Matthieu Chedid will continue his collaboration with Chinese musicians in his upcoming show in Shanghai. (Photo provided to China Daily)
French rocker Matthieu Chedid has described his first China tour six years ago as "an incredible adventure" and his second in 2014 as something that allowed him to feel the country's spirit even more.
The singer-songwriter will return to China for the third time on March 25, when he plays in Shanghai as part of his Asia tour, titled Extraordinary Live Shows.
Having worked with Shanghai-based musician Cha Cha and her band, AM 444, Chedid will continue his musical experiments with Chinese musicians.
This time, he will cooperate with guzheng (Chinese zither) player Sangka to compose a song, titled Machine, and perform it at the Shanghai show.
"Every tour is a small step forward to understand Chinese culture," the 44-year-old, who is better known by his stage name "-M-", tells China Daily by e-mail from Paris. "I hope to immerse myself there and finally progress in the knowledge of a new type of culture."
His crush on traditional Chinese musical instruments started right from his first visit here.
"I was drinking jasmine tea and there was a loudspeaker broadcasting the sound of this instrument. I thought it was a guitar－a little bit deep, a little bit dull－which sounded like some sort of Asian blues," recalls Chedid. "People told me that there was a guzheng shop around the corner. An hour later, I bought one and took it back to Paris."
Since then Chedid has used it in some of his songs.
"I play it in my own way, which is like blues. It's the pentatonic scales that I've found in guzheng and the scales of blues. I like this instrument very much."
Kaiguan Culture, a Beijing-based cultural agency, had introduced him to Chinese musician Sangka during Chedid's 2014 tour of the country. Sangka, 27, whose real name is Yemei Chenyang, started learning the instrument at age 5 and graduated from the China Conservatory of Music.
Before working with Chedid, she had worked with German composer Robert Zollitsch, who is known as Lao Luo in China, from her sophomore year. She also collaborated with rock band Hanggai from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
"The music with Chedid was mostly impromptu," says Sangka. "For many Chinese audiences, the instrument can be seen everywhere, on TV and at teahouses. But for Chedid, it is something new, and he can interpret it in a different way."
Chedid's upcoming tour will also witness the release of his new album, which he says is a mix of live poetry, distorted guitar playing and elaborate offbeat rhythms.
Accompanied by bassist Brad Thomas Ackley and drummer Lawrence Clais, who have been working with him since 2012 and will also perform during his Asia tour, Chedid recorded the whole album in one take over a sleepless night at a Brussels studio, he says.
His artistic talent is deeply rooted in his family－h(huán)is father is a famous French pop singer, his grandmother is a writer and his sister is a concert director.
As Chedid says, he learned everything onstage, and not at a music school.
In the 1990s, he started to form his own musical style and invent his stage persona, which is a way of distancing his work from that of his family's established reputation. With a playful look, an M-shaped haircut, and pink suits that only Prince or Elton John could otherwise carry off, Chedid hit French rock and pop circuits with a bang.
He gained international fame through his recording of the song Belleville Rendezvous for the animated film The Triplets of Belleville (2003) in both French and English. The song was nominated for the Oscars in 2004.
If you go
8:30 pm, March 25. Shanghai QSW Culture Center, 79, Yichang Road, Putuo district, Shanghai. 021-6266-3191.
