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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Why does nearly all Chinese music sound the same
My wife is watching something on tv and there are singers on the show and they all sound the same. You know what I mean, the same overly sweet tune and voices singing about love or butterflies drifting in the mountain air or something similar. Is it really because of the control over what is broadcast, and I know this is a factor, but where is the stuff with a bit more edge to it, where is the variety. Do young people here really lap this pap up or do they have their own music scene that just doesn't get on the airwaves. Where are the youngsters making their own music. Listening to what is broadcast is like listening to a constant stream of Dana singing All Kinds of Everything. Now while that maybe ok once every few years or so but all the time is enough to drive you insane.
It's because they are singing in the same language which is either Mandarin or Cantonese. I like Cantonese however I have found some good Mandarin music as well.
--Well, all chinese music is simply too vague...if you mean the classical stuff it is pentatonic which DOES all sound the same. Pop stuff is written in the usual diatonic major scale.
The young people here do like listening to some foreign music. But when we go for karaoke, they all sing those slow Chinese songs and they do seem to love them. I think it's just the preference of Chinese to like slow, sweet songs. Of course there are some people who are probably going to try to make a stir, but I doubt they can make much of a living out of making music that isn't mainstream. A lot of the popular singers are actually Taiwanese, and while their music is different from the mainland, it's not too different. None of it is worthy of international attention at this point. The only Asian countries that have a worldwide music fan base are Korea and Japan.
Most of what I'd call 'classical' Chinese music does sound the same to me. Same for most 'classical' opera or even Celine Dion music sounds the same to me. Then again, almost all 'pop music' (across the world) all sounds the same to me.
I just sit here listening to 70s 'Prairie Rock' and The White Stripes. Which I suppose must sound 'all the same' to a 19 year old kid in Beijing or a 60 year old mom in Nanning.
(and there is some pretty decent Chinese music/bands and some unique in their own rights. But you really have to seek it out).
The most famous urheen tune is "Two Reflecting Founts".It was created by the blind musician A Bing.