Starting their national tour in Beijing on April 9th at School.
Tour Dates: 9/4 Beijing School Bar, 10/4 Zhengzhou 7Livehouse, 11/4 Luoyang Tang Livehouse, 15/4 Xi’an ChuangJu Livehouse, 16/4 Chengdu CH8, 17/4 Guiyang Jin Livehouse, 18/4 Nanning Houpeng livehouse, 22/4 Guangzhou 191 Space Livehouse, 23/4 Shenzhen Midi Livehouse, 24/4 Xiamen Wokeshow, 25/4 Fuzhou Makerlive.
Ha Ha Master have become one of Yunnan’s most exciting new bands over the last few years, on the strength of their energetic and original live performances and are one of few to have made it out of Yunnan to festivals throughout China. They are beginning a National Tour on 9th April 2021 in Beijing, coinciding with the release of their second album ‘Octogenarian Eve’. Ha Ha Master describe themselves as “A band that exists in a space of subtle self-mockery, a space between hustle and bustle and quiet solitude”. Their style includes elements of Funk, Blues and Psychedelia without being tied to any particular genre beyond the expression of their ideas and view of reality- a harsh reality rather than the bland optimism of TV shows and advertisements. Lead by sassy female vocalist Fang Fang, whose femininity belies a quietly engaging performer, Ha Ha Master are thoroughly original and wholly different from any of their Yunnan contemporaries.
来自云南的笑匠HAHA MASTER，是一支由女博士和她的兄弟们组成的独立摇滚乐队。乐队名字来源于柏格森的一句话：“笑无视一切规则，是生命力对非生命力的胜利。”他们的作品融合迷幻、电子，带着哲学意味、怀疑气息，试图用音乐去揭开生活的裂缝。他们用音乐表达最真实的自我和对生活的剥析与思考，音乐充满着哲学的意味和怀疑的气息。
“在这张专辑中，我们幻想一个不断轮回重生的夏娃，她是那么苍老、却又那么崭新。
夏娃或许是第一个反抗权威的人类，这份反抗来自于她对真的渴求。
在无尽的岁月中，她不断地经历死亡与新生、爱情与遗忘、撕裂与弥合，跨越世代、轮回不已。
如今，八十岁的夏娃已然年迈，却仍然会义无反顾地闯入黑暗。”
“In this album, we fantasize about a constant rebirth of Eve, she is extremely old, but also young.
Eve may be the first human to revolt against authority. This revolt comes from her desire for truth.
In her endless years, she constantly experiences death and rebirth, love and forgetting, tearing and healing, spanning generations and reincarnations.
Today, 80 year old Eve is old, but she will still break into the dark without hesitation.”
HA HA Master is a band from Yunnan that was formed in 2016. Their new album “Octogenarian Eve” is coming out these days and I have had the privilege to listen to it all before it officially comes out.
You can listen right now to some tracks from the band here on Chinese platform Netease (click on the picture below).
The band has won the “Young Blood” Modern Sky competition in Yunnan in 2017 and has since then played extensively in many festivals around China. The band’s tour will start in Beijing at School Bar on the 9th of April 2021.
“Octogenarian Eve” is an album that mixes psychedelic rock, Brit-Pop, 90’s Hong Kong Pop and elements of electro-rock.
As I was listening to the album, several artists came to my mind, artists such as Faye Wong, Lonely China Day, Block Party, Ziyo, Residence A, Queen Sea Big Shark. Nova Heart, Yufeimen (与非门), Karen Mok (莫文蔚) Ziyo. 幸福大街。Early Oasis (Standing on the Shoulders of Giants), and early Radiohead (The Bends).
The album opens with the track “Flying into the night”, an electro-disco-rock kind of track with synths flying over and early U2-like guitars, and vocals in English.
“The world is like a game of fire, I am not crazy, I will not disappear” ” Fly into the wild, into the night, Fly into your fears and your desires, fly into the sun, into the light, sail on light and play the game of fire”.
The second track of the album “Cocoon” (茧）has a more psychedelic rock feel to it, it is also a darker track, with a raging guitar at the center of it, here are the lyrics:
“Lingering desir just entangle everything
Beautiful world just make a beautiful cocoon
Voice and color illusion cover up the emptiness by twos and threes
Happiness is a sweet gun
Since there is a flower bed in the lost mansion why stay away from reversion
The bitterness of heaven, flowers of hell
Oh you can feel but your feeling can never be true and you can have all the fun but you’ll never get the joy of truth
The other side is too far I want a colorful world, the sea is too salty I want to be by your side
Anyway, right and wrong are too shallow
Anyway, the uneasiness always goes out
Colors in chaos open and fall in an instant
Oh you can feel but your feeling can never be true and you can have all the fun but you’ll never get the joy of truth“
“Love song”, the next track of the album is a softer and more epic song where the synths of Pink Floyd and the guitars of Radiohead meet the singing voice of Faye Wong.
天黑了
你是我夜风拂动的情人
雨落了
你是我滴答作响的情人
云层之上
太阳第二次落下
你是我
浮在云端的情人
云散了
你是我阳光普照的情人
下雪了
你是我晶莹剔透的情人
平原发烫
大河从不止息
你是我
顺流而下的情人
绿野广大，风中有花
一直洒到屋檐下
风吹过花落下
到来年春天再开花
雨水丰茂除不尽
风吹层层涟漪
这是什么
我不回答
雨落了
你是我滴答作响的情人
下雪了
你是我晶莹剔透的情人
星河渺茫
是否你也抬头望
你是我
念念不息的情人
雨中有梦，梦中有花
一直洒到屋檐下
风吹过花落下
到来年春天
再开花
细水长流流不尽啊
随波逐流的梦啊
这是什么
我不回答
风声呼啸，烈雨如刀
大地沉默不动摇
我在梦中看到
你在远方，对我微笑
穿过平原穿过湖沼
不言不语不屈不挠
这梦境太潦草啊
梦醒你还在吗
It’s getting dark
You are my lover stirred by the night wind
It’s raining
You are my ticking lover
Above the clouds
The sun set for the second time
You are me
Lovers floating in the clouds
The clouds dispersed
You are my sunny lover
It’s snowing
You are my crystal clear lover
Plain hot
The river never stops
You are me
Lovers down the river
The green field is vast, and there are flowers in the wind
All the way to the eaves
The wind blows and the flowers fall
It will bloom again in spring next year
There is plenty of rain
The wind rippled layer upon layer
what is it?
I don’t answer
It’s raining
You are my ticking lover
It’s snowing
You are my crystal clear lover
The stars are dim
Do you look up too
You are me
My lover
There are dreams in the rain and flowers in the dream
All the way to the eaves
The wind blows and the flowers fall
Spring of the coming year
Re blooming
There’s a long way to go
The dream of drifting with the current
what is it?
I don’t answer
The wind is roaring, the rain is like a knife
The earth is silent and unshakable
I saw it in my dream
You smile at me in the distance
Across the plain, across the lake
Unyielding and unyielding
This dream is so sloppy
Are you still there
苹果 “Apple”, another track in both Chinese in English, is a nice track to dance to, a track about the original sin and the need to free ourselves from our frustrations.
“In a flash
Goodbye, lingering
Goodbye time
Goodbye tomorrow
Goodbye forever”
The next track “Nothing”, is completely in English.
“And all the love will finally fade
How could I keep your fascinating grace
And our feelings are just a trick
How could I say that life is so great”
A feeling of desperation, hope, and madness goes through that song…..how we sometimes lose ourselves into alcohol to forget heartaches and pain.
The guitar arrangements and the drums perfectly match each other here into the desperate energy of the youth.
The last two track of the album are also probably my two favorite ones.
“All the same” is a song from introspection and self mockery
The sense of insignificance mixed with others makes us want to be better and unique, and even unconsciously attach some personality labels
But have we become puppets of “self-esteem” and let labels control our true selves?
In fact, everyone is unique and doesn’t need any labels to crown themselves”
“10 000 suns” (一万个太阳）
With a guitar sounding like Nile Rodgers and Daft Punk, “10 000 suns” is one of the more uplifting track on the album, balancing nice melodies, vocals, instrumentation and arrangements.
Here’s what the band says about the song: “Ten thousand suns” is an hymn dedicated to all those who are lonely but persistent. Everyone wants to put out the fire, but there are always people who will hold up the torch and work hard. They will win with the sun itself.《一万个太阳》是一首献给所有孤独前行、却执着不改的人的赞歌。众人都要将火熄灭，却总有人会高举火把、奋力前行，他们以太阳本身必将迎来胜利。”
Don’t miss Ha Ha Master on their tour all around China, here’s the poster with all the dates again !
Scan the QR codes to buy the tickets:
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