Not always praised for his foresight, it seems that Mao must have had 30 September 2013 in mind when he proclaimed that “Who never climbed the Great Wall cannot be deemed a Man” (不到长城非好汉). For on that day the total ninny from Stratford, Ontario, Justin Beiber, got carried up the Wall by his bodyguards, before celebrating like an idiot.
How well do you know Alanis? How well do you know Mao?
Pit your skills against the best in the first brushduck quiz:
How did you do?
90-100% Lei Feng
70-80% Khrushchev revisionist
50-60% Guomindang reactionary
30-40% Capitalist roader
10-20% Running dog
0% In the service of the imperialists
Filed under media, Music, Politics, Propaganda
Kim busts out some beats with David Guetta
Our Great Leader Vs Skrillex
Kim and Daft Punk
Click for more great Kim beats
Nobody was saying it, but it still felt like a big piece of Camden was missing this warm July evening. Could Lang from Shenyang, the only classical performer at this year’s iTunes Festival at the Roundhouse, be the one to bring some solace?
First onstage were rad Croatian duo 2 Cellos. Pop-Classical crossovers necessarily involve pained expressions and excessive swaying, and both reached their terrifying pinnacle during a yearning rendition of With or Without You, the worst song ever penned. By the time they reached Highway to Hell I was seriously considering trying to eat my own head, but looking around I realised that I was in the minority; 2 Cellos had the crowd eating out of the palms of their hands.
郎朗
Then from behind far too much dry ice came the young maestro proclaiming “We will do a Liszt together!” As his fingers danced over the soapy-white chunklets and their slimmer ebony brothers it was as if a spell had been cast over the room. Anyone who has visited the Liaoning capital will know that the most pressing question is how to get away, and for Lang Lang the vehicle was a grand piano. And as the first bleary eyed teenage fans, apparently overcome by the depth of emotion, began stumbling clumsily from the auditorium at around the song three mark, the sound of discarded plastic beer cups being crunched underfoot mixing with the elegant arrangements of Chopin and Schuman, I for one was glad he found that vehicle.
The 2011 iTunes Festival continues with Magnetic Man on 26 July at the Roundhouse
Filed under Music
Bob Dylan, who rarely speaks out against human rights abuses, failed to speak out against the imprisonment of human rights activist Ai Weiwei while on his recent tour of China.
Filed under Music
Latest reports suggest Beijing and Shanghai will be confused by Bob Dylan in April 2011.
"Didn't Bob Dylan die?" - no
The ministry said in a brief statement that Dylan – the writer of some of rock’s most iconic and politically charged songs – must perform “strictly according to an approved program”.
I assume this means no 80s material etc etc.
Filed under Music
A viral internet song has been banned at all Chinese Basketball games after it has allegedly been used to put off the opposition.
The wacky Chinese folk song has taken the Chinternet (I just came up with that) by storm. Netizens have been doing spoof versions, guitar covers and piano versions of the catchy (?) hit.
Here is the original song –
It is pretty annoying.
Check out the wonderful Ministry of Tofu for comedy covers of the song…
This week the English media circus has had a field day over the sexist remarks and behaviour of Sky Sports’ anchormen Andy Gray and Richard Keys. Although their off air remarks are ‘pre-historic’ (Rio Ferdinand) it is not particularly surprising and it seems to state a fact that most people would have thought was obvious.
At Brushduck we will be breaking another shocking story. No, it is not about the religious persuasion of the current Pontiff, nor is it concerning the defecation habits of bears in coniferous outgrowths.We have uncovered more sexism. This time in Chinese folk music.
The song in question is one of my personal favourites.
or ‘Girl from the the city of Daban’
please watch the priceless video below:
At further examination we can get to the bottom of the ‘sexism’ that pervades this folk yarn.
Daban City’s stone streets – hard and flat, ha!
Watermelons big and sweet! (Is this a sexist metaphor? … I think so)
A girl who lives there has long braided hair, ha!
And a pair of beautiful eyes!
If you think of marrying, don’t marry another,
You must marry only me.
Bring a lot of money
And your younger sister, riding in the horse cart too!
(here we have the assumption of the male protagonist that her younger sister will also be ‘up for it’. In later versions such as the one in the video – this is softened to ‘bring your dowry’)
‘Girl from the city of Daban’ is essentially a song wooing a young virginal girl from Xinjiang. When I have asked Han Chinese about the song they will tell you it is a classic Uighur song. However, when I travelled around Xinjiang singing the song in mandarin expecting a rapturous response from my Uighur brothers I was met with fierce glares. In retrospect I can see why singing a song about taking away their young women (especially one sung in Chinese) might come across the wrong way. It would be a bit like an American singing about how hot Iraqi virgins are…
last summer I took part in a 5 day work shop run by Candida Valentino & Michael Ormiston.
For anyone who wants to try out throat singing or overtone. I would thoroughly recommend their workshop.
Alternatively go and check them out performing.
Here are their upcoming events http://www.soundtransformations.co.uk/concertsmain.htm
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