Park Greets Music FansRain on Sunday did not stop the music, beer and high enthusiasm at this weekend's second annual weekend concert event in Ritan Park, today's China Daily reports.The park, located in Beijing's embassy area, held an ocean of excited pop fans over the weekend when six famous bands from China and abroad were this summer's prime entertainment in the Chinese capital. They were "Zero Point" from China, "Zap Mama" from Belgium, "James" from Britain, "Bamboleo" from Cuba, "Zang Tianshuo" from China, and "Femi Kuti and the Positive Force" from Nigeria. All the bands were brought in by the China International Cultural Exchange Association. The excited audience danced, screamed, and applauded with the beat, pushing the open-air "Heineken Beat 2000 Summer Music Festival" to new heights. Powerful yet diverse, the music and performances refreshed the ears, eyes and hearts of thousands of Beijing admirers, many of them foreigners living in Beijing. "It's a terrific experience. I enjoy the performance of Zap Mama the most. The touching vocal effect of the women singers and their energetic dances were very impressive," said Wei Ligang, a Beijing artist who attended the concert. The two-night music festival sponsored by the famous Holland beverage company, Heineken, was held for the second time in Beijing. The first happened last summer, also in the ancient round yard with the red wall in Ritan Park. Last year's music festival had a distinctive blues, jazz and soul feel - all roots of Western popular music. "This year we have a more modern feel - Britpop, Afrobeat (African rhythms with European dance music energy), Timba (the newest Latin craze from Cuba) and World Fusion (hip hop meets pygmy songs) - representing the most popular music in the world today," said Zhou Yanli from the Beijing Yiren Culture and Arts Exchange Centre. |
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