Zuoxiao Zuzhou

Early life He was born on March 4, 1970 in Jianhu County, originally named Wu Hongjin. He grew up in a waterman family. He experienced usual life on the street when he was young. In 1993, he came to Beijing after living in Shanghai. He later established “Beijing East Village” along with some other artists in Eastern suburbs which had a far-reaching impact on Chinese contemporary art. During this time, he founded the band NO with Ye Qian, and later changed his name to Zuoxiao Zuzhou as the vocal, guitarist, violinist and composer for the group. Early albums His first album, The Missing Master was distributed in 1998. The second album Trip To The Temple Fair was distributed 2 years later. These two albums obtained the top album in the Rock magazine at that time. The third album, ''Zuoxiaozuzhou At Di'anmen won the Chinese music market, making him a very popular artist. In 1999, his work Increased To Famous Mountains One Meter was presented in the 48th Venice International Biennale which was collectively created by Zuoxiao Zuzhou and several other artists from Beijing East. After releasing The Missing Master and The Trip to Temple Fair'' he signed a contract with Modern Sky Music Company in 2004. In 2005, he self-published the album I can not sit sadly by your side. In 2007, The U.S.A, a film soundtrack album was released, sold for $25 each, which set a new record in Chinese music album. In 2009, the double disc You Know Where The East Side Is was published, selling for $85 each, which makes it the most expensive album record. On March 19, 2010, Zuoxiao Zuzhou held his first solo concert "All The Best" in Beijing Century Theatre. His entire lineup included bandmates Ai Weiwei, Ning Hao, Meng Jinghui, Jia Zhangke, Zhu Wen, Li Yanliang, and Fang Wuxing. The concert DVD version was released in March 2012. You Know Where The East Is was awarded Southern Weekly annual culture original music in 2009. Big Deal has awarded nine nominations of Chinese Music Media Award in 2010, he obtained The Best Mandarin Male Singer, and Best Composer Award. Controversy On August 12, 2009, Ai Weiwei was invited by the lawyer of Tan Zuoren up to the court in Chengdu, and Zuoxiao Zuzhou and others went to Sichuan together. In the early morning, Chengdu Police broke into door and hit Ai Weiwei on the head. Then, Ai was illegally detained till the end of the case to trial. The story was made into a documentary "Lao Ma Ti Hua", whom Zuoxiao Zuzhou was the main soundtrack producer. On June 6, 2011, after Ai was released by the authorities after illegal detention for 81 days, Zuoxiao Zuzhou begin to produce Ai’s rock album The Divine Comedy. The album was finished in 2013, and was published in the United States. On April 24, 2011, when Zuoxiao Zuzhou as the grand finale artists who performed in ZhouZhuang folk poetry festival, some audience members screamed the name of Ai Weiwei and on the background Weibo screen screened content related to Ai Weiwei. Thus, he has prohibited to participate in any commercial performance in China, including KAMA LOVE music festival in June. On Sep 23, 2014, album We Need A Troublemaker was published. The same year, he participated in music festivals in Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Kunming, Changsha, Xiamen, Dali and Son on include Strawberry, Lebao music festival in succession which means his ban has been removed. During Double Nine Festival 2012, The house of Zouzhou’s father-in-law was located in Qianjiatang, Wunjin District, Hangzhou had a forced demolition. The news triggered great attention in society; many celebrities posted Weibo message to support including Li Chengpeng, Yao Chen, Li Kaifu, Han han, Hong Huang, Murong Xuecun, Han Zhiguo, Yu Jianrong, and Luo Yonghao. Zuoxiao Zuzhou went back home immediately to stop the demolition. Afterwards, Ling Guangyao, the secretary of Changzhou Wujin Hi-Tech Development District stated that before any negotiation with his family, the house will not be demolished. Moreover, the neighboring house also will not be demolished in order to avoid trouble. However, rumors on the internet about the famous nail household has never stopped. Popularity growth In 2010, Zuzhou contributed music, lyrics and vocal in Cowboy Junkies’ song, "A Walk in The Park" in their album Renmin Park. In the same album, Cowboy Junkies covered Zuzhou’s song, "I Cannot Sit Sadly By Your Side". The band member Michael Timmins called Zuoxiao Zuzhou “China’s Leonard Cohen” in an interview with the National Public Radio. In 2013, Zuzhou was invited to deliver a speech at the University of California, Berkeley, titled “China” in Zuoxiao Zuzhou’s Music and Art. Cowboy Junkies’ member Michael Timmins joined the event as the discussant. In February 2014, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger carried a cover story about Zuoxiao Zuzhou. His photos was chosen by several famous magazine in China as their cover photos including GQ, ELLE MAN, Esquire, City Magazine and FHM magazine. On February 28, 2015, Zuzhou performed PM2.5 in the animated session PM2.5’s Confession of Chai JIng’s documentary film Under the Dome. Hitting over 10 million views 24 hours after its release, the film successfully called for public attention to the air pollution in China before the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. ==Discography==