Chilled out music

A band led by an aboriginal singer from Taiwan was on stage at the Blue Note Jazz Club in Beijing, and the leader attributes its sounds to the laid-back nature of the ethnic groups there.

Matzka, a singer-songwriter born in Taiwan, performed in front of about 300 people at the Blue Note Jazz Club in Beijing recently. "I am from a small village in Taitung county. From an ethnic tribe called Paiwan. We love to party, to sing, and to dance. Tonight you are the people of my tribe. So, let's have a party," he says. The round-faced singer-songwriter, who sports shoulder-length dreadlocks, was at the first branch of New York's famous jazz club to perform his reggae fusion songs, along with his band, Mr WooHoo.

The day before the show, Matzka signed contract with Universal Music at the same venue, accompanied by his band members: guitarist Sun Wennan, keyboardist Yan Peng, drummer Boodhoo Yan Jonathan and bassist Grenade Henry Frederic; the latter two members both from Mauritius.

Matzka and his band plan to tour Shanghai, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Chengdu, Sichuan province and Guangzhou, Guangdong province, till September.

The band will return to Beijing for a concert on Dec 28. This summer, the newly born reggae band made its debut on The Big Band, a reality show hosted by the iQiyi video platform. It won over the audiences with its reggae beats and improvised sounds.

Matzka met his band members in Shanghai when they performed at the Shanghai Jazz Festival last September and soon they decided to play music together.