New Shidaiqu
The New Shidaiqu Project
Reimagining Shidaiqu through jazz, cinematic scoring, and contemporary sound.
Project Overview
The New Shidaiqu Project is an ongoing cross-cultural initiative that brings the spirit of Shidaiqu into a contemporary musical context. The project moves through music production, live shows, workshops, educational content, and film scoring inspired by Shidaiqu.
It continues the legacy of a hundred-year-old genre while exploring how traditional cultural elements can live inside modern sound. At its core, the project encourages musicians from different backgrounds to rediscover heritage instruments and integrate them into contemporary genres.
What Is Shidaiqu
Shidaiqu emerged in 1920s Shanghai as a hybrid of Chinese folk melodies and early American jazz, becoming one of the earliest cross-cultural popular music languages in China.
New Shidaiqu continues this lineage by combining jazz harmony, Hollywood-style cinematic scoring, Chinese traditional melodies, African musical influences that shaped early jazz, and contemporary production ideas.
This is not a revival. It is a new chapter that asks what Shidaiqu can become today.
Album and Music Releases
The album re-composes classic Shidaiqu melodies with jazz harmony, big-band energy, cinematic technique, African rhythmic structures, and modern production.
Full Moon, Blooming Flowers
Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon
Jackdaw Plays with Water
Film and Game Scoring Applications
Beyond the album, the project extends into scoring work for films and games. In the 2024 film Paeonia, the cue “Flaming Departure” adapts the Cantonese folk song “Bright Moon 月光光” into a cinematic texture that merges folk material, jazz, and contemporary scoring.
This approach has become part of the studio's practice: using Shidaiqu as a creative engine for modern screen music.
Cultural Sharing and Video Series
The project also includes fusion-music production videos, Shidaiqu knowledge sharing, historical context, and experimental cross-genre teasers.
Tianya Genu Trap x Guzheng
Billie Bossa Nova x Guzheng
Shidaiqu in Hip-Hop and Film Music
Artist Statement
“Ethnic musical cultures are not decorations. They can become defining stylistic voices in modern soundtracks.”
Workshops and Future Plans
We will soon launch public workshops where participants learn how Chinese instruments and melodies can merge into jazz, cinematic music, electronic production, or other genres.
Attendees are welcome to bring their own heritage instruments. The purpose is not only to introduce Chinese instruments, but to help participants discover new ways to express their own cultural identities through sound.