Bluffer's guide to the 2011 JUE Festival

Shanghai’s long, cold, wet winter exists as mere prelude for the creative heat brought by Split Works’ 2011 JUE Festival.

This year, the three-week hullabaloo starting on Friday, March 11, promises even more gratuitous zaniness. Since most people aren't exactly up to speed on Shanghai's creative scene, we present this handy guide with essential facts about JUE’s program.

Genre no. 1: Intoxicating Chinese music

Best example at JUE: Hanggai are loved in Shanghai. We can’t help but cheat on our local bands with this Mongolian xiaosan.

In 2009, the Dream Factory audience wouldn’t let them leave the stage, barring the door like desperate lovers. Expect more lust this year. These gentlemen never disappoint, but still leave you wanting more. And they like to drink while playing. A lot.

You know you’re watching one when… You are outlandishly trashed and looking sideways at the band like they have a drinking problem.

Esoteric fact to show everyone you know what you’re talking about: Hanggai’s front man Ilchi is a Beijing native with Mongolian roots and was originally a rocker in bands like T9. However, entranced by throat singing, he enlisted some Mongol friends to create the band we get drunk with today.

For music event details, click here.

Genre no. 2: Disfunctionally literate happenings

Best example at JUE: HALiterature, a local, independent publishing venture, hosts three installments of their popular live writing contests under the menacing moniker “Shanghai BARd Fight."

These events offer, respectively, poetry, short fiction and freestyle rap battles to get your blood up.

The skirmishes take place at local bars, MC’d by eminent Shanghai post-pat literati, namely, Canadian author and poet Mark Butler, English poet and journalist Susie Gordon and Icenine, a Canadian rapper who has pioneered the art of freestyling in Shanghai.

You know you’re watching one when… A phrase you’d only use in fantasy is used to illuminate the mundane.

Esoteric fact to show everyone you know what you’re talking about: “HAL events always contain hidden mini-events." explain HAL organizers.

"Previous such mini-events included Christine Fortes’s 'Shanghai’s Dirtiest Secrets,' when the audience was invited to share their dirtiest Shanghai secret anonymously on a card, which was then projected on the wall for all to see.”

Be prepared.

For literary event details, click here.

Genre no. 3: The big guns

Best example at JUE: The Besnard Lakes, a roaring indie band with a husband and wife at their core.

Two-time nominees for the Polaris Prize, the highest honor in Canadian music, they are often described as having a Beach Boys streak, featuring melodious vocal harmonies within hard-driving, vintage guitar mélanges.

Another "big guns" highlight is the Maybe Mars Showcase, featuring Snapline and AV Okubo, not to mention Shanghai stalwarts Duck Fight Goose and Pairs in support.

Snapline, coming off SXSW dates and an amicable breakup with Carsick Cars, have not played here since early 2009. AV Okubo, a break-core quartet from Wuhan’s industrial haze, are widely admired as one of the most exciting bands in China.

Shanghai audiences should be well acquainted with Duck Fight Goose’s circus freak psychedelia and Pairs’ propulsive post-punk.

You know you’re watching one when… You look around and realize the Shanghai rock scene is climbing out of its primordial ooze, replete with the requisite die-hards, poseurs, voyeurs, plus the inevitable weird guy gyrating in the corner.

Esoteric fact to show everyone you know what you’re talking about:

1. Snapline made an album produced by former Public Image Ltd. member Martin Atkins.

2. Duck Fight Goose are currently being courted by Maybe Mars.

3. Pairs drummer Xiao Zhong issues DIY T-shirts with LSD in the printing ink.

Only one of these facts was fabricated.

For music event details, click here.

Genre no. 4: Machines programmed to dance

Best example at JUE: The Whitest Boy Alive. Defying their name, this Scandinavian band mixes a bit of soul with their skeletal, detached beats.

You know you’re watching one when… You discover your soul mate dancing next to you. Writhing in blissful oblivion, you wistfully part company after dawn ... and never speak again.

Esoteric fact to show everyone you know what you’re talking about: The Whitest Boy Alive share a member with the folk duo Kings of Convenience. We assume this means something to someone.

For music event details, click here.

Genre: Art created with the help of…you!

Best example at JUE: ENTER, a performing arts cooperative, will -- according to curator Josh Atkin -- “create an environment that enhances the theatrical experience for audiences.” And it will be done in a cubic, eight-seat venue.

The audience will partake in these intimate film, music, dance, and speed dating events via social media, SMS and email. 

You know you’re watching one when… You’re doing something you never thought you’d do, prodded on by someone you’ve never met, and tweeting about it.

Esoteric fact to show everyone you know what you’re talking about: “Some performances will be one-on-one," says Atkin, "so if you're feeling bold and really wanting a full-on experience, be quick as we'll only have a handful of these available!”

For theater event details click here.