I thought I would check out one of the open mics around town. There are quite a few happening around Shanghai these days. Seems to be a good way for bars to get cheap entertainment, and of course for artists to express themselves or get exposure for their original music.
Tonight I went to Un Cafe in Jing’an district. A French cafe/bar with an art vibe and friendly people.
The host was Asaph, probably my favorite singer/songwriter in town. He has a unique sound and a real knack for songwriting. I got there a little late so missed him playing unfortunately. I'll have to do another post about his music some other time in the near future.
So.... There were a number of singer/guitar players, and then strangely enough 2 cello players….. No drummers, no bass (well...I didn’t bring my bass). But 2 cello players… Nice!
I made a few short videos of some of the artists:
Generally a cool vibe with the art and interesting furniture about the place. Asaph runs it in a very laid back fashion (definitely no paper to put your name on). It basically runs itself. Artists have stage time and space, when they’re done, someone takes over and it continues. Pretty cool! Love the surf vids in the background too!
Tonight we had a number of artists I haven’t met before. One guy had only been in town for 3 weeks. Nice to meet different musicians that flock to their particular areas of the music scene. This was the singer/songwriter domain.
Towards the end of the evening, the stage and audience began interacting and morphing. We (audience) ended up hijacking the song. Clapping on the 2 & 4, banging on the tables and singing harmonies. I guess that's why they call it ‘jam’.
This is the kinda place to get started doing originals..... A warm comfortable and laid back environment to get settled in.