another guy told me he invited 10 of his best friends along to celebrate his birthday and witness the first appearance of UR in Shanghai. The VOID crew and I ended the night with an early morning search for some dumplings before heading back to the apartment for the deepest 12 hour sleep I've had in a long time.
I spent the early part of the week doing the usual tourist stuff. I checked out Shanghai's ever changing skyline and shot up 88 floors in less than 60 seconds to see it all. I lost count of how many dumplings I ate, but I think the crab and pork combination was my favorite. I witnessed just how professional the bootleg DVD business really is in Shanghai.
Later in the week I agreed to record a live DJ set at VOID's biweekly event at a spot called the Logo bar. Before the set I took some time to talk with DJ Fish. He's Shanghainese, 19 years-old and relatively new to DJ culture. We had a beer and watched Blade Runner on Logo's TV screens. He had never seen the movie! so I gave him a break down of the story and let him know that it is required viewing for him as a techno DJ.
In turn, he let me know that nobody buys underground music in China. The few people who are aware of it are downloading free mp3s and playing them on CDJs or a laptop. He confirmed my suspicions about the next generation - they have no mercy for producers of vinyl and will take the most efficient route to express themselves. Not too different an approach from some young producers in the 1980s using old drum machines and cheap gear to create house and techno.
It won't be long before Shanghai and other Chinese cities start to produce and make their own significant contribution to underground music culture. Their musical output will be an expression of the overwhelming changes happening in the country. UR identifies with the Chinese people, so we hope to return there and continue the revolution for change.
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Notes from the Frontlines 
