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Robin Liao: “Reggae can appeal to those who want to stand out from the crowd”

One couple is on a crusade to bring the sounds of Ja to China

“It’s going to be very difficult to bring reggae to China, but this is a start.” Former IT engineer Robin Liao looks out from the terrace of ‘Together’, Beijing’s first reggae bar, at this unlikely setting for a rasta revolution.

A man in his 70s stops his shuffling and tries to fathom the existence of a wooden beach shack sandwiched between a noodle restaurant and someone’s washing. The local rag-and-bone man puts the brakes on his cart to stare at the green, yellow and red stripes on the door. The next 30-storey building of the CBD in the east of the city is a backdrop that is modern China.

Robin and his wife Judy, with not a dreadlock between them, are on a one-couple crusade to remove ‘Bob who?’ from the Chinese vocabulary. And to mark the 25th anniversary of Mr Marley’s death, a band of reggae fans have decided to club together to put on a four-day celebration in a sleepy street in the capital.

Thirty-year-old Robin is a little excited. “I can’t help but think that Bob Marley has blessed us. Some of the best DJs in Beijing have agreed to play for free and I am moved by that.”

MOMENTUM

Together opened in April having missed its pre-Christmas deadline when Robin was forced to spend three months in hospital. Customer-flow mirrored Beijing’s current drought, but with investment from an Italian business partner and the ever-reliable Marley Power, the reggae movement in the east is gathering momentum.

The first problem is gaining acceptance within the ‘village’. “A local family came into the bar and asked what it was about,” says Robin. “The grandmother could not get her head round the idea. The two-year-old girl covered her eyes at the sight of 20 foreigners and said ‘I’m afraid’.

“A lot of the residents don’t agree with the bar. They see lots of foreigners and ask me if this place is a brothel.”

But Robin is confident the bar will be accepted, particularly as the number of Chinese customers is increasing. The chasm between rich and poor blights the country and Robin draws comparison with reggae culture. “This area has parallels with a rasta community. Reggae is about shouting out for the lower classes and some of the people in this area are at the lowest levels of Chinese urban society. I originally set up the bar here because it was cheap to rent, but now I realise there is a relevance.”

Foreign investment is rife in China and this little street follows the trend. Robin says: “The restaurant next door is getting more business and I have asked the rag-and-bone man to find a container for a Jamaican-style barbecue. He is charging me 80 yuan (six quid), but I know you can get them for 35.”

When the locals are wooed, the next task will be to avert the eyes of the Chinese youth from all things modern.

EIGHTIES

“We have a phrase in China – ‘Ba ling hou’, meaning after the eighties,” Robin explains. “There is an obsession with modernity among many Chinese youngsters and may be reggae will be seen as something that is past.”

Mel Kent, or DJ Herbie, hails from the UK and has been DJing in Beijing for 14 years. He points out that Chinese history has hardly been conducive to the spread of reggae in the country.

“Don’t forget Chinese people went through the Cultural Revolution and Beethoven was banned until 1977. The first club, at the Holiday Inn, wasn’t opened until 1984. There hasn’t been a big build-up of music culture like back in the UK for example. There’s no Top of the Pops, no Jools Holland.

“But reggae in China can appeal to those who want to stand out from the crowd of people who want to drive a fake Rolls Royce. There is a feeling that everyone should be into Eminem and this is a counter-culture to that.”

Herbie played in front of 73,000 people at the closing ceremony of the Student Olympic Games in Beijing in 2001. But he volunteered to spin a free 12-hour set on Saturday for about 50 people.

“It’s all about rebellion. Robin’s bar is real David vs Goliath stuff with billion dollar buildings overlooking this wooden hut. I wanted to help out as it is such a contrast.

“I’ve played plenty of glitzy clubs in Beijing. You get a stack of money, but you have to play the same old crap every night and if you fiddle with the set the manager has a go at you. This kind of event is more fun. It’s about soul, man.

“This kind of music doesn’t go with yer jeroboams of Moet and Chandon. It’s down to earth, not in-your-face and in reggae bars all around the world there is a mutual respect thing.”

Together is attracting the right kind of people to spread the word. The Jamaican Ambassador to China, Wayne McCook, has lent his support.

McCook says: “Reggae is extremely important to us. It is the music of Jamaica and has helped shaped an image of our country almost all over the world. Reggae’s expansion to China is natural.

CONCEPT

“Robin, like most Chinese people, has never travelled to Jamaica. The fact that he has used the imagery of Jamaica as a concept for his bar is very impressive.

“Considering he has never travelled there, he has captured a certain feeling. The interior is simple, but somewhat captivating.”

And McCook should know. He has been known to DJ at a monthly reggae night called Upstepper in the student area of the city. “It was a bit of an accident that has taken a life of its own. I was asked to spin some tunes and I have repeated it in rather modest doses. It was an enjoyable experience, but I won’t be giving up my full-time job.”

On the surface, the Jamaican population represents Robin’s ideal target market, but that would be a shortcut to financial ruin. McCook says: ““I would hazard a guess that the Jamaican population in Beijing is about a mini-van full. But we have a lot of friends here, which makes us feel a larger community than we actually are.

“I have no doubt reggae will become bigger in China. I heard a leading Beijing techno DJ and a Chinese rock band stepping into unmistakable reggae rhythms the other day. I have been in the city for 10 months and we are working to promote our culture. A Jamaican dance band and reggae band are coming to perform in July.”

ISSUES

If the reggae scene takes off at Together, Robin recognises the issues he will have to confront. Governments and ganja don’t mix at the best of times, but Chinese penalties are more severe than most.

“Some foreigners have asked for weed here. I say to them: ‘Do you love reggae? Do you enjoy having a bar in Beijing where you can listen to it? If you smoke it, the police will come the next day and put me in prison. Then you will have no bar in Beijing to enjoy reggae.’ I plan to put up a sign on the back of the door simply saying: ‘In Jamaica it is life, but in China it is a drug’.”

The bar is well away from Sanlitun, the nightlife hub of Beijing, but it may not be free from its influence. Herbie envisions problems: “If the reggae scene takes off here there could be trouble from the richer bars trying to undermine Together. There are factions in Beijing against Rastafarian culture and other bars might try and muscle Together out of the market.”

And if that wasn’t enough to worry about, Robin’s business dream is threatened by Beijing’s preoccupation with aesthetics ahead of the 2008 Olympics. The bar’s shabby street, only a few minutes walk from the business world, is prime real estate and its removal in future years seems inevitable.

“The word on the street is that the area faces demolition. But that is not official so we can’t worry about that now.”

Rastafarian culture is intrinsically linked with human rights, the largest blot on the Chinese government’s copybook of economic development. Robin feels he is addressing this fact in a small way.

Robin explains, “I am very happy for China today, but a lot of people don’t get the chance to share the wealth. If we can promote reggae, we can promote a way of life and encourage people not to give up – there will always be opportunities.”

Published: 25 May 2006
Issue: 1219

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