Various Artists (Death Is Not The End) // Waiting for Your Return: A Shidaiqu Anthology 1927-1952, Pt.

A compilation cassette of the forgotten Shanghai folk song "Shidaiku" released in February 2023 by the British excavation label Death Is Not The End.

Below is a commentary by the label.

"Shidaiqu" literally means "song of the times" and is used to describe a hybrid musical genre that began to permeate the cosmopolitan city of Shanghai in the late 1920s.Inspired by Western pop, jazz, blues, and Hollywood movies, the movie soundtrack fuses traditional Chinese elements with Shidaiku, which explores the golden age of Chinese popular song and cinema during the pre-communist interwar period. It symbolizes the fusion of music and culture that would form.

Waiting for Your Return assembles an extensive collection of recordings for an anthological overview of the style.From the works of pioneering composer Lee Gum-hui (1927's "Dripping Rain", on vocals by his daughter Lee Myung-hui, is often referred to as the first Shidaik record) to the more sophisticated works of the 1930s and '40s. , an introduction to the early days of China's Western-influenced popular music and film industry, led by the Seven Great Diva (Bai Hong, Bai Guang, Gong Qiuxia, Li Xianglan, Wu Yingyin, Yao Lee and, most prolific, Zhou Xuan, entered their golden years.

Included in this collection are tracks recorded in Shanghai in the early 1950s, just before the music's demise.During this period, the Chinese Communist Party denounced shidaiku as "yellow music", outlawed nightclubs and pop music production, and destroyed Western-style musical instruments. "

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Cassette in norelco case. 

 Tracklist:

1. Yan Fei - Little Things 02:56
2. Bai Lizhu - Tuberose 03:05
3. Yao Lee - Send You Off 02:44
4. Chen Yumei - Spring Night Song 02:43
5. Ying Yin - Pillow Picture 02:34
6. Zhou Xuan - Spring Flowers like Brocade 03:06
7. Bai Hong - Falling Flowers and Flowing Water 03:12
8. Wu Yingyin - Meet by Chance 02:52
9. Zhou Xuan & Yan Hua - The Destination of Love 03:06
10. Li Li-Hua - I Want to Follow You 03:15
11. Zhou Xuan - Prayer under the Moon 02:57
12. Wu Yingyin - Spring Breeze Brings Troubles 03:05
13. Chen Juanjuan - Window to the Soul 02:50
14. Min Yao - Rural Song 02:57
15. Bai Guang - Dongshan Green 02:54
16. Wu Yingyin - I Want to Forget You 02:44
17. Gong Qiuxia & Huang Yuanyin - I Ask You 02:58
18. Lu Ming - In the Mood for Love 02:27
19. Wang Qinglong - Spring Flowers, When Will You Come Again 02:41
20. Li Xianglan - Second Dream 02:55

Death Is Not The End:

"Shidaiqu literally means “songs of the era”, a term used to describe a hybrid musical genre that first began permeating through the cosmopolitan city of Shanghai in the late 1920s. Blending western pop, jazz, blues and Hollywood-inspired film soundtracks with traditional Chinese elements, the shidaiqu represented a musical and cultural merging that would go on to shape a golden age of Chinese popular song & film in the pre-communism interwar period.

Waiting for Your Return brings together a wide collection of recordings for an anthological overview of the style. Taking in it's early beginnings in the work of the pioneering composer Li Jinhui - whose 1927 song "Drizzle", featuring the vocals of his daughter Li Minghui, is often referred to as the first shidaiqu record - through to more polished 1930s & 40s examples, when China's western-influenced popular music & movie industry reached it's golden age with the prevalence of the Seven Great Singing Stars (Bai Hong, Bai Guang, Gong Qiuxia, Li Xianglan, Wu Yingyin, Yao Lee and perhaps most prolific of all, Zhou Xuan).

Included in the collection are tracks recorded right up until the music's demise in Shanghai in the early 1950s - during which time the Chinese Communist Party denounced shidaiqu as "yellow music", outlawed nightclubs and pop music production, and destroyed western-style instruments - following which, much of these singers would decamp to Hong Kong where many saw further success throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s. "

Artist: Various Artists

Label: Death Is Not The End