As the year-end approaches, people who are away from home will gradually embark on the road back home. I am no exception. But where is my hometown? My family in the distance has long turned a foreign land into their hometown. That small northern city has become a place where I stop occasionally during my travels. Meeting a few childhood friends and tasting a few hometown dishes have become the purpose of going back. This year, I am temporarily living in Hangzhou again. After living here for a year, it seems that I haven’t developed any intense emotions with it. I haven’t even cooked a meal once. As a former food blogger, I am really ashamed. Most of the time, I am like an empty person as written in my songs. When the weather is good, I will climb the wild mountains around. Passing by the graves on the hills, I haven’t encountered any lonely ghosts to chat with. Everyone is too busy. As the old saying goes, where there are relatives, there is home. Return, driving north all the way, even if crossing the Qinling Mountains and wading through the Weihe River, before this winter ends.
Liu Dongming (Liu 2) is a folk singer and writer. He was born in Shandong in the late 1970s. In 2004, he recorded the demo ‘Liu 2’s Tricks’, and his music style shifted to folk. At the same time, he formed a folk band with a three-member lineup of acoustic guitar, bass, and hand drum and performed regularly at the original music bars ‘Nameless Highland’ and ‘Xin Haoyun’ in Beijing. In 2009, he recorded the album ‘Adapted from True Stories’. In 2010, he toured 26 cities across the country for his new album. In the same year, with the album ‘Adapted from True Stories’, Liu Dongming won the Best Newcomer Award of Chinese Media. In 2011, he moved to Shanghai. During the same period, he participated in many public welfare performances for local or individual fundraising and recorded the public welfare albums ‘Red Bulldozer’ and ‘Golden Bulldozer’ initiated by Zhou Yunpeng to help blind children. In 2013, he released the album ‘Hidden in the Earth’ and held a national tour with the band for the new album. In 2014, ‘Hidden in the Earth’ won the Douban ABilu Best Folk Album Award, the Best Lyricist for Chinese Folk Music, and the Social Consciousness Award. In 2016, he signed with the ‘Tree Music’ record company and released the album ‘Newly Compiled Good Song’. In 2018, he settled in a small town in the south of the Yangtze River. In 2019, he collaborated with Tencent Music and released the single ‘Happy Yellow Handkerchief’. In 2019, he created the song ‘Rider’ based on the story of takeout rider Lu Jichun and released it independently. In 2020, he released the album ‘Silent Companionship’ and held a national tour. In 2023, he released the album ‘Song of the Wanderer’ and held a tour. In 2023, his first collection of literary works ‘Grand Feast’ was produced and released by Ideal Country.Guest performer: Jia Guma. An original musician and songwriter with stable live performances. With a deep and melancholy appearance, he is excellent at playing guitar and harmonica. Influenced by his mother when he was young, he fell in love with music. He started learning guitar in junior high school and taught himself harmonica in college. He has performed and lived in many cities in China. He likes the unpredictable life and the challenges and surprises brought by performances.
Representative works: ‘Xiao Li’, ‘Can We Get Married?’, ‘One Second’ All evaluations: Zhang Quan (lead singer of Wild Children Band): ‘There are many excellent musicians in our era. If there is one person who can fulfill the role of a folk singer, that person is Liu Dongming. His personality and works can make us feel that his heart and the spirit he wants to express are always consistent, and his singing skills and guitar control ability are also above many busy musicians.’ Zhang Weiwei (musician): ‘Liu Dongming is a musician I admire very much and also my friend. He has a good voice and plays guitar well. He likes drinking. Unlike others who go crazy after drinking, he always talks less the more he drinks. One’s drinking behavior reflects one’s character. I rarely see him eager to express anything. He just writes songs, performs, and makes albums, moving forward silently on his own.’ Zhou Yunpeng (musician, poet): ‘Liu Er’s works are sincere and almost clumsy; pleasant to listen to and almost popular.’ Mei Er (former bassist of ‘Top Floor Circus’ band and current bassist of ‘Anti-Dog’ band): ‘Liu Er’s music does not have gorgeous and false words. Instead, it lurks between poetry and life, depicting the not-so-beautiful world between being on the road and in text. Liu Er’s perspective on looking at the world is neither celestial music nor street doggerel. His classical temperament in his bones prevents him from becoming a hooligan. Instead, he is like a cook who is good at cooking and living in seclusion somewhere. He regards musical instruments as cooking spoons and notes as seasonings, cooking up a pot of worldly thick soup. The taste is not heavy. Just the right amount of scallions, ginger, garlic, and chili peppers are added. In the end, one can taste the mixed flavors of bitterness, spiciness, sourness, and sweetness.’ Bai Shui (musician): ‘Before folk music became a noun, Liu Dongming was already its best interpreter in China. I think he is definitely still so today. I don’t listen to much folk music, but undoubtedly, his music is my favorite Chinese song after Hang Tian and Yao.’ Wu Tun (lead singer of Tongue Band): ‘In the winter of 2014, I listened to ‘Earth’s Hide and Seek’ almost every day. Sometimes after listening to it two or three times in a row, I still didn’t feel satisfied, so I played ‘Adapted According to True Stories’ as well.’Sometimes, breathing out visible breaths, we sing along to a few lines of ‘Seeing Off Chen Zhangfu’. This winter has passed by without realizing it, without coal for heating, and yet, not feeling the cold. Zhong Lifeng (musician): ‘Dongming is a person who pays great attention to details. Whether it’s being friends with him or listening to his songs, we can strongly feel this. Once a person pays attention to details, they become handsome and confident. Attention to detail is a reflection of taste! So, every time we see Dongming, whether in daily life or during live performances, he is always calm and unhurried, gradually approaching where he wants to go. Each time Dongming releases new work, he improves and brings surprises to his listeners — the solid remains solid, and the imagination becomes more fascinating. Some people indulge and become obscure in loneliness, but Dongming becomes more free and more rhythmic in loneliness.’ Wen Feng (former drummer of the Tongue Band): ‘Perhaps many years ago, Dongming and I grew up in different cities listening to the same songs. Now, listening to his works, I hear some of the things I want to say, hear someone singing in the graveyard of time, sometimes indifferent, sometimes shocking. I hope he can ‘slightly get rich’ soon!’ Guo Xiaohan (music critic, writer): ‘Liu Dongming, we all call him 2nd Brother, is easygoing, fashionable, lively, kind, and considerate in life, but extremely serious and even lonely when facing creation. In this era where everyone doesn’t speak properly, if saying a person works hard seems to vaguely imply they are not talented enough, 2nd Brother is a musician who is both talented and hardworking. However, he avoids the most pandering part of worldly affairs, just like when he performs, he squints or even closes his eyes, and does not fall into the terrible interaction of ‘I want to die for you’. In creation, he maintains a keen and unique way of observing the world as an artist, but does not use those keywords and sensitive phrases from popular events to cause collective fake excitement, nor does he deliberately create a ‘hit song’ to dilute the essence of his work with fame. His musical style is unique, maintaining a sensitive observation of the times and a humorous deconstruction, expressed in a down-to-earth form, yet remaining clear and pure. In music and arrangement, he has been breaking new forms and boundaries. 2nd Brother doesn’t perform often, maybe once every few months or half a year, but every time we can feel that he has acquired new skills and areas. I hope 2nd Brother can keep getting better.
Li Wei (guitarist of Sound Fragment Band): ‘Listening to Dongming’s songs always reminds me of the golden wheat field at home when I was a child.’
Lv Yao (writer): ‘So some things in his character remind people of the words ‘Taishan Shigandang’. It is magnanimous, bright and open. A stone is there, and the whole family can feel at ease and safe. His songs also give people this feeling. There is anger, but not darkness. There is dissatisfaction, but the complaint is not wretched. It is playful and also simple and powerful. After listening to the songs, I think the world is still very good and worth striving for.’ Ma Di (musician): ‘I have always wondered why such a good singer is buried. He is a folk singer who has been underestimated in China. Listening to his songs makes people think deeply, and people who know him are admirable.’ Song Dongye (musician): ‘Brother 2 is also a legendary figure in our hearts. From helping us when we were ignored at the earliest, to exchanging cups and drinking together at family banquets later, Brother 2 has always been a respected senior and a good friend we can joke with. Whenever slightly drunk, Brother 2 picks up his guitar and sings those ballads that belong to him and also our youth. Some people laugh, some people cry, and some people can always notice the pure soul of a child.’ Yao Shisan (musician): ‘Mr. Liu Dongming, we all call him Brother 2. He is our good example, senior and good friend. The first time I listened to Brother 2’s live performance was in 2010. In 2011, I was fortunate to be a guest for Brother 2 and got to know him. I like Brother 2’s life and music even more. My favorite song is ‘Adapted from Real People and Real Events’. Opening time: Saturday, January 18. Performance start time: 20:00. The specific performance duration is subject to the site.Related posts:
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