Cui Jian: China's rebel maestro - Music rebels: dissident music then and now - Brief Article

New Internationalist, August, 2003

Trained as a classical musician--and former member of the Beijing Philharmonic Orchestra--Cui Jian is best known however for his courageous, openly political music. While playing trumpet in the Orchestra in the early 1980s, he was smitten by Western rock-and-roll music smuggled into the country.

Rejecting the syrupy ballads of mainstream Chinese pop, he became notorious for writing songs which dealt with controversial issues such as individualism and sexuality. In May 1986, during a Beijing concert, Jian climbed on to the stage in peasant clothing and sang 'Nothing to My Name'-which defined him as China's rebel maestro. The song became a democracy-movement anthem, sung by students during the Tiananmen Square uprising.

After he performed on stage wearing a highly symbolic red blindfold, he had his tour cancelled by the Communist Government. In recent years Jian has incorporated rap styles into his music and started singing about money-culture and corruption. But his album The Power of the Powerless also reflects hope for change. According to media activist Danny Shechter: 'Cui Jian's music gives you a taste of the struggle that is yet to come in China.'