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notable former clients), and the pair heart-wrenching cry: “Lady, you kill me”. band. This is a lovely place to hang out on
worked on expanding her imagination I’d love to think she represented the BBC the couches and cushions, soaking in the
and openness while still retaining links when Jonathan Ross went in to discuss his atmosphere of a student crowd after mid-
with the roots that make her a startling new contract in December. No food stalls, night. In a city with few venues for live
proposition. “We were both interested in though, so I am still searching for noodles. music, this is a gem worth checking out if
creating beats that were unique to China,
At 6pm, I am dragged from the market
you are ever in Beijing.
not the western beats that everyone uses,”
and ushered into Dingding’s hotel room
she tells me later. “We wanted to find a
for my 20 minutes, half of which will be
new way to mix the oriental elements with
taken up by translating questions and
western electronic music. We shared so
answers. It’s a rush, but I found out that the
much, we found we could communicate
first line of her Little Red Book would be: A
nd so we stumble back to the
hotel, wondering if there is
anything left in the minibar (a
Toblerone). There are only a
few hours until it is time to
without words. We could understand each
“Now you will see all my weird dreams”. leave for the airport, so I sit watching Chi-
other very well using only simple English
Because recording Harmony was such a nese music TV, where the likes of the
and simple Chinese.”
great experience, she feels dissatisfied by KinKi Kids flicker before my eyes in a
And so there are Chinese beats from memories of Alive, and has dumped all the never-ending display of indentikit boy
the religious ceremonies of the Wa people costumes she used then. “If one day there and girl bands with ridiculously sculpted
(Ha Ha Li Li); philosophising about life as is a Sa Dingding museum, you might find hair, unthreatening rebel poses, a handful
an eternal circle (Girl In A Green Dress); a them there, along with an old eraser and of Anglo-pop buzzwords and names
love song sung by a flower (Hua); a morali- some broken bicycles I used to ride.” designed for text messages. I think back
ty tale about judging women who look
Michael Jackson would have been her
to something Sa Dingding said: “Musical-
weathered and tough on the outside
dream collaborator, but whenever people
ly, Harmony is more distinctively about
(Pomegranate Woman); and a bizarre
describe her gigs as weird, she points out
the balance between East and West, tradi-
English-language tribute to Michael Jack-
that she once saw a Maori show, and that
tional and modern. We wanted to do
son (Lucky Day) that is carried along on a
really was strange. “That encourages me
something more than just Chinese folk
rhythm track stitched together from the
to be more brave, don’t be scared, do
elements on a western electronic base, we
sound of men stamping their feet in an
what I want to do on stage. The most bor-
wanted to develop from the roots of Chi-
ancient food ritual.
ing thing is to keep sticking to one certain
nese ethnic music and develop them into
The show is the first time the songs
image of yourself and not changing. I a modern electronic sound.” Having wit-
have been heard outside her inner circle,
want this second’s Sa Dingding to be dif- nessed the competition for the first time, I
and it is difficult to gauge the Chinese audi-
ferent from the next second’s.” am finally convinced she is no corporate
ence’s reaction. Perhaps clapping enthusias- My time up, I am put back on the con-
puppet. In a culture that appreciates con-
tically is just not part of the culture, though veyor belt as the next writer comes in. It’s
formity and homogeneity, she is genuine-
talking on your phone certainly is. only then that I realise this was the nearest
ly trying to do something different.
I’ve ever come to seeing SDD dressed casu- Never did buy those noodles.
B
efore we can find out what
people think, however, we are
ally. Jeans! What a disappointment.
www.sadingding.co.uk F
whisked away through the The others have
traffic to the Yuan Nan restau- escaped the market, and
rant, where the after-show del- Universal reps want to
icacies are spicy and the beer welcome. take us for dinner. Fan-
Our host arrives, clad mainly in bright cying a proper, unadul-
purple with velvet calf-length Doctor terated Chinese, I go
Marten boots. She is fuming about the straight for the first two
locked-out fans but charming when strange things on the
schmoozing jet-lagged westerners. At menu – geo duck (pro-
midnight we are returned to our hotel, nounced gooey and
on the quaintly named ‘Beer Street’, aka really a shellfish) and
Sanlitun Road, in the Chaoyang District, the sea cucumber (a
which is home to a number of embassies giant aquatic cen-
and gleaming glass-and-steel monuments tipede) – before realis-
to the new road to socialism: an Apple ing most of the table has
store, a Ben Sherman shop, a Uniqlo out- gone with pak choi,
let, all the fast-food chains. mushrooms in sweet-
Early the next morning, the UK quintet
and-sour sauce and the
are in a minibus heading north to the
like. Then I spot that
Great Wall, an hour and a half away on a
main courses are around
decent road. It’s a wall, we’ve all seen pic-
the £6 mark, but mine
tures and it is not visible from space. Yet, as
are £34 and £16. Univer-
it snakes into the distance on two sides,
sal, if you are reading,
climbing peaks decorated with a light cov-
the cheque’s in the post.
ering of snow and the symbols for ‘Loyalty Next stop is the
to Mao’, it is impossible not to be over- Mao Live House, Bei-
come by the scale of the undertaking. Or jing’s premier venue for
the futility: when the Manchu decided to
indie bands, and filled
invade and take the throne from the ruling
with miserable-looking
Han in the 17th century, they were assisted
students in duffle coats
by the wall’s senior officer, who couldn’t
and yellow-rimmed
stand the emperor and let them through
glasses. Gia Wong is
without a fight, hoping they would teach
tonight’s headliner and
the Han a lesson. We, on the other hand,
selling copies of her CD,
are defeated by the cold and ask our driver
The Brilliant Gia, beau-
to take us back to the capital, and would it
tifully presented as 7”
be possible to stop at shops on the way so
singles. It’s a punk bossa
we could buy souvenirs?
nova sort of thing I
He drops us at an indoor market just
can’t wholeheartedly
round the corner from the hotel. Big mis-
recommend, but the
take. I swear I heard Ian Ashbridge utter
packaging is gorgeous.
the words, “If you are buying two pink
Finally, it’s on to
wigs, make it three and they will be cheap-
the Jiangjinjiu Bar,
er, I’ll take the third,” before running back
deep in the heart of a
to the hotel to get more yuan. Sian Davies
hutong, one of the tra-
deserves credit for her cold, poker-eyed
ditional Chinese quar-
staring out of a young saleswoman who
ters, where we just miss
wanted £144 for a pair of silk pyjamas. She
Ajinai, a traditional
got them for £2 and walked away from the
five-piece Mongolian
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