Peking All-Stars
Peking All-Stars | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Peking, China |
| Genres | Rock |
| Years active | 1979–1984 |
| Labels | none |
The Peking All-Stars were a
university campus hall in Beijing in late summer of 1979. Their performance at Beijing's Teacher's College in 1981 was commemorated by a photograph in the book China After Mao by Liu Heung Shing.[1]
Members
The lineup changed regularly over the years, but members included:
- Guitarist and singer Graham Earnshaw, the band's founder, who went on to claim to be the first person ever to play the kazoo on the Great Wall of China.[2]
- Guitarist Michael Schoenhals, later to leverage his collection of Chairman Mao buttons into a position as Scandinavian expert on China's Cultural Revolution.[3]
- Palestinian lead guitarist Nassir, who took a sabbatical from the band in mid-1983 to drive tanks against Israel in southern Lebanon, and committed suicide in around 1991.[4]
- American guitarist Tad Stoner, who later became a journalist and bar owner in Hong Kong and is now a journalist in the Cayman Islands.
- American bass player Fred Burke, who went on to become a prominent corporate lawyer in Vietnam.
- American guitarist Larry Vest.
- Swedish sax player Frédéric Cho, who went on to become one of Scandinavia's top China financial experts and Asian Manager at HQ Bank.[5]
- Madagascan drummer Robinson, who went on to found his own band named Nogabe that is currently based in London.[6][7]
Dissolution
The band played a number of performances at the Friendship Hotel, the Jianguo Hotel, the
Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign in 1983-1984 made it difficult for the band to find opportunities to gig.[8]
Earnshaw, who owned the bands gear, eventually passed on the drums and amplifiers to a Madagascan band that was starting up in 1984, while his Fender Telecaster went on long-term loan to the Madagascan guitarist Eddie, who later became the lead guitarist with the so-called godfather of Chinese rock, Cui Jian.
References
- ISBN 0140067612.
- ^ "Graham Earnshaw: The Long Bio". Graham Earnshaw. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
- Lunds universitet. Retrieved 22 February 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Osnos, Evan (20 May 2009). "OLD BOOKS RECOVERED: GRAHAM EARNSHAW". The New Yorker. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
- ^ "Establishing Abroad - HQ Bank - Kina". www.establishingabroad.com. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009.
- ^ "Afatra". CD Baby. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
- ^ Li, Zhi (29 December 2007). "old Luo". China International Radio International Online. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
- ISBN 9780977333400. Retrieved 31 May 2017.