Capsule Review: The Rice Shop

米店 “The Rice Shop” was a song that was written by a folk artist while he was traveling in an autonomous territory in northwest of China. He had intentions of reflecting the people’s life within that region, to express the aspirations of the people, and their feelings. Chinese folk song was a huge core representation of history and social development. The artist Zhang Weiwei wanted the busy and restless individuals to take a moment and appreciate a different slow paced way of life by using his romanticized piece.  With that he hopes to have them each take a step slower, and have time to think through their life.

On a Friday evening of January 25, I was able to see a live perform by a local band performing this piece. It was taken place in a restaurant call “ The True’s Tea”. The ensemble was with a vocalist, guitars, and a drummer. The local rock band took me by surprise by starting the performance with a traditional folk piece that was originally a vocal piece accompanied by a guitar and accordion. With the curiosity in mind I spoke to the rock band’s vocalist and asked the reason for doing a cover for this piece. He explained “A Friday evening, in a busy restaurant is a great place to take the audience by surprise to spread the idea of what life could be like if it is paced down. They may or may not choose to pace down their everyday life, but I hope from the moment the piece begins to sound, they may take a moment to look, listen, and be in the moment. A majority of us live in a close knitted setting with a marked impression preset to hustle along everyday. If the individual was someone who yearns for the opposite type of lifestyle, then the piece may resonate with them”.