Cold Fairyland: it's not about the fame

"I trained to be a classical music player, but I didn't like it. I wanted to create something new. I don't want to play the old songs over and over again. So I chose a different way," Lin Di, soloist for the Shanghai-based band Cold Fairyland says.

Cold Fairyland -- the name was taken from a novel by Japanese writer Haruki Hurakami -- plays music that's dreamy and relaxed, at least on their records. "Our live performances and our studio recordings are totally different. If you listen to our records, you will feel relaxed. If you go to our live performances, you will be very excited. It's very different."

Lin Di, who also writes the songs for the group, says that she wants the audience to have their own take on the music that the band plays. "Every song is different. Because people are complicated, music is also complicated. I don't want to give the audience my opinion. Everybody can get a different feeling from music. That's a good thing. I don't want to say, for this song, you should feel happy and for this one, you should feel sad. Everybody should feel whatever she wants."

The band, which also includes guitarist Song Jiang-Feng, drummer Li Jian and bassist Su Yong, was formed in 2001. Their first album, Flying over the city, was released that same year. They have released five other albums, with the latest, Seeds on the ground, coming out last year.

The Shanghai scene

According to Lin Di, Shanghai has about 1,000 rock artists. "Maybe about 20 bands can really play onstage and then there's maybe another 100 bands which are not as good. There are two types of bands there -- the official ones who play cover music, maybe jazz and those who play for fun."

She says that unlike in Beijing, Shanghai band members have to work. "I tell my friends, the first thing they have to do is find a job, so they can survive. In China, it's difficult to make money from music. Bands go to Beijing to get famous or popular, because they want people all over China to listen to their music. But today, we have the internet to distribute our music, so we don't have to go anywhere."

"Our live performances are different from our studio recordings," Lin Di says. (Image: Radio86)Lin Di laments the fact that in Shanghai, they get a different reception than when they are playing for a European audience. "Before this trip to Finland, we were in Holland. We played all the nice music halls. It was very exciting for us. I really felt like we were getting respect, that people like us more than in China."

"In Shanghai, we have great fans who follow our gigs but other people don't really respect us. They feel that being a musician is not a real job. But in Europe, if you are an artist, you really get respect. So that's something I'm very happy about."

"Being in a band," Lin Di continues, "is tough and difficult. But it's also been good. We are kind of lucky. We have a good group. We don't think so much about being famous and popular. We just focus on our music. That's the most important thing."

"If you think too much about money, you won't do well. No, we just try to have fun. Experience the music. That way, everybody relaxes and enjoys the time together. We are traveling together now and when we're touring, that's when we are most happy. That is life. No regrets."