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“I won’t invite guests to perform, I won’t dance, take off my clothes or dress up like a peacock to arouse attention of the audience,” says Taiwan singer and song producer David Tao, who was in town last week to prepare for his Beijing concert on March 1.

“You might think the concert sounds boring but the concert will offer just music,” he says with confidence. “It’s a simple concept but dynamic in delivering pure music.”

With six albums in 10 years, the 36-year-old singer is not prolific, but he has achieved much more than other Chinese singers who have produced 10 or more albums in a short time. Dubbed the “Godfather of R ‘n’ B in China”, he has been a trendsetter in China’s music industry since his debut album Tao Zhe in 1997.
His albums have won various awards in Asia for his socially conscious lyrics, simple rhythms and creative mix of traditional sounds, like Peking Opera and traditional Chinese musical instruments.

He was the first to show Chinese singers and listeners that music has no boundaries and those that have followed have benefited from his bold and successful attempts to break new ground in the conservative world of Chinese music.

During his first concert in Beijing, in 2005, Tao surprised his audience with a 12-minute piece exclusively for Beijing.

“We have so many glaring concerts nowadays which are easy to do but empty. This one will focus on music. It’s like a rock music concert in the 70s. I put music, affection and interaction as the priorities.”

“We have spent a lot of time designing the stage lighting. We are adding a lot of disco lights, since we think the combination of music and light is very important.”

Additionally, many of Tao’s old songs are enriched by introducing different instruments and compositional elements.

“Eighty percent of my old songs are remixed. For this concert, I spent a week in Singapore with my musical director to come up with a concept. I don’t want to just reproduce these old songs, I want to look again at myself and my music in a special way,” he says.

As a confident singer, Tao never invites guests to his concerts.

“Guests interrupt the process of a concert, thus I never invite them. Probably, some singers do this for the box office but I think it’s a bit rude. When people are buying tickets to one of my concerts, I think they want to see me.”

“Some record labels force their artists to turn up at each other’s concerts to promote each other, even though they may not really enjoy it. I certainly don’t like doing that. It shouldn’t be like attending school classes. The shows should be fun.”

Tao’s tour will include Hong Kong, Singapore and some other cities in China, after Beijing. It is expected to end around June.

Tao is scheduled to release a new album after the tour and will then switch roles to become a director.

Preparation for the movie has already begun and it has a release date of 2009.

“After the concert, I will transfer my focus to that. I hope I can make it one thing after another.”

(Source: ebeijing.gov.cn)