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Snapshot: Puzhehei Music Festival

By in Features on

Festival crowd watching the fountain show at the square
Festival crowd watching the fountain show at the square

Last weekend Yunnan bands and DJs descended on scenic Puzhehei (普者黑) for the inaugural Warm Spring Music Festival. The town's Fountain Square (喷泉广场) provided a lovely venue, sitting beside one of Puzhehei's lakes and commanding views of the area's Karst mountains.

Thirteen bands and six DJs performed over the course of the two-day event. The eclectic mix of acts performed in Fountain Square in the early hours of both evenings. When the bands had finished each night, festivalgoers were shuttled to the Puzhehei Resort where DJs spun electronica into the wee hours of the night on a boat moored behind the hotel.

Drum circle YanKaDi
Drum circle YanKaDi

YanKaDi (阳卡迪西非洲打击) opened the festival on Friday with African-inspired drumming and then played an encore show to begin Saturday's festivities.

Muyangren
Muyangren

Muyangren
Muyangren

Muyangren (牧羊人) played a hypnotizing fusion of instrumental and electronic music. The group wove electric bass, drums and minority woodwind instruments together with digital effects and created an ambient blend of traditional and modern music.

Mayuan Poets
Mayuan Poets

Mayuan Poets (麻园诗人), also featured at last year's 500KM City Music Festival and Lijiang Snow Mountain Music Festival, were without their usual drummer but had extensive help from the smoke machine.

Choupinang
Choupinang

Choupinang
Choupinang

Lao Han and his reggae band Choupinang (臭皮囊) impressed everyone with their strong stage presence and infectious beats. It's always a good sign when the whole group is wearing sunglasses at a night show.

Sea Loving Mammals
Sea Loving Mammals

One of Friday's highlights was an energetic performance by Sea Loving Mammals (哺乳动物). The power trio rocked hard. Members of the crowd weren't often dancing during the weekend but the Mammals got everyone moving.


The music never stopped despite the constant drizzle Friday evening. Bands and crowd alike were exposed to the elements but there were never any of the technical miscues or sound mixing problems that have plagued some recent music festivals.


Security guards were out in force, making space for bands and media members. Occasionally even they got a chance to enjoy the show. People in the crowd were boisterous but no one was out of control. Near the end of the festival, security had largely disappeared and random people were climbing on stage and breakdancing during performances.

Dongjiayan
Dongjiayan

Dongjiayan (董家堰) played a broad-based mixture of rock, reggae and blues.

War Horse
War Horse

War Horse
War Horse

Saturday night all-foreigner blues rock band War Horse (战马) tore it up on guitar and accordion. By the second day the rain had stopped. War Horse and the other bands were greeted by dry yet unseasonably cold weather.

Despite the drizzle and relative cold the event attracted close to 2500 visitors and was considered a success by its organizer Buddha Feet (佛脚), event promoter Movida KM, performers and those in attendance. Plans are already being made for a second festival at a different location this summer.

Movida KM and Buddha Feet would like to thank all those who attended for making last weekend's festival a successful event.

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Comments

I had a great time on the festival! The coolest thing was that all the photographers and video-ers had full access to the stage. On some moments musicians were surrounded by them and you see them on a lot of pictures too. This freedom of shooting results in beautiful new angles of the bands that played the festival. I am very happy to see this kind of progress and it's definitely a trend worth continuing.

It was a great festival
Thanks all ur guys!
we will see u soon...

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