Monday, February 23, 2009

Hao Yunyu Band at Jiangjinjiu Bar


When it comes to bars and live music in Beijing, sometimes you just have to get lucky to find the good ones. So it was that Saturday night, for a friend's birthday party, a group of us discovered Jiangjinjiu Bar (将进酒吧), located near Gulou (Drum and Bell Tower), a place that, true to its website's words, creates "a homely atmosphere... in the heart of Beijing."

Unlike Yugong Yishan, which had a 50 RMB cover charge for Pet Conspiracy on Friday, Jiangjinjiu almost never charges for its near-nightly live music. When a good band drops by on weekends -- and Hao Yunyu Band, an established local outfit, was absolutely excellent -- it makes for some tight crowds. On Saturday people were quite literally standing on tables and chairs, like our friends Joe and Daisy here:


A quick note on Hao Yunyu Band (Hao Yunyu is the lead singer): you could tell they knew what they were doing. They layered simple musical phrases from a variety of instruments (guitar, bass, drums, harmonica, Chinese lute (a qinqin, perhaps)) into a cohesive whole, all the while maintaining a flair for rhythm, humor and general fun. The crowd loved it. I stood next to two Chinese girls who not only knew all the songs but, for one in particular, brought out lighters and started waving the small flames.




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