GANGZI (CN)

Date: 23rd of October 2012
Place: Sirkus Finlandia, Helsinki

Born and raised in Inner Mongolia, Gangzi combines the legacy of traditional folk music with Western rock influences. His roots are deep in Mongolian grasslands but after moving to Beijing he found his way into the local grunge and metal scene.

This autumn Gangzi was brought to Finland by Club Niubi, which is a new organisation promoting tours in Northern Europe for Asian indie artists. (Literally “Niubi” means “cow pussy” but it’s also a Chinese slang word meaning “fucking awesome”.) It wasn’t the first time Gangzi took a visit in our country: in 2010 he did a 10 gig tour through Finland, playing at different festivals from Faces and Naamat to Ilosaarirock.

When Club Niubi suggested recording a session with Gangzi, we didn’t have to think twice. You can’t witness an Inner Mongolian dude mixing throat singing with grunge riffs every day, can you?

After an intensive tour criss-crossing from Finland to Tallinn, Stockholm and Copenhagen, Gangzi finally had a few hours off before flying back to Beijing. So, we took our chance. Sirkus Finlandia let us in their fancy tent at Kaisaniemi, Gangzi put on his traditional golden dress, took his acoustic guitar and did his thing in the middle of circus rehearsals. And what a nice guy he was. Thanks, Gangzi, hope we’ll meet again!

http://soundcloud.com/gangzi
www.clubniubi.com

Thanks:
Sirkus Finlandia / Jouni Aalto
Olavi Paananen
Janne Flinkkilä