Troubadour Djang San Talks Dropping Four New Albums at Once
The hardest working man in Beijing’s music scene has just turned his already-impressive output up several notches. Zhongruan and pipa wielding French musician Djang San (who will perform at DDC on Nov 10 alongside Hugo Radyn on drums and Philippe Mege on
bass) has never left Beijing music fans waiting for long for a new
album, having released a staggering 47 LPs in his 18 years of living
here, but this go around is particularly noteworthy because he’s
released not one, but a whopping four LPs simultaneously: Upside Down Music, Red Lips, Walk and 2400 Meters High Improvised Music Session.
And
it doesn’t end there. As Djang San explains: “On each of these albums, I
play almost everything myself, including drums, Chinese instruments zhongruan and pipa, bass, drums, electric guitar, and everything else. One of the exceptions is the album 2400 Meters High that has David Bond of Path, Peking Floyd, and a few other bands on keyboard. 2400 Meters High lives
up to its name as an off-the-cuff jam LP that is made all the more
special by its setting: the Mado music studio in the mountains near
Tibet’s Himalayan mountains.
The cover of '2400 Meters High Improvised Music Session', one of four albums Djang San has put out recently
Among his four new albums, Red Lips is
an interesting combination of traditional Chinese instruments along
with elements of jazz and classical music. It was recorded in a brisk
two hours with Djang San on drums, electric guitar, and electric bass,
while Bond handled keyboard duties. On Upside Down Music,
meanwhile, Djang San inverts the Chinese folk sound that his fans have
come to love by incorporating loops and samples, along with a sprinkling
of classical music. Finally, there's Walk, which Djang San
mostly recorded and improvised in his apartment, drawing upon strolls he
has taken near Lama Temple as inspiration. For that LP, he recruited
the vocal stylings of Erika Nguyen and the electric guitar and keyboard by Jukka Ahonen.
As we are approaching the end of 2018, I am working on two new albums already and those two should be a bit different than previously released material.
On
top of all that: “As we are approaching the end of 2018, I am working
on two new albums already and those two should be a bit different than
previously released material.”
On why he decided to drop such a
gargantuan collection of fresh music at once, Djang San says: “I put
them out at the same time because in some ways the approach on those
albums is the same, and they represent part of my recording work of
2018.”
Djang San is known for playing electric zhongruan and electric pipa
So
what drives that ceaseless output? As Djang San puts it: “My
inspiration is constant, and only stops if I don't have the time to
concentrate on music at all. I mostly release quickly because I record
quickly, and the age of the internet, there is no reason not to release
what's recorded, and I see it as a diary too, a diary of the music I do
at one point or another in my life.”
He recalls working on 2400 Meters High with Bond while on holiday in Lijiang, as Bond was working on a new album for a band called Zuoka.
“I helped Zuoka on one of their songs by recording some guitar
arrangements for it at their studio in Lijiang, the band leader, Xiao Dong,
liked it and let me use his studio for the whole afternoon.” Djang San
began by recording the drums, then some bass, then some electric guitar
accompanied by Bond on keyboard. He says that seemingly tiring amount of
recording actually “came very naturally, and we embraced the feeling of
high altitude and freedom coming out of the moment.”
Djang San onstage. He has amassed a considerable fanbase in his 18 years of living and playing here in Beijing
Adding
to our suspicions that the man simply stopped sleeping, eating, and
engaging in any other function than playing music in recent months,
Djang San also released a new music video earlier this month albeit one
not connected to his latest projects but instead for his 2017 album What You Want. To our slight relief, Djang San wasn't involved in its production at all. The entire thing was created by Jean-Marc Laurent,
a 3D and CGI professional in Paris who made the clip “without telling
me about it. He presented the video to me when it was already finished
and told me the character in the video is actually just a start, as he
wants to create a whole universe and design a video game and a cartoon
series around the character.”
It looks like Djang San won’t be
taking a break anytime soon, nor will he be running out of creative
fodder. Instead, he says with palpable enthusiasm: “What I like the most
about the video is that it could be the start of a new universe.”
This city is bursting with live music. Check out our constantly-updated gig guide right here:
To listen to Djang San’s ever-growing catalog, check out his Bandcamp: djangsan.bandcamp.com. He will perform at DDC on Nov 10 at 9.30pm.
Photos courtesy of Djang San
Want to know what awesome events are happening in town? Scan/Extract the QR code above to get the list of our Editors' Picks.
Got something to sell? Looking for a job? Or probably your soulmate? Then scan/extract the QR code above to visit our Classified Ads.
Do you have what it takes to be a True Runner?
Scan/Extract the QR code above to check out our current job openings.
Always something fresh
Scan/Extract the QR code above to follow us!
Tap on the cover to access the latest print issue