Cui Jian is known as the Father of Rock & Roll music in China and an advocate of poltical awareness. The arrival of rock & roll music, which is known for its rebellious messages and tones, came just in time for the chaotic events which occurred in Tiananmen Square on June 4th, 1989. Cui Jian was able to motivate the youth, challenging them to wake up and take political action.
Cui Jian’s songs are, on the surface, simply about love. When asked if his songs purposely took a political tone, he simply answered that he did not have to answer that and so he would not. However, it is hard to ignore the political messages woven into the lyrics of the song. The song “Nothing to My Name” is a love song about a girl who does not want him because he has nothing. However, the song can also be interpreted as Cui Jian telling the youth they are trapped by communism, and should join him in his freedom of thoughts, although he has nothing to offer them directly yet. He says “The earth beneath my feet is moving, the river beside me is flowing,” which indicates that he can feel changes occuring in society. At the end of the song he sings, “Now your hands are trembling, now your tears are flowing. Is it possible that you’re saying to me, you love me with nothing to my name?” This line shows that Cui Jian has hope that his song will influence the youth to follow him in his ways of free-thinking. The song “A Piece of Red Cloth” has a hint of political elements in the title itself, as red is normally a symbol for communism. The song tells a story of a girl who covers Cui Jians eyes with cloth and asks him what he has seen. Symbolically, the covering of his eyes with the red cloth symbolizes being blinded by communism. Cui Jian sings “This feeling really made me comfortable made me forget I had no place to live.” Later, he also sings that while blinded, the warm feeling of blood also made him comfortable. The significance of these two lines is that the Communist government blinds you, making you believe that everything is good even though you are surrounded by negativity.
Cui Jian, through his lyrics, music, and behavior, embodied the stereotypical rock star. He sang controversial lyrics in a loud and raspy voice, and never took no for an answer. For example, Cui Jian was once asked not to perform the song “Balls Under the Red Flag” for a concert and nevertheless did it anyway which resulted him in being banned from performing his second concert. Cui Jian’s song “Nothing to My Name” became the anthem of the defiant youth of Tiananmen Square. Cui Jian arrived at the perfect time, when youth needed a rebel to follow, which is exactly what rock & roll is all about.
Like other new pop cultures, rock & roll was fresh in China at the time, lots of teenagers and students became interested into it and followed the culture. The rebellious style and the angry mood of rock & roll motivated people to express their complaints to the society and with music. Cui Jian's music became a way for the students to express and spread their angry messages, to unite the student groups in the Tiananmen Square and to gain more attractions over the rest of China about their protest.
ReplyDeleteI agree with stanley in that Cui Jian's new wave of rock music in China acted as a stimulant for the students and that led them to unite to fight for what they so believed in
ReplyDeleteI think it's really neat that the student protesters were able to bond together over CuiJian's "Nothing to My Name" and use that as their rally cry during the rebellion at Tiananmen Square. Their care and love they showed CuiJian by telling him to leave the area a few days before 6/4/1989 is evidence that they truly liked his music and wanted him to remain away from trouble so that he could continue inspiring others like themselves. It's probable that this new type of music gained popularity with the teenage public, and as a result CuiJian rose to fame and became a figure that stands for popular beliefs.
ReplyDeleteThe song "Nothing to my name" is a good example that illustrate "Cui Jian is known as the Father of Rock & Roll music in China and an advocate of poltical awareness" as writer addressed in first sentence. The melody of this song opens the door to western rock and roll music in China in 1980s when Chinese began to turn from old to new including pop culture, economics and entertainment. Cui Jian mixed a rock melody with a pretty much political lyrics which focus on Tian'anmen Square incident in 1989. The reason why he is known as a music father not only Cui Jian first blended rocky roll into Chinese music but also he has passion and brave encough to speak out what youth wants and hopes from CCP. I feel Cui Jian and Wang Shuo are in common because they both use media as a tool to tell public what the CCP really looks like. I believe they love their nation but just disagree with what the nation government's stupid behavior to turn white become black in front of people.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with that nannan, but could you clarify your last sentence?
ReplyDeleteSee all these songs are basically symbolism. A lot of american songs are also based on symbolism,such as Jimi Hendrix songs and such,that are based on peace, but are spoken at a much literal language. It's the beauty of music-- it can be interpreted differently by everyone.
ReplyDeleteI agree with AllanHu "It's the beauty of music-- it can be interpreted differently by everyone."
ReplyDeleteI also feel like this is true for many kinds of art. I feel like often times people try to find one meaning in pieces of art, and by doing that it detracts from the overall message the artist was trying to convey because the other meanings get lost. For example, I think Cui Jian's music had some very clear symbolism, but just because what he is saying about love can relate to political issues doesn't mean that the love story never existed.