Modern Sky music festival in New York a bridge for youth

Chinese hip-hop group HHH perform at Modern Sky Music Festival last Saturday in Central Park, New York. This is HHH’s premiere show in the US. JUDY ZHU / CHINA DAILY

The one-day Modern Sky music festival, which took place on Sept 30, attracted more than 5,000 young people, mostly Chinese students, to Central Park in New York.

The majority of the acts were big names in China and almost unknown in the US, such as hip-hop crew HHH, seminal Beijing post-punkers Re-Tros, indie-pop songwriter A-Si and Hong Kong music icon Edison Chen.

"It reminds me of the Beijing Modern Sky I attended when I was in college, the music, the vibe, and the crowd," said Irene Liu, who attended the festival with her college friends. "It's important for us to listen to music in Chinese, here in the US, so we can have something to relate to - memories and friends."

For most of the Chinese students who attended, the event was like a gathering to ease homesickness and experience Chinese culture far from home.

It's the fourth year that Modern Sky has held music festivals in the US and organizers believe that the events are likely to continue to grow.

Michael Lojudice, general manager of Modern Sky Music Festival USA, said the New York concert was sold out, and the Los Angeles festival was also sold out, because of the growing student population in the US.

"When I first started doing this in 2006, there were far fewer Chinese students studying in cities in the US," said Lojudice.

The fact that so many Chinese artists and bands are performing in the US, especially in signature places like Central Park, shows a greater exposure of Chinese music and culture to the US and the world, he added.

Lojudice said the greater hope behind the festival is to bring more Chinese artists out and let people in the US know more about Chinese art and music, which they have little knowledge of.

"I think there is lots of creativity and energy, especially in some of the Chinese groups who played today," said New Yorker Alex Amini. "You can tell they are very passionate about their music, and I think it's wonderful to bring Chinese bands here, which creates more diversity in the music culture and exposes Americans to this amazing Chinese music."

"It's the second the time we came to music festivals in the US, we enjoyed it very much, and it's also very meaningful for us," said Hua Dong, lead singer of Re-TROS. "We were very impressed by the bands and music culture here, and we will come back next time."

The Beijing-based postpunk band started in 2004 and has been one of the most recognizable Chinese rock bands in the West.

"We want to give space for our artists to play in front of a larger audience in cities like New York and Los Angeles, but also introduce Chinese bands to the Western audience, and Western bands to the Chinese audience," Lojudice said.

He said this year's lineup also included American artists like Calvin Love and Brian Hill and the Noh Starrs to expose these artists to more Chinese fans too.

Music is just like a bridge to connect people from China and the US, he added.

Modern Sky record label, the parent company behind the festival, is the largest independent music record label in China. It hosts Coachella-sized music festivals in different Chinese cities every year.

ruinanzhang@chinadailyusa.com