Ming Room - the quaint overflowing library, space, store, and/or archive stationed by the ever-eccentric Xie Wang 谢旺 - has long been home to Shanghai's steadfast experimental music and underground art scene. Located on a second-floor walkup off of Shaoxing Lu, walking into the place is akin to stumbling into an arthouse hoarder's den - a Shanghai Beatnik hangout where you can find action figures of Allen Ginsberg alongside old records of William Burroughs and Grateful Dead to first editions of classic 1970s books such as Alive and A Coney Island of the Mind. A minefield of art from underground art movements over the past sixty years.
But Ming Room's true strength is in the environment it incites. Hosting everything from poetry nights, private movie screenings from local directors, listening parties, and experimental showcases - you catch anything from avant-garde free jazz ensembles to antagonist, makeshift manipulation of discarded electrical relics. It's a vibe through and through- an intimate house party if you replaced the charades with wildly unpredictable performances. Polite, awkward, and anarchic, you just have to roll with it - even if sometimes the ‘art' confounds you.
For their 14th year anniversary, experimental music promoter fit none will be hosting a variety of showcases from Saturday, May 16th to Tuesday, May 19th - giving listeners a snapshot of Shanghai's robust and engaging experimental music scene. As Aling, the organizer, puts it, "As a non-music venue, it's lovely, intimate, and cozy...presenting a warm color palette that I believe inspires musicians and enhances their performance. All the traffic sounds and environmental noise rush in—sometimes you can even hear the neighbors chatting, and that's absolutely wonderful."
Acts joining the celebration include electronic producer Simon Frank, long-standing sound explorers MAI mai and Zhu Songjie, visiting Leeds-based noise act Territorial Gobbing, and the Free Music Collective of Shanghai - a rotating collective of local experimental improvisers joining forces. Expect the unexpected.
#44 05.16 @ Ming Room, Shanghai
Simon Frank, Qiu Tong, and more
#45 05.17 @ Ming Room, Shanghai
Free Music Collective of Shanghai
#45 05.18 @ Ming Room, Shanghai
Ready for Rock (MAI mai, Zhu Songjie, Zhao Ziyi)
#47 05.19 @ Ming Room, Shanghai
Territorial Gobbling, Zheng Hao, Ziyang, Zhao Ziyi & Yu
