Peter D.Harper’s First Music Tour in China

By+staff+reporter+DENG+DI

SINGER-SONGWRITER Peter D. Harper is an AustralianAmerican who now lives in Detroit， U.S. He has a band called Harper and Midwest Kind， whose album Show Your love （2016） remained in the Billboard Top 10 for six consecutive months. Their music has won numerous awards in the U.S.， U.K.， Canada and Australia.

At the invitation of his friend and music promoter Eric de Fonteney who is now settled in China， Harper and his band journeyed east to play their first China shows. In March， when spring had just begun and the north of China was still cold， Harper and his band arrived in Beijing， and then went all the way down the country on a 12-day tour.

Amazing Experience

“Its really an amazing experience！”Speaking of his first tour in China， Harper did not hesitate to praise it.

“This was my very first tour to China. I really didnt know what to expect. I knew the country would be very advanced， but nothing prepared me for the amazing Chinese railway system.” The countrys high-speed railway extends in all directions from north to south， from east to west， linking almost all big and medium-sized cities. Harper was so amazed， calling it “really superb， very fast and efficient！”

Harper and Midwest Kind made their debut at the Communication University of China （CUC） in Beijing. Then they went to Tianjin and Shijiazhuang， two other cities in northern China， after which they went down south to two more metropolises， Wuhan and Shanghai. At the end of the tour they went back to Beijing and rounded off their tour at Temple Bar.

“Cities such as Beijing and Shanghai are very large and vibrant. Lots of great restaurants and music clubs. We all LOVED the food！ The people were very friendly and very helpful. Since none of my band， including myself， could speak any Chinese， it was great to see so many people able to speak English well， and when they were not， they were also very good at sign language，” he laughed.

Communicating with people through music has become a habit to people like Harper. To him， its really memorable when he finds someone who understands and enjoys his music from deep inside.

“Regarding the music industry I was really excited to see so many fans at our shows. All the clubs we performed at， such as DDC and Temple Bar in Beijing， Legendary Pearl in Shanghai and Vox in Wuhan， were a lot of fun. We saw great crowds and cooperated with excellent sound engineers. What I noticed most of all was that the Chinese people really love music and in particular my Australian indigenous instrument of the didgeridoo！ This is really encouraging.”