Tag: Yan Jun

26/06/25 Committed to Tape

Demos and Cassettes for China’s New Music

The history of popular music in China from the 1970s to the mid-2000s is dominated by dakoudai1 – the excess cassettes (and later CDs) shipped to China for recycling. These were diverted upon arrival into the eager hands of a population finding their own voices after the strictures of the Cultural Revolution. But the new sounds Chinese artists were making needed to find their listeners. Demo cassettes provided one route for artists to reach critics, record companies and, ultimately, a new public.

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REVIEW: “Living, Rehearsing… Soundings/Crossings/Reverberance” at YDP Space, London

I couldn’t find anywhere willing to publish this, so I’m going to drop it here before it completely loses its timeliness. This is a review I penned of the first three (of four) days of the festival of performance “Living, Rehearsing…” which took place at Y.D.P. Space in London over January and February of 2026. The fourth and final event in the series will be on the 16 May 2026.

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Silence or Circumspection in Sound Practices in China

Author: Edward Sanderson

Abstract

In this text I will be arguing for the significance of silence or circumspection as a form of active disengagement. In particular I will be looking at this as an artistic tactic, focusing on sound art or experimental music practices that display such tactics as a matter of choice or necessity. These forms of practice will be related to historically situated practices that have taken various approaches to avoid confrontation while nevertheless asserting their presence in relation to specific social issues. I will be proposing that such practices institute new relationships between an artist and their audience that may open up the potential for new social and political effects.

Download this text as a PDF here.Download

Keywords

Sound art, experimental music, pragmatism, withdrawal.

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Sound Transmission from Japan to China in the Early 2000s

Yan Jun in conversation with Edward Sanderson, at Nooo Kitty, Osaka

Yan Jun has been involved in the music scene in China since the early ’90s, originally as a poet and a journalist, as well as organizing gigs and events for experimental music and sound. He began organizing these in his hometown of Lanzhou, and later moved to Beijing. He runs Sub Jam, a very important record label in China, releasing all sorts of works by Chinese and international sound artists and musicians. In terms of sound and experimental music in China, Yan is one of the central people. And not just in China, but also internationally: for many years he has been making links between China and the rest of the world. In October he was in Japan with the group he performs with, FEN, which is himself, Yuen Cheewai from Singapore, Ryu Hankil from Korea, and Otomo Yoshihide from Japan. The following interview with Yan Jun took place after a performance by Yan and Tim Olive at the Nooo Kitty space in Osaka on the 17th of October.

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