China Meiguo

Found this video of a song by the Canadian group Simple Plan featuring Chinese singer and television/radio host Kelly Cha (Zha Kexin; 查可欣). 

Using a Chinese singer was a planned marketing tactic by Simple Plan (and/or their record company) to develop their international fanbase. In addition to this version of the song with Kelly Cha, there's also a version with Indonesian band KOTAK, a version with British singer Natasha Bedingfield. Apparently, Simple Plan has also featured other local artists performing the song in concerts when they've toured internationally. This seems like a pretty logical way of promoting a band in foreign markets and maybe such a simple plan makes a good marketing plan although there certainly might be some jet lag involved.

Among other things, I've decided to blog about some of the Chinese music that I've discovered that I find appealing, interesting or amusing. So, first up, is an eclectic Chinese singer musician that mixes Chinese folk rock with additional influences such as Uyghur music and Sichuan opera.

Dāo Láng (刀郎) is a Chinese singer who became popular after the release of his 2003 album The First Snows of 2002 (年的第一場雪). The album became a surprise blockbuster, reportedly selling 2.7 million copies, an exceptionally high sales figure in a country where far more pirated than legal copies are sold and considering that his previous album sold only about 2000 copies. First Snows also had almost no planned marketing or promotion to generate sales. Instead, it was played initially in record stores (which still existed in 2003) largely through the efforts of a Chinese record  producer, Song Ke. From record/video stores, the CD spead to clothing stores, beauty salons, etc. throughout China.

While roaming around the ever-addictive Youtube, I came across an interesting Chinese-American singer - Joanna Wang (王若琳; Wáng Rùolín). Her music is an interesting combination of English and Chinese language jazz, pop, rock, and folk influences, somewhat in the Norah Jones vein. The 23 year old Taiwan-born, Los Angeles-bred songstress has a surprisingly mature voice. Her musical maturity may be partly the result of her family background - her father (Wang Bing) is a successful producer who, in addition to working with his daughter, has produced popular artists including girl group S.H.E and David Tao. 

Wang's first album, Start From Here, was released in early 2008 and is comprised of one CD of English songs and another of Chinese songs. Joanna reportedly wasn't thrilled with her first album, feeling that it doesn't represent her true musical influences. Her next album ("Joanna & 王若琳 - her English and Chinese names), released in January 2009, is another 2-CD collection of English and Chinese songs. Her latest album, The Things We Do For Love, was released in late 2011 and includes covers of the Carole King classic (made famous by James Taylor) You've Got a Friend, B.J. Thomas' Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head and my favorite band (that wasn't really a band) Steely Dan's Dirty Work.

Wang's English language cover songs feature a fairly eclectic mix, including songs by Billy Joel ("New York State of Mind"), The Carpenters ("We've Only Just Begun"), Don Mclean, Paul Simon ("50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"), Bread ("Aubrey"), Paul Anka ("Times of Your Life") and Spandau Ballet ("True").