Fête dela Musique 2012 featuring Chinese Man

Chinese Man performing at the 2012 Fête de la Musique

Music fans once again gathered at the various stages that hosted the Fête de la Musique 2012. With the weather cooperating, the Main Stage located at Makati Avenue saw people coming in droves to see performances from various acts including Manila based French singer Julien Drolon, the sentimental darling Cynthia Alexander and the legendary Pepe Smith just to name a few. But the main act for the night was the French DJ collective known as Chinese Man. The group is made up of High Ku, SLY and Zé Mateo. And coming along with them on their tour South East Asian was French rapper Taïwan Mc.

Zé Mateo and SLY

Prior to the performance, I was able to have a brief conversation with SLY and Zé Mateo (High Ku was resting at the time) at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel where they were checked in. I was able to ask the two about their work and how they come up with their music. Chinese Man’s music, especially their Racing with the Sun album, features a lot of obscure samples paired up with unexpected beats and rhythms. For example, the track Miss Chang contained a sped up sample of a song by Grace Chang, a famous Chinese singer from the 50’s. And this sample became the hook in this reggae flavored track that also featured the rapper Taiwan MC and Cyph4. Their other tracks from the album featured a lot more unusual samples like Racing with the Sun by Ella Jenkins, a sped up Lazy Lout and even some spoken word/speech clips.

The two stated that they are able to find obscure samples by looking for old vinyl records (they called themselves diggers or such records) with music that will appeal to them especially traditional and world music. And when they find a sample that they like, they just build from that adding the bass, the beat and other layers that make their music rich in texture and various colors. But they do admit that they’re not always successful in this endeavor. When this happens, they just abandon it and work on the next sample. What happens to the dug record is that it ends up to be just listened to and they no longer work on it anymore.

SLY, High Ku, Zé Mateo and Taïwan Mc

Chinese Man not only stops with the music since they also work closely with designers and video makers. They mentioned their designer Julien Barthelemy, who listened to the tracks first to get an inspiration in order to create a concept. Video makers Fred and Annabele also proposed a lot of creations after hearing the tracks. And this collaboration eventually helped Chinese Man find their concept which is seen in the cover art depicting an Asian flavored animated Western film. Zé Mateo wasn’t surprised with the visuals since he said that they’ve been working with Julien a lot to the point that he fully understands what the DJ’s wanted to convey.

Taïwan Mc joins Chinese Man on stage

While Chinese Man knew that whatever visuals their artist collaborators would come up with would seamlessly fit into their music, they admitted that they weren’t too sure how the Filipino audience would react to their music. But based on the audience turnout and reaction during their set at the Main Stage, it’s safe to say that their music was able to connect with local music lovers. Chinese Man’s bio says that their leader, also known as Chinese Man, aimed to spread Zen through music. And he has given this task to his three favorite disciples High Ku, SLY and Zé Mateo. Although I can’t imagine how Zen and their kind of music fit together, I think that Chinese Man (the enigmatic and mysterious head) would certainly be proud of his disciples for their successful performance that hopefully spread some Zen here in Manila during the Fête de la Musique 2012. Special thanks to the Embassy of France of the Philippines for the opportunity to meet and interview Chinese Man.

Racing with the Sun

Tracks:

1. Introduction (Morning Sun)

2. One Past

3. If You Please

4. Miss Chang featuring Taïwan Mc/Cyph4

5. Saudade

6. Stand! featuring Plex Rock
7. Racing with the Sun

8. Down featuring Scratch Bandits Crew

9. In My Room

10. Get Up featuring Ex-I, Lush One/Plex Rock
11. Ta Bom featuring General Elektriks

12. J.O.G.J.A featuring M2MX/Dubyouth/Kill the DJ
13. The King