Introducing the band - 21floor

by lawrence

I mentioned an experimental group in Guangzhou by the name of “21st-floor Sound Unit” in this previous post, now it’s about the time to unveil the mask.

21floor (the title has been changed to this) is a Guangzhou-based experimental group composed of Justin ZHONG Minjie（钟敏杰）, LIN Zhiying（林志英） & Zafka (ZHANG Anding 张安定), both Zhong & Lin have been working with sound for several years, Zhong already has two self-released albums and a series of live performances (including one at Nuit Blanche festival, Paris, 2004) on his portfolio, and Lin also has one album out and a wide exposure nationwide. Zhang used to be the lead guitarist of the Shanghai-based post-rock act “Prague Spring“, but he has been making sound art under the alias of “Zafka” for about a year now. These three are clearly the most prominent sound artists in the South China.

Below is the text about the unit’s debut appearance as well as the statement of purpose, written by Zafka, the original Chinese version can be read here.

The KTV project proposed to the 2nd Guangzhou Triennial by 21floor（二十一楼）, which was aborted due to the lack of an appropriate venue, is having a second chance of life now.

If the negotiation with the owner of the KTV goes smoothly this Wednesday, the show is going to be on mid-December (the best day would be Dec 17 Saturday night). This will be a free but invitation-only concert, the attendees will be selected in the fashion of a sociological research, and each of them will receive a special invitation. There will be an after-concert party on which you can talk and play and get stupid with the artists. The first concert will be about urban soundscape/field-recording/phonography more than anything else.

We look forward to making the KTV project into a continuous series, with the aim of digging the “possibilities of KTV”: to “Karaokize” the experimental, to “experimentalize” the Karaoke.

The official website of 21floor is under construction, the unit considers itself to be a multimedia group rather than just a soundart trio.

Last but not least, 21floor will do field-recordings at the 2nd Guangzhou Triennial and release an album based on them afterwards.

In a word, 21floor will use the room (and the built-in speakers and amps) of a KTV in Guangzhou as the venue for their first performance, the concert will be on either Dec 16 or 17, come back soon for updates.

Related info:

Zafka’s podcast




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  1. […] These were taken after their debut performance “Sonic Brouhaha” at Gin Yan Club, Guangzhou. (Read Totemz’s review of the performance, “Introducing the Band - 21floor” by GNO, and two more posts about Sonic Brouhaha: 1, 2) […]

    Pingback by Global Noise Online » Did I post these two pics of 21floor before? — February 19, 2006 #

  2. […] # Introducing the band - 21floor […]

    Pingback by Global Noise Online » Zafka’s debut album on sale in Guangzhou…and elsewhere — March 7, 2006 #

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