Matthieu Chedid to bring his rock mantra to China again

Matthieu Chedid will continue his collaboration with Chinese musicians in his upcoming show in Shanghai. [Photo provided to China Daily]

French rocker Matthieu Chedid has described his first China tour six years ago as "an incredible adventure" and his second in 2014 as something that allowed him to feel the country's spirit even more.

The singer-songwriter will return to China for the third time on March 25, when he plays in Shanghai as part of his Asia tour, titled Extraordinary Live Shows.

Having worked with Shanghai-based musician Cha Cha and her band, AM 444, Chedid will continue his musical experiments with Chinese musicians.

This time, he will cooperate with guzheng (Chinese zither) player Sangka to compose a song, titled Machine, and perform it at the Shanghai show.

"Every tour is a small step forward to understand Chinese culture," the 44-year-old, who is better known by his stage name "-M-", tells China Daily by e-mail from Paris. "I hope to immerse myself there and finally progress in the knowledge of a new type of culture."

His crush on traditional Chinese musical instruments started right from his first visit here.

"I was drinking jasmine tea and there was a loudspeaker broadcasting the sound of this instrument. I thought it was a guitar－a little bit deep, a little bit dull－which sounded like some sort of Asian blues," recalls Chedid. "People told me that there was a guzheng shop around the corner. An hour later, I bought one and took it back to Paris."

Since then Chedid has used it in some of his songs.

"I play it in my own way, which is like blues. It's the pentatonic scales that I've found in guzheng and the scales of blues. I like this instrument very much."

Kaiguan Culture, a Beijing-based cultural agency, had introduced him to Chinese musician Sangka during Chedid's 2014 tour of the country. Sangka, 27, whose real name is Yemei Chenyang, started learning the instrument at age 5 and graduated from the China Conservatory of Music.