China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Future fun fest
Cultural event blending music, lifestyle to spread creativity in four cities
stablished in Taipei 12 years ago, the Simple Life Festival, a cultural event that blends music with creative lifestyle products, will expand to more locations across the Chinese mainland this year.
The festival at each of the four new cities will feature different themes — Simple Heaven (Chengdu, Sept 15 to 16), Simple Dreams and Days (Shanghai, Oct 1 to 7), Simple Fire (Wuhan, Oct 20 to 21) and Simple Island (Xiamen, Nov 3 to 4).
The music lineup for Chengdu and Shanghai has already been unveiled and the headline acts include Beijing-based singer-songwriter Pu Shu, Taiwan pop singer Hebe Tien Fu-chen and Hong Kong singer Sammi Cheng Sau-man.
Other than the exciting lineup, audience members can also wander through an area filled with stalls selling creative handmade and environment-friendly products from local brands.
“The key to the Simple Life Festival’s success lies in the collaboration of different creative industries, all working together to create magic,” says Jeff Chia Minshu, co-founder of the festival.
He adds that the festival is not about putting on a show that features some of China’s best-selling singers, but rather a festival that celebrates all types of lifestyle and pools together skill sets so that a community can grow together.
Based in Beijing, the 53-year-old veteran music producer is known for working on iconic albums such as those of Taiwan’s rock band May Day, Hong Kong singers Karen Mok Man-wai and Sandy Lam Yiklin. He was also the person who brought Beijing-based rock singersongwriters and bands, including Dou Wei, He Yong and Zhang Chu, to Hong Kong in 1994.
The Simple Life Festival started at a time when the music industry was severely affected by the dawn of the internet era. The market for physical music records was shrinking as digital streaming grew in popularity. Record companies struggled to survive, but young singer-songwriters still needed platforms to showcase themselves.
It was then that Chia, along with his colleagues Landy Chang and Jonathan Lee from Rock Records, one of the biggest and oldest record companies in Taiwan, decided to gather these young musicians together and play their original materials. Along the way, the trio were drawn to young people who had a passion for creativity, and their initial project soon turned into the Simple Life Festival.
“People come to the Simple Life Festival to share their lives. They are young, energetic, creative and enthusiastic about their lives,” says Chia.
The Simple Life Festival first came to Shanghai in 2014. That year, over 50,000 students and white-collar workers, most of whom were under 35 years old, attended the event.
One of the most memorable moments of that year’s festival was the performance by its co-founder Lee, who sang every song from his first album, The Spirit of Life. Released in 1986, the album conveys a message urging young people to chase their dreams and passions.
“I have been writing songs my whole life because that’s what I love to do. I hope that the Simple Life Festival is a place for you to encounter beautiful things, become inspired and be creative,” says Lee.
For the three new cities the Simple Life Festival is heading to this year, Chia has a clear idea about each location’s creative industry. For example, he notes that Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province, has a strong base for indie music and people are educated about underground music. Meanwhile, Xiamen, a costal city in Fujian province, has a large number of bars and cafes and a relaxing atmosphere that is conducive for cultivating local talent.
“I travel a lot and with each city I visit, I go to the most popular live music venues and places that gather local creative products, because they show the vibrancy of the local young people and their tastes,” Chia says.
“We combine local bands with creative brands in the Simple Life Festival. People expect to see how the vibrant local art scene blends together with the lovely spaces we choose for the festival.”
Music fan Ma Le, who first attended the Simple Life Festival in Shanghai in 2017, is already looking forward to this year’s event.
“I am looking forward to the festival in Shanghai, which runs for seven days and has a variety of events. I also want to see how it presents the theme of ‘simple fire’ in Wuhan, a new city it will visit this year,” says the 29-year-old who works in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.
“There were both new musicians and established stars, and there is a variety of styles of music. I was also surprised to run into some old friends there.”
Huang Jiashi, 37, has been attending the Simple Life Festival in Shanghai since 2015. She was first drawn to the musicians featured, especially singer-songwriter Ding Wei, who had withdrawn from the limelight for years before returning to the stage to perform at the festival in Shanghai in 2017.
“When I actually arrived at the festival, I found out that it was more than just music. I was surprised to see some original and creative products. I made some new friends there,” Huang says.