[Cover photo credit to Marc Garanger]
The 40th anniversary remastered version of Jean-Michel Jarre’s historic live album The Concerts In China has now been released. Originally released in 1982, the album served as a document of a concert tour that Jarre undertook in 1981 consisting of five concerts in the People’s Stadium of Shanghai and Beijing. It was the first time a Western music artist had performed in the country following the Cultural Revolution. The remaster arrives soon after Jarre’s latest studio album OXYMORE, which was released on October 21st, 2022.
Jarre shares:
To this day The Concerts in China experience remains to be probably the most surreal and poetic of all my experiences. It was an honor to be the first Western musician to play live in the country at that time and it was like visiting another planet for me; and also for the Chinese audience too it seemed to be the same curious awe. I have revisited China very often out of passion for their culture and have performed there since, at The Forbidden City and on Tiananmen Square. I am delighted that ‘The Concerts in China’ album has been remastered, as it’s something I’m incredibly proud of and remains a testimony of my ongoing attachment to China.
The 40th Anniversary remastered edition of The Concerts In China is available as 180g 2LP version with gatefold sleeve, including a collector’s poster featuring unpublished images, and as 2CD version including collector’s booklet, as well as digitally. The track list mirrors the original version of the album.
One new composition included on the album was “Fishing Junks at Sunset,” a new arrangement of a traditional Chinese song known as the “Fisherman’s Chant at Dusk,” which was performed and recorded with The Peking Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra.
The concert tour was the first time Jarre performed his music with other musicians on stage and featured the first use of a laser harp.
Jean-Michel Jarre is a composer, performer, producer and cultural ambassador who had an early pioneering role in Electronic music, in using multi-channel audio technology and production, and in his recent explorations into the realms of VR performance and the metaverse.
Jarre is UNESCO ambassador for education, science and culture, an unconditional defender of the planet and the environment and Laureate of the Stephen Hawking Medal for scientific communication.
The track listing for the album in all formats is as follows:
- THE OVERTURE
- ARPEGIATOR
- EQUINOXE Part 4
- FISHING JUNKS AT SUNSET
- BAND IN THE RAIN
- EQUINOXE Part 7
- ORIENT EXPRESS
- MAGNETIC FIELDS Part 1
- MAGNETIC FIELDS Part 3
- MAGNETIC FIELDS Part 4
- LASER HARP
- NIGHT IN SHANGHAI
- THE LAST RUMBA
- MAGNETIC FIELDS Part 2
- SOUVENIR OF CHINA
