Rock of ages

It was around that time he decided to move away from downtown Beijing and into the suburbs, as well as halting work on the band's third album.

He occasionally wrote songs for TV dramas and movies, as well as expanded his creative outlets to include painting and directing theatrical dramas.

Since 2006, Qiu has annually released a new recording online, which is essentially a year-end review of major news and happenings. His latest song, reviewing 2018, will be performed at the upcoming concert in Beijing.

"Everyone has a different reason for making music, mine is that I have something to say. It's more like writing a diary rather than for any commercial reason," he says.

Before he embarked on his journey as a rock musician, Qiu made friends with other Beijing rock singer-songwriters, such as Cui Jian and Dou Wei. It was Cui's iconic 1986 song, Nothing to My Name, that inspired him to become a singer-songwriter and form his band in 1994.

He used to share a stage with Cui but, unlike Cui, who grew up in a musical family in the city-his father was ethnic Korean and a professional trumpet player and his mother was a member of a Korean dance troupe-Qiu started from scratch and taught himself the guitar.

"When I performed onstage with Cui for the first time, I was very nervous, yet thrilled," he recalls, adding that he missed those early days "because every day was new and fresh and I was curious about music".

Cui, who is considered to be China's godfather of rock 'n' roll, talks about his first time watching Qiu play: "In the 1990s, I watched his live show for the first time, which was a pleasant surprise. Nobody rocks like him."

In 2014, Cui invited Qiu to play a role in his directorial debut, Blue Sky Bones. A year later, Cui also persuaded the low-profile musician to participate in the popular reality TV show, China Star, aired on Dragon TV in November 2015. The show, featuring influential Chinese singers as both contestants and judges, including Cui, was produced by the Recording Academy and the China Recording Association and was hoped would be an effective channel for Sino-US cultural exchanges.

"It was not a competition to me, but a platform to perform, to let the audience know about the variety of China's rock music. I am grateful to Cui," says Qiu, who plans to give more live performances throughout the country in 2019.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn