We're going to make history... as soon as we get the sound working

Highlights of Neil McCormick's report from Shanghai's first international music festival
From: The Daily Telegraph (Filed: 12/10/2002)

It was officially billed as the First Shanghai Tourism Festival, but nobody seemed sure what that meant. "It's a Latin carnival in Shanghai organised by a crazy Pole!" said Marek Frydrych, a burly Polish steel magnate who was funding the event to the tune of $1 million, with little hope of seeing any return.

"It's a free, arty, street thing, like the Edinburgh festival," ventured the mysterious Dr Penguin, an ex-pat American magician who had assembled a curious line-up of international talent, most of whom seemed to be personal friends of his.

"It's whatever it turns out to be," was the philosophical view of Matthew Seligman, bassist with British psychedelic punk group Snail, one of the headline acts. "The wonderful thing about Chinese capitalism is that they are just making it up as they go along."

Support over a week of nightly performances was offered by a busty Brazilian dance troupe, a Cuban salsa band, a Russian folk quartet, and a company of leggy Ukrainian dancers from a local nightclub. A touch of indigenous culture would be provided by the Shanghai Opera House National Chinese Music Band and a beauty pageant.

The best reception of the week was reserved for Snail. On the final night, they performed a punky version of Peng You, a popular Chinese song that Jon had learned phonetically from a waitress at a restaurant in London.

The crowd went wild, surging forward to storm the stage. It was the perfect excuse for the police finally to exert their authority and turn the power off. But, at that late stage, nobody seemed to begrudge them their moment in charge.

"The authorities have agreed to give Marek the whole river front for next year," revealed Dr Penguin.

"Well, it all came together in the end," I remarked.

"The funny thing is, they gave it to him after the first day," grinned Penguin. "Sure it was a wash-out, but they're used to things going wrong. I think they were impressed with the way Marek handled it. You gotta love this country!"