AI WEIWEI in video

Wow. How did I miss this one?

I recall well (though not fondly) Ai’s musical debut, but not that Christopher Doyle had acted as cinematographer for the video. The music itself, despite all clever (if loose) attempts at texture and musicality by Zuoxiao Zuzhou (左小祖咒), is still so marred by the powerfully unmusical nature of Ai’s vocals that its rather hard to listen to. Not to say of course that all singing need be melodic. Just that Ai’s attempt to sound just plain terrible works a bit too well. Anyway, the filmic depiction of Ai’s detention is beautifully shot, and the video contains other compelling moving images to add to the scene. For those inclined to spend a few minutes with this, I suggest just foregoing the sound.