BEIJING, May 21 -- China's first electronic
music festival is set to shake Beijing this weekend, giving DJs and their
disciples the official stamp of approval for what used to be seen as a decadent
Western youth movement.
INTRO 2009 (Ideas Need to Reach Out) stars more than
20 foreign and local VJs and DJs playing 15 hours of continuous music at D-Park
in the 798 Art Zone, to an expected audience of 10,000 people.
Although its status as the first electronic music
festival is disputed, it should be a groundbreaking event, further graphic proof
of the country's opening-up. While festivals have become one of the rites of
summer, raves or dance parties have until now been forced underground because of
their association with illegal activities and drugs.
The situation came to a head in 2005 when a shindig
on the Great Wall at Jinshanling, three hours from Beijing, was said to involve
up to 1,500 revelers taking drugs, urinating and copulating on the World
Heritage Site.
Local authorities had allowed some similar events to
be held on the Wall (and elsewhere) since 1988 but the ensuing media storm
prompted legislation protecting the Wall from similar depredations, effectively
closing the doors on more raves.
Even so, big-name DJs and clubbing have become an
integral part of the country's evolving entertainment scene. Following the
Olympics last year and the government's more nurturing approach to youth
culture, raves have been re-branded.
INTRO will focus on electronic music as an art form, hoping to drag rave out from its underground shadows into the light of day.
