Tuesday, July 25, 2006

SUMMER CONCERT SERIES AT THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE


The Great Hall of the People, you remember the place, its where the gomers in the Chinese Communist Party have their big meetings, is all set to become a music venue.

Five artists are set to rock the Great Hall next month.

Taiwan singers Richie Jen and Huang Pinyuan will launch the Great Hall's pop music debut on August 11, followed by Taiwan's Jeff Chang on August 13, Hong Kong singer Sandy Lam Yiklin on the 15th and local singer and song writer Xu Wei on the 17th.

Xinhua reports the Great Hall of the People has hosted concerts in the past, "but they mostly fall into the category of highbrow art or well-known foreign musicals such as Cats, Chicago and Casablanca, which all played there last year."

"It has always been a dream of mine to visit the Great Hall of the People. I would never have expected that I would be holding a concert here," said Jeff Chang.

Chang, by the way, is the author of Can't Stop Won't Stop. Published by St. Martin's Press, it is subtitled "A History Of The Hip hop Generation." There are those who claim it to be the best book yet on hip hop, and the social, cultural, economic and political forces that have shaped it. Exhaustive research and original interviews with DJs, rappers, b-boys, gang members, graffiti writers and genre pioneers are at its heart. Can't Stop Won't Stop has won a 2005 American Book Award.

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