MUTEK, Montreal’s festival of digital music and media arts, has already proven itself to be one of the world’s premier festivals of its kind. But the festival didn’t stop at adding to its hometown’s already fertile indie music ground: Having already held events in Europe and the US and put on festivals in Chile and Mexico, in March, MUTEK added China to its proverbial bedpost.
MUTEK in the Middle Kingdom
Jon Cambell
Image courtesy [010] Productions.
Montreal’s leading festival of experimental electronic music and media arts heads on a three-city China tour
MUTEK, Montreal’s festival of digital music and media arts, has already proven itself to be one of the world’s premier festivals of its kind. But the festival didn’t stop at adding to its hometown’s already fertile indie music ground: Having already held events in Europe and the US and put on festivals in Chile and Mexico, in March, MUTEK added China to its proverbial bedpost.
"While we were always interested in Asia, we were just waiting for the right opening," said festival director Alain Mongeau. That opportunity came via Francis Acquarone and his Beijing-based promotions agency, [010] Productions, who, along with the Canadian Embassy, presented the festival. Acquarone’s personal involvement in MUTEK China began when he was invited — in his former role as Cultural Affairs Officer at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing — to speak on a panel at last year’s event.
In addition to showcasing some of the most cutting-edge electronic music and visuals in the world, the festival was also an educational and industry-related event. In all three cities, performances, discussions and workshops were held. In Beijing, the panel discussion — on ‘Digital Identity in a Global Scene’ — was held at the performance venue. Workshops were held at the Midi School of Modern Music, a local music school: Mongeau spoke about the trials and tribulations of organising an electronic music festival, and Scott Monteith (of participating groups Deadbeat and Crackhaus) walked participants through Ableton Live, a production and sound design program. Cross-cultural exchange took place, as Chinese artists and audiences watched their Canadian counterpart perform, and later jam during the festival’s opening night.
MUTEK China is the festival’s first venture into Asia. "Japan is of course an important market, especially for such a niche genre as electronic music," offered Mongeau. "As an organization, MUTEK has never had the chance to make it there." Many artists that gravitate around MUTEK, said Mongeau, have had some level of success in Japan.
"The fact that we are playing electronic music might have led us to think we would be performing in Japan first. But we like to do things differently," said Guillaum Coutu Dumont, half of Canadian duo EGG. "As tourists we always knew we would travel somewhere in Asia…but as musicians we can’t say [that China] really crossed our minds. At the same time, travelling and playing in remote places is part of our job." The duo has played MUTEK events in Chile and Latvia, and, as a percussionist, Dumont travelled through Senegal.
EGG is just one of seven Canadian performers scheduled for two nights of shows in Beijing, Chengdu and Shenzhen — a Shanghai stop was cancelled due to lack of interest. In Beijing, nine local artists, comprised of one VJ, one minimalist laptop duo and seven club DJs, joined them.
Christiaan Virant is a long-time resident of Beijing and half of Beijing-based laptop duo FM3. He and his partner in FM3, Zhang Jian, who recently returned from an extended European tour, both played, for the second time, with Skoltz_Kolgen. "We opened for them at a MUTEK night in Germany last August…They work on the extreme high-end of digital video and audio, while FM3 is decidedly lo-fi. But the combination works so well that they personally invited us to open for them at MUTEK China."
Virant’s questioning of the local line-up has already stirred up some controversy around the capital. "It appears that the only local talent invited to perform are uninspiring club DJs," he said, adding that one of the successes of Sounding Beijing, last year’s festival of sound art was that it provided underground electronic artists with a performance venue. "Artists that normally operated on the fringes of the music scene were forced to get their acts together for the show," he said.
"It [was] good for the (local) crowd to see and hear some of Canada’s top electronic acts," he added. "But [did] the kids who are really interested pushing the envelope of digital music in China even bother to show up given the DJ-heavy local line-up and [in Beijing] the megaclub venue?"
Megaclub only begins to describe the venue for the Beijing event: Tango is actually five clubs in one: a basement karaoke den, two lounges, a still-under-construction 1,000-capacity live venue, and a main-room disco of epic proportions. As the main events took place in the disco, it isn’t surprising that the experimental artists for which MUTEK is famous were offset by more accessible local DJs who appeal to the hordes of punters that come to Tango on a regular basis to get down to the sounds of techno and house.
"Part of the idea behind MUTEK China is to open new horizons for Chinese clubbers," said Acquarone. "Some definitely did like what they heard and saw. Others were delighted. We’ve prepared a program that is not too experimental. Most of the artists, either through live or DJ sets, have very energetic dub and housy sets."
While obviously looking forward to his China experience, Mongeau was somewhat restrained in his outlook: "I believe that just the fact that this is happening is a success in itself. I see this project as opening little doors, connecting little dots in a large cultural map."
Acquarone, on the other hand, sees more concrete potential: "Who knows? If (local artists) impress Alain Mongeau, maybe they’ll be able to attend MUTEK’s next edition in Montreal."
Participating Artists:
Canada
Deadbeat
EGG
Crackhaus
Nanalog
Skoltz_Kolgen
Steven Beaupré
Akufen
China
Weng Weng
DJ Leslie
DJ Patrick
Mickey Zhang
Dio
Meimei Ding
FM3
DJ Youdai
Yang Bing
