Whisky Kiss are quite possibly the spawniest ceilidh band that has ever whistled, piped and fiddled through a Gay Gordons or Strip the Willow [at least according to not-at-all-massively-biased Broughton-based band bassist Iain MacPhail].
So far in 2011 we’ve taken on a missionary position in bringing the joy of ceilidhs to all the world’s superpowers. We are currently in Shanghai, China, and earlier this year we played in New York (including jamming with Keifer Sutherland and shaking hands with Donald Trump when we performed at the world’s third largest fashion show).
[img_assist|nid=2421|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=200|height=150]Shanghai – what a place!
I've been looking forward to visiting China and seeing the country up close for some time. In a way, before leaving, and based solely on the images we see from the media at home, I had looked on China as something of a short-term miracle, a place that's booming right now but whose seeds of self-destruction are already becoming visible.
It doesn’t add up to me as a society: essentially, fusing the worst bits of communism with the worst bits of capitalism ... and then letting that fusion go 'BOOM'!
[img_assist|nid=2424|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=200|height=150]On the one hand there is totalitarian state control, exemplified by the strict one-child-per-family law which has reportedly led to huge numbers of first-born daughters being killed by their families in preference for a possible male heir later.Yet on the other hand, you have voracious economic growth, bright lights, an incredible and admirable work ethic ... with the profits going nowhere near the poorly paid workers of course.
That was the view I brought with me in my baggage to Pudong Airport: a country of contrasts, and one that appears to be changing rapidly before our very eyes.
Shanghai, though, has had a lot more in store for me and the team, and I should not have doubted her ability to beguile, surprise and amaze.
What a city this place is! It has not been the massive culture shock I'd assumed it would be. This city would sit comfortably in the West. It barely contains its burgeoning population of 22 million. (Is that really a city with four times the population of Scotland and three times the population of London?) It is a city teeming with life, noise ... and SMOG!
[img_assist|nid=2423|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=200|height=150]You forget that, as recently as the 1980s, most cars in Scotland ran on leaded petrol. And until much more recently, you could smoke inside, in pubs, clubs, hotels, restaurants. In China, all these things are still way behind the curve. Everywhere you go in Shanghai the air is thick with fumes of one kind or another. When we arrived, there was not a cloud in the sky, yet the perfect round sun in the sky was dimmed, shielded and reduced by the thick film of smog that envelopes this enormous city. The smog catches on the back of your throat right away. You can see why climate-change campaigners would want to see China follow the various treaties, agreements and global standards that the rest of us have signed onto. The pollution is incredible.
I wouldn’t want to dwell on the negatives though, as this city has such a vibrancy, character, history and soul. Whisky Kiss have played in Dubai on four occasions, and – like Shanghai – it is a city enjoying incredible growth.
[img_assist|nid=2425|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=158|height=200]However, Shanghai is a different kettle of fish entirely. It is built upon solid cultural and historical foundations: literally, 'the city on the sea'. Shanghai has been around forever, sitting proudly on the Yangtze Delta. If I could compare it to places I know, it's most similar to Manhattan in New York in terms of architecture, meaning it has an ancient core around which you find the modern skyscrapers and 21st-century architecture (some would say space-age architecture). The old and the new co-exist quite effortlessly. The feel of the old core is like the centre of Milan or Paris, though: very old-school, old-world, classy and understated. I liked it a lot.
Shanghai is perhaps not typical of China in that it has always been the most Westward-looking city in this vast, populous nation: a major global trading port from the 1840s onwards. Perhaps like London (in terms of England) or New York (in terms of America), it is a global city, cosmopolitan. I dare say a lot of Chinese people from elsewhere in the country are as gobsmacked as me by the bright lights, the Western-style adverts, the abundance of shops, and people and stuff to consume.
[img_assist|nid=2427|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=167|height=200]One thing that has struck us is the great respect that people in China have for Western countries and cultures. I would say they admire our ways and practices more than we do ourselves. If my experience of Shanghai is anything to go by, I’d say a balanced world-order relationship featuring China and the USA would be an easier co-existence than was the decades-long US–USSR stand-off.
I am surprised to be writing that, as I had come full of pre-conceived ideas that the Chinese would resist Western lifestyle influences.
However, after visiting a few bars and nightclubs following our main gig in Shanghai, and looking at the way everyone dressed, how they carried themselves, the music played, the cool lighting and the architecture, signage and layout of the clubs (little things like that), you could easily have been anywhere in Europe. It was like going out in the coolest little parts of Milan, Paris or London.
[img_assist|nid=2426|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=200|height=195]To sign off for now, I’ll just mention that the Shanghai Ball was a fabulous success: the organisers wouldn't let us go before they'd signed us up for another event here in February.
To be asked to return is really the best accolade anyone can give us. We can’t wait to come back to this fabulous city next year.
(I’ll mention more about the Ball tomorrow. It had it all – thrills, spills, energy and even an impromptu wedding proposal (see pic) ... In the finest Western traditions, I’ll leave you on that cliffhanger. Will She / Won’t She (say yes)? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
[You can keep up with Whisky Kiss on Facebook and online at www.whiskykiss.com]