Black Singers breaking into
Huge Chinese Market
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Frank A. Jones
5/16/05

Recently, a local Bay Area newspaper reported that a young African American nine-year older, living in Oakland and speaking no Chinese, is packing Opera houses, Chinese opera houses, by singing classical Chinese Opera brilliantly. This form of Chinese Opera is not experienced widely even by most Chinese. It is a royal form of opera that is usually enjoyed by the well-to-do and dignitaries of China.

How this young boy sings it so well is a puzzlement to this writer, but Chinese who are cultured in that form of opera have heard him and say that he is the real thing in enunciation and all aspects of the form. Consequently, he is drawing a cross-section of Americans, Chinese-Americans, and others to experience his singing.

Elsewhere in professional singing, another unique trend is possibly emerging: Patti Austin, a Black American Jazz singer, is performing and starting to record her Jazz in Chinese. She has been singing to packed Chinese audiences in China for the last three years, and Chinese audiences are loving it, attested to by her sold-out concerts.

Ms Austin, a Black singer of longstanding in the US, has said, she has started to learn Chinese so she can perform to wider audiences in China. She has looked at the potential market in China and realized its impact on her career--a career that is a bit flat in the US--and she is intelligently cultivating that market. She knows that Chinese appreciate and respect someone who will take the time and effort to learn their language.

What is happening here, one may ask. It seems as if the growing economies are focused in China, India, and Pacific Realm nations--the East, with some 2.5 billion people and a growing wealth and openness. And as their wealth grows, so does their entertainment needs. It is therefore wise business practices to cultivate this vacuous entertainment market early on. Those who are in it first are those who will have a standing in Chinese eyes, and are capable of cultivating and creating certain tastes in the Chinese masses--they may prosper more.

Ms. Austin has seen that direction and moved to enhance her standing in it. Also, what Blacks are seeing is this: contrary to the American mass media's war-imaging that has vilified Blacks, the Chinese market is ripe for plundering if it is educated properly.

There is a universal hunger for knowledge of the Black ethos and entertainment. It is fashionable and considered interesting and even chic. And since the Eastern economies are on the rise, and the US economy may be the next flat economy in a few years, wise money would follow the people who represent emerging markets and develop a brand/product taste.

Entertainment is a multi-billion dollar economy, and Blacks are some of the major players in that economy. They have universal marketable products. That is what is happening, and if other entertainers are wise, they will also position themselves for that market.