Happy Avenue (sometimes translated as Lucky Road, ) is a

Chinese rock Chinese rock (; also , lit. "Chinese rock and roll music") is a wide variety of rock and roll music made by rock bands and solo artists from Mainland China (other regions such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau are considered separate scenes). Typical ...

band based in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, founded in September 1999.

Band members

Members include Wú Hóngfēi (吴虹飞, vocals), Gěng Fàng (耿放,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

), Lǐ Wéiyán (李维岩, electric guitar), Zhōu Qí (周琦,

electric bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

), and Tián Kūn (田坤, drum set). Wu originally also played

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

in the group before deciding early on to focus strictly on vocals. The original bass player, Shèng (胜), was replaced by Jiǎng Róng (蒋荣) in June 2000, and Jiang was eventually replaced by Zhou. Wu Hongfei (surname Wu, b. 1975), Happy Avenue's vocalist and leader, is a graduate of Beijing's prestigious

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

, with bachelor's degrees in

environmental engineering Environmental engineering is a professional engineering discipline that encompasses broad scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiology, and mathematics to create solutions that will protect and a ...

and the editing of scientific books, and an M.A. degree in modern Chinese literature (although she primarily studied

Western literature Western literature, also known as European literature, is the literature written in the context of Western culture in the languages of Europe, as well as several geographically or historically related languages such as Basque and Hungarian, an ...

Also the group's only female member, she has the distinction of being China's best known female rock music, rock singer. Originally from Sanjiang, in the southern Chinese province of

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

and a member of the Dong

ethnic minority The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

, Wu is also a magazine journalist and a published novelist. Her lyrics range from lighthearted, absurdist vignettes (like "The Orange Who Wished to Be an Apple") to darker and more melancholy meditations on subjects such as death, alienation, and longing. "Daughter" deals with the issues surrounding unwed motherhood. Some other songs feature literary subject matter; "The Fish Who Loved Xiaolong" tells the story of a

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

who gives up her tail in order that she might be able to leave the sea and marry a huma

The group's music is eclectic, and generally unclassifiable by genre, though occasionally somewhat reminiscent of such avant-garde groups as

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

. Songs range from quirky, upbeat, and sardonic ("Daughter") to somber and brooding ("May"), the latter style leading some reviewers to describe the group's music as

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

. About the group, Wu says, "We never, ever let 'common taste' influence our music. We do what we like

The group's melodies are catchy, with Wu's often pentatonic vocal melodies showing the influence of Chinese folk singing (leading the band to be described by some as a folk-rock, folk rock act). In some songs Wu's expansive melodies extend to the highest register of her voice in a manner reminiscent of

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

, while others are rather

lullaby A lullaby (), or cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowled ...

-like ("Knife"). The group's albums often utilize vocal

overdub Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

bing to create an angelic

choral A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

effect. In a few songs ("Daughter") Wu sings in a more unorthodox manner, using abrupt sliding tones, whispering, and even screaming, displaying a wide range of emotions. Her often consciously edgy vocals, thus, contrast considerably with those of the sweeter and more formulaic styles of

Mandopop Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Standard Chinese, Mandarin popular music. The genre has its origin in the jazz-influenced popular music of 1930s Shanghai known as Shidaiqu; with later influences coming from Japanese enka, Hong Kong's Cantopop, Ta ...

and

Cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production ...

singers such as

Faye Wong Faye Wong ( zh, 王菲; born Xia Lin on 8 August 1969) is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter. Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong. Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and her debut album '' Shirley Wong'' ( ...

Teresa Teng Teng Li-Chun (; 29 January 1953 – 8 May 1995), commonly known as Teresa Teng, was a Taiwanese singer, actress, musician and philanthropist. Referred to by some as " Asia's eternal queen of pop," Teng became a cultural icon for her contributio ...

. While Wu's youthful-sounding vocals often show the influence of Chinese traditional music, the musical background provided by the band is more or less based in straight-ahead

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, ranging from simple flatpicked lines to all-out rocking grooves, giving each song a musical character different from the others. Lead guitarist Geng utilizes a wide range of

guitar effect An effects unit or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing. Common effects include distortion/overdrive, often used with electric guitar in el ...

s, lending a wide variety of

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or musical tone, tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voice ...

s to the group's sound. The group's demo, "Grain," features Wu's voice with only a sensitive, classical-sounding

accompaniment. Like most rock bands in China, Happy Avenue is essentially an

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground (S ...

or cult group, whose audience consists largely of students and those of college age. The group generally plays in bars such as Beijing's CD Cafe and Get Lucky Bar, and has also performed in several other Chinese cities. Its first performance took place on May 1, 2000 at the Midi Modern Music Festival, sponsored by the

Beijing Midi School of Music The Beijing Midi School of Music (北京迷笛音乐学校; pinyin: Běijīng Mídí Yīnyuè Xuéxiào) is a music school in Beijing, China, established in 1993. It is the first music school in China whose curriculum focuses on such modern musical ...

. Despite their consistent efforts, Happy Avenue's members have as yet found it impossible to reap financial rewards from their work, due in part to poor promotion of their music by their record labels, as well as due to current Chinese musical taste

Happy Avenue released its first CD, ''A Fish in Xiao Long's Room'', in 2004. During the recording of this album, Wu was writing her master's thesis, and, in order to complete the recording, postponed her graduation for a yea

Their subsequent disc was released in 2005. Their track "Daughter" was included on the
Beijing Band 2001: New Rock Bands from the People's Republic of China
' compilation CD, produced by American producer Matthew Corbin Clark. Due to Clark's efforts, Happy Avenue's music achieved recognition in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

with the inclusion of their song "Daughter" in
China in the Red
' (2003), a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

Frontline Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield. Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to: Books and publications * ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant * ''Frontlines ...

'' television documentary about contemporary China. Wu has written candidly about her experiences with Happy Avenue in her semi-autobiographical novel ''The Double Life of Afei'

She released a four-song solo EP in 2007.

Discography

Compilations

*2003 - ''Beijing Band 2001: New Rock Bands from the People's Republic of China''. Kemaxiu Music. *2004 - First Chinese release *2005 - Second Chinese release

References

External links

Happy Avenue page
from Rock in China site

from Beijing Band 2001 site
"Happy Avenue Leads To......"
by Wendy Liu, from ''City Weekend'', December 5, 2004

from ''China Daily'', December 19, 2002

{dead link, date=January 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes from ''China Daily''

from Beijing Portal
"Queens of Beijing: The city’s female movers and shakers"
from ''That's Beijing'', March 9, 2005
Review of Wu Hongfei's ''The Double Life of Afei''Happy Avenue photos
from Shanghai Streets Photoblog
Happy Avenue photosHappy Avenue photoHappy Avenue photosHappy Avenue history
(in Chinese and English)
Wu Hongfei blog (older)Wu Hongfei blog (newer)
(Chinese)

Listening