Yeah, that’s me. And why am I posting a picture of myself dancing, or possibly conceiving some great idea, in early 2004 during a curry-cook/dance-off on a friend’s rooftop in Dakar? Because four years ago yesterday Benn loxo du taccu was born. Happy birthday, Benn loxo.

It all started in Dakar after a good trip to Nigeria as an excuse to collect more music while living in West Africa. It quickly turned into something much greater.

Four years, 460 posts, 2500 comments and lots of life later, we’re here.

More than all the music I’ve collected, the most rewarding bit has been all the people I’ve met through the site. Benn loxo has led me to good friends in Paris, Dakar, London, Beijing, San Francisco, New York, Lagos and elsewhere. These days I keep this site going mainly because it continues to bring me great people wherever I go.

A big thanks to all of you who have contributed music, advice, posts, concerts and much more over the years. I’ll try my best to keep it going for another four.. for better or for worse!

So I figure we’ll celebrate the birthday with one last Beijing music post.

Today’s track was recorded at the last live show I attended in Beijing, Wu Ningyue’s acoustic set at the Jiangjinjiu pub. It was another one of those great MicroMu gigs. The crowd knew all the words and the atmosphere was fun.. (yes, Ed, despite all the La La Las.)

I don’t know much about Wu Ningyue except that he is the lead singer for a popular Chinese rock band. I leave you to brush up on your Chinese and check out the MicroMu site to learn more.

You can download the whole live album here.

I’m back in Paris now but soon off to London, Ankara and Istanbul. I’ll try to throw together a long-overdue Paris post this weekend, then more to come from England, Turkey and who knows where else in the coming weeks.

Wu Ningyue - 性格

Live and direct from the Beijing olympics: I’m posting this from the field of the Bird’s Nest, specifically between this morning’s javelin competition and the track. I’ve always thought javelin was a cool sport…

Some laid-back Chinese country-folk today by Liu Dongming. It’s off another MicroMu release.. yet another that I quite enjoy.

Ed Peto explains:

“Liu Dongming taught himself to play guitar while busking on the Beijing subways and has slowly grown to be one of the most feted folk singers in China. This song talks about how the old days were great, but you should also enjoy the times you spend together now, stop thinking only about the past: ‘everything will flow and I’m not sad anymore, those times we were destined to spend together, learn to enjoy, brother.’”

Nice theme. “Youthful Days” could easily apply to my time here in Beijing so far. I haven’t pulled all nighters and been out as much as this in a while. That’s not to say that where I normally live is dull - despite its surprising buzz, Beijing is no Paris - but it’s different when you’re visiting a place and not staying long-term. I’ve been in Beijing long enough to launch myself well into it, and short enough to go full throttle the whole time.

As usual with MicroMu releases you can download the whole album - free and legal - here: http://www.micromu.com/wp-content/uploads/MMDLLP002%5BMicroMu%5D.zip

Tomorrow it’s black Afrikaans South African hip-hop, live in Beijing (tonight). Say what? Exactly. Stay tuned…

刘东明 - 少年时光 (Liu Dongming - Youthful Days)

And now for something you might have heard of…

Hanggai are all the buzz right now. Pitchfork gave them an 8.0 which will guarantee a storm of downloads by the indie masses over at emusic. The BBC gave them a glowing review. Hey, even I can’t wait to see them at 2Kolegas on August 22nd.

It seems like everyone finally stopped writing about “China’s upcoming classical music dominance” (I’ll rant about that later) and found a Chinese group to write about during the Olympics. Luckily, they’re really good.

Hanggai’s first release for the international market, Introducing Hanggai on World Music Network, is lovely. You can hear it everywhere else.. so today I’ll bring you a great track off a live recording made last year at the 2 Kolegas in Beijing. You can find the studio version of this track on their latest release.

The first time I heard this track, before (and even after) I realized that Hanggai had become so hyped, it took my breath away. Great stuff.

Hanggai Band - Wuji (live)

Yet another MicroMu post. What a find..

Today we’ll hear some Mongolian-Chinese folk music sung by Gangzi, the sound man at Beijing’s only “metal” venue, 13 Club. When I first heard this I thought, hey, that’s Eddie Vedder in his youth, deep into some throat singing. Indeed, as Ed points out, you can hear a bit of that heavy rock in his singing but the Mongolian roots are evident. Give this one a long listen, as it doesn’t really kick in until the 3rd minute or so. It’s a beautiful one.

Did any of you ever see that great documentary film, Genghis Blues?

Here’s some info on MicroMu from Ed Peto:

“MicroMu is an experimental, sponsor-supported, free-to-user record label model. We focus on contemporary Chinese songwriters and naturally lean towards acoustic music as a result of this. We have set up a compact recording process both for live and studio/semi-live recordings which means that we can produce good quality music quickly and efficiently. We give this music away for free through our website, combining it with relevant editorial, videos, etc as a way of building context and community around the music. A vibrant, focused community is always of interest to a brand who shares the same audience, so we generate the lion’s share of revenue from a cash sponsorship deal with Beijing based Plastered T-Shirts. The label was self-sustaining from the day it launched.”

Interesting. I knew of at least one similarly noble effort started in Senegal while I was there, but there weren’t the listener audience to keep it afloat. With a massive population and a surprisingly vibrant contemporary youth music scene, not to mention a growing middle class who can afford to go out and see live music once and a while, it’s easy to see why projects like MicroMu are doing well.

As usual with these MicroMu releases you can download the whole EP - free and legal - on the MicroMu site here: http://www.micromu.com/wp-content/uploads/MMDLEP003%5BMicroMu%5D.zip.

I picked-up a couple recordings by another Chinese-Mongolian group, Hanggai, today. You’ll be hearing some music from those later this week, along with music from a few other albums I’ve managed to scrounge during my time-off here in Beijing.

刚子 - 日出

More music from the folks at MicroMu today. Remember that you can download all of the tracks I post plus the full EPs and LPs at the MicroMu site. If you have trouble reading the Chinese (as most of us will) I’ll provide direct download links in these posts.

Today we’ll be hearing a couple tracks by the young Zhao Guang. This first of the MicroMu EPs is, once again, a wonderful listen. Long-time Benn loxo listeners will know that I’m always a sucker for nice, simple, jangly acoustic guitar music from any country. Finding this kind of sound in China was a pleasant surprise.

This EP was recorded a couple months ago in June, 2008. You can download the whole EP here: http://www.micromu.com/wp-content/uploads/MMDSEP001%5BMicroMu%5D.zip.

The title of the first track translates to “Throwing Handkerchiefs”. As Ed Peto explains, “This is based on an old Chinese children’s game. In the song, Zhao Guang talks of throwing a handkerchief off a building and resolving to follow whoever picks it up.”

The second, 小苹果公主, means “Little Apple Princess”. It’s “about a shallow girl..’you change your hairstyle, cut off your long hair, smile at the cars as they pass by, and jump onto the back seat of a stranger’s bicycle’”.

Apologies in advance for this popular reference, but I immediately thought of Bob Dylan when I heard the first track. In a very good way..

赵光 - 丢手绢 (Zhao Guang - Throwing Handkerchiefs)
赵光 - 小苹果公主 (Zhao Guang - Little Apple Princess)

My first and favourite foray into the Beijing music scene was a MicroMu folk music night at the Jianjinjiu bar, a great little place between the Drum and Bell towers at Gulou. A friend of a friend, Mat, introduced me to Ed Peto of MicroMu, a record label run by his Beijing-based music consultancy, Red T Music. They host bi-monthly concerts at the Jianjinjiu - definitely worth checking out if you’re passing through Beijing.

Some of you may be thinking, as I did, “Beijing alt-folk music scene?” Yes - and it’s wonderful. The little I’ve heard and seen has been musically original and impressive. The gigs have been, for the most part, well-attended with enthusiastic crowds. Beijing Bohemian. Who knew.

That first night Ed was doing a live recording of Zhang Weiwei and Guo Long, two important musicians in the Beijing “alt-folk/ethnic” scene. Both were founding members of the group you heard the other day, IZ, and were also in the well-known bands Glorious Pharmacy and Wild Children. Apparently Zhang Weiwei is quite well-known, at least among Beijing musical circles, for his accordian work with Wan Xiao Li and increasingly for his own recordings.

The music you’ll hear today is from his first solo release, though it’s actually a new version of a song from a previous group, Wild Children. The title translates to “Stare at the northern sky”. It’s been stuck in my head for quite a few days now along with several other excellent tracks from the album. For this I am especially grateful since it finally released me from the musical clutches of that wildly irritating (but addictive) Beijing olympics theme song you hear on the radio every two minutes.

You can download Zhang Weiwei’s whole album - free and legal - on the MicroMu site. If you’re having a hard time finding the download links (the site is Chinese-only) try this: http://www.micromu.com/wp-content/uploads/MMDLLP004%5BMicroMu%5D.zip.

I’ll be posting music by another MicroMu artist tomorrow, and hopefully more in the future. They produce some really great sounds, and plus Ed is a good guy who has taught me much about the scene here.

A note from Ed,

“Here is a video of Gulou, Jiangjinjiu, Gangzi soundchecking and a massive firework going off. This was a practice for the Olympic opening ceremony fireworks a week later. You know the ones that went off in a row from Tiananmen Square through Gulou and on up to the Bird’s Nest…
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzgxNjc3OTY=.html
Really gives a good idea of atmosphere surrounding the whole MicroMu @ Jianjinjiu evenings.”

You can see another video of Zhang playing here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpoTubJqGFs

I’ll tell you more about MicroMu in the coming days and post some more of their music. Great stuff.

张玮玮 - 眼望着北方 (Zhang Weiwei - Stare At The Northern Sky)