Zhanguo Stage in Taihu MIDI Festival 0158

The Midi Music Festival, sometimes also called Midi Modern Music Festival or simply Midi Festival () is among China's largest

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

festivals and is hosted 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 ...

. Since its inauguration in 1997 it has been held each year 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 ...

during the May Day holiday (May 1–3), with some breaks in 2003, 2004 and 2008 (all times held in October). Currently, it change to（ April 28th to May 1st). The 2008 festival was delayed to October for reasons related to the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, and in 2020 and 2021 they were cancelled due to COVID. The festival currently is held annually in four Chinese cities: Beijing,

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, Suzhou and

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

. The 2006 festival, held in Beijing's

Haidian Park Haidian Park ( 海淀公园; pinyin: Hǎidiàn Gōngyuán) is a city park located in the northwestern Haidian District of Beijing, China. It is 40 hectares in area, and is located at the northwest corner of the Wanquanhe Intersection of the Nor ...

, hosted 40-80 thousand visitors, and featured performances by more than 50 bands (including 18 foreign bands, such as Alev, Monokino, Yokohama Music Association,

The Wombats The Wombats are an English indie rock band formed in Liverpool in 2003, consisting of Matthew Murphy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Tord Øverland Knudsen (bass, backing vocals, keyboards), and Dan Haggis (drums, backing vocals, keyboards). ...

, and The Mayflies) performing on four stages (Main Stage, Guitarchina Stage, Mini Midi Stage, and

Disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

Stage). The artists represented the genres of rock, electro, and DJ. The 2007 festival included UK acts the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

Kava Kava (band) Kava Kava is an English rock band/live dance act from Huddersfield, England featuring the vocals, production, and songwriting of Pat Fulgoni. They started as a four-piece live psychedelic funk outfit with heavy George Clinton influences wit ...

, Dave Stewart of the

Eurythmics Eurythmics were a British pop duo consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. They were both previously in The Tourists, a band which broke up in 1980. The duo released their first studio album, '' In the Garden'', in 1981 to little succ ...

, and

Soundtrack Of Our Lives The Soundtrack of Our Lives, often abbreviated T.S.O.O.L., was a Swedish rock band that formed in Gothenburg in 1995 and disbanded in 2012. The band's style draws heavily from sixties and seventies rock and punk, such as Rolling Stones and Iggy ...

. The festival regularly features environmental themes as their slogan, such as raising awareness for animals threatened with extinction and PM2.5 for their 2012 festivals. Since 2008,

Rock in China Rock in China is a website dedicated to the documenting and archiving of contemporary Chinese music, ranging from rock music to punk, metal, electro, jazz and hiphop. It was founded in 2004, and in 2006 became a wiki. The website currently runs ...

is providing the English language website for the Midi Modern Music Festival.As mentioned on the ''About Us'' section of Rock in China
link
, accessed 2013-04-14 The Australian band

The On Fires ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

played at the 2011 festival. The 2012 festival featured Australian band Arcane Saints.

References

External links

Official Midi Homepage

Interview with Zhang Fan
headmaster of the Midi School about the Midi Festival
Article on Midi Festival by Lin Xu on City Moments
Rock festivals in China Music festivals established in 1997 1997 establishments in China Electronic music festivals in China {{music-festival-stub

See also

References

External links