In China, Dylan leaves political ambiguities blowing in the wind

BEIJING LETTER: The singer's gruff voice left lyrics indistinct, reducing the potential for controversy

IT WAS bumper-to-bumper sports-utility vehicles and white BMWs outside the Workers’ Gymnasium as China’s new rich arrived to see the world’s most famous protest singer, Bob Dylan, make his debut in China.

After a sluggish start to the concert, the young fans did not go away disappointed.

Although he turns 70 in May, Dylan was spry and in good voice, rocking the harmonica and the organ with a verve that had the mostly Chinese crowd up and clapping during the singer’s first show on the mainland.

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, Ballad of a Thin Manand Like a Rolling Stonerocked the hall, and Dylan stuck to a varied set list, mixing newer material with his older work.

Watching him on stage singing A Hard Rain's a-gonna Fall,it was hard not to be struck by the juxtaposition of this icon of Americana with a venue where, in the 1960s, many scenes of the country's Cultural Revolution, which destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives, took place. China has come a long way since then.

So, too, has Dylan. These shows in China and Hong Kong commemorate his first major performance, on April 11th, 1961, in New York.

Those familiar with Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hourprogrammes in recent years will know age has not withered the great man, but it is true his voice is not what it used to be. In China, where symbolism is important in the face of a rigorous crackdown on sentiments deemed subversive, this was significant.

Dylan has become a lot less overtly political in recent years, but he is also a master of ambiguity.

The lyrics of the opening song, Gonna Change My Way of Thinking,from Dylan's first Christian album, Slow Train Coming, released in 1979, were difficult to make out. One line runs: "So much oppression, can't keep track of it no more."

His gruff voice masked the words, so it was not clear whether he sang these potentially controversial lines or whether he opted for a safer version of the song from 2003.

As the show took place against a backdrop of political oppression and tension over the disappearance into police custody of controversial artist Ai Weiwei, every line will have been closely monitored.

The ministry of culture reportedly snapped up 2,000 of the 18,000 seats.The set list had been strictly vetted to make sure there were no songs that could be interpreted as a message to Ai or as supportive of the “jasmine revolutions” sweeping the Middle East.

Five years ago, when the Rolling Stones played in Shanghai, the authorities asked the band to cut five songs from their repertoire because of their sexually suggestive lyrics, a request with which the band complied. “I’m pleased that the ministry of culture is protecting the morals of the expat bankers and their girlfriends that are going to be coming,” said singer Mick Jagger.

Wei Ming, manager of the promoting company, Gehua Live Nation, said: “Bob Dylan has a far more influential status than other foreign performers in China, and the social and cultural impact is greater.

“Beforehand, we thought that his audience would be small, that not so many people would be into Dylan here in China, but we were completely wrong. It’s not a niche audience, he has a mass following here in China,” said Wei.

Given that he wrote the 1960s protest classics Blowin' in the Windand The Times They Are a-Changin', you could be forgiven for thinking Dylan would have a problem in China.

However, his brand of protest was more focused on US imperialism, and the message would not necessarily contradict the official line in Beijing on American foreign policy.

Controversial artists are no longer allowed in China, especially since Icelandic singer Bjork shouted Tibetan independence slogans at the end of her song Declare Independenceduring a Shanghai concert in 2008.

Dylan was supposed to come to China last year but cancelled the Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean legs of his tour, reportedly after Beijing’s culture ministry refused him permission to play in China.

Wei denied there were political reasons for the cancellation of last year’s show.

“This is an absolutely commercial deal: there is no political element. The rumours saying the government was trying to interfere are absolute bulls**t. We have a business plan; last year it didn’t work out because the whole tour didn’t work out but it’s all business,” he said.

“We are always organising international musicians to play in China. We did the Eagles, now Dylan and in May we will invite Avril Lavigne to come and play in Beijing and Shanghai.”

Chinese musician Zuoxiao Zuzhou told the Beijing Newshe considered Dylan the "most gifted and talented folk and rock musician of the 1960s".

“He was sharply critical of the government and he saw rock’n’roll musicians as being the voice of the weak and of the lower classes,” said the musician, who was among those picked up by police for questioning after Ai Weiwei’s arrest.