Cao Fang (singer)
Encyclopedia
- For the emperor, see Cao FangCao FangCao Fang , formally known as Duke Li of Shaoling, was the third emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He retained the title Prince of Qi after he was deposed by the regent Sima Shi...
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Cao Fang (曹方; formerly 曹芳; born May 6, 1983 in Xishuangbanna
Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture
Xishuangbanna is an autonomous prefecture in Yunnan Province, China. The capital city is Jinghong, the largest settlement in the area and one that straddles the Mekong River, called the Lancang River in Chinese.-Name:...
, Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
) is a Chinese indie pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
singer-songwriter and melodica
Melodica
The melodica, also known as the "blow-organ" or "key-flute", is a free-reed instrument similar to the melodeon and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole,...
player.http://tv.mofile.com/OEJFRO5Q She sings in the Mandarin language. She has a youthful voice and a sweetly melodic style that has been compared to the Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
ese singer Cheer Chen (whom Cao regards as one of her favorite performers).http://english.cri.cn/537/2006/03/13/61@61398.htm Her style has also drawn comparisons to The Cranberries
The Cranberries
The Cranberries are an Irish rock band formed in Limerick in 1989 under the name The Cranberry Saw Us, later changed by vocalist Dolores O'Riordan. The band currently consists of O'Riordan, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler...
and Faye Wong
Faye Wong
Faye Wong is a highly successful and influential Chinese singer-songwriter and actress who is usually referred to as a diva . Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong . Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and rose to stardom in the early 1990s by singing...
.http://english.cri.cn/537/2006/03/13/61@61398.htm Some of her songs show the influence of trip hop
Trip hop
Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...
, bossa nova
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...
, and the music of China's ethnic minorities
Ethnic minorities in China
Ethnic minorities in China are the non-Han Chinese population in the People's Republic of China. The People's Republic of China officially recognizes 55 ethnic minority groups within China in addition to the Han majority. As of 2010, the combined population of officially recognised minority...
, such as the Jino people
Jino
The Jino people are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China...
, whom she visited in Xishuangbanna as a child.http://english.cri.cn/537/2006/03/13/61@61398.htm Her English nickname is Icy.
In 1996 she went to Kunming
Kunming
' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
to study. In high school, she began writing songs and joined a band. The band recorded a demo, which impressed the musician Xiao Ke, who heard it in approximately 2001 while recording traditional music in Yunnan, but was unable to locate her. Several months later, she came to Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
for a university students' original music competition, for which Xiao Ke was a judge; she won the awards for best lyrics and best group, and Xiao Ke invited her to join the label he had founded.
Cao moved to Beijing in 2002, where she began working as an assistant at Xiao Ke's label. Soon thereafter she signed to the label and became a professional singer. She released her first CD, Black Perfume (黑色香水), in 2003. The album was poorly promoted and sold poorly, but she gradually achieved renown via discussion of her works on Chinese blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
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Her second album, Meet Me (遇见我), was released in 2005 on the Tai You Wen Hua (钛友文化) label, selling over 100,000 copies and winning several awards. In the same year, she changed the written form of her name from 曹芳 to 曹方. Her five-track EP, Farther Than the Sky (比天空还远), was released on her own label in late 2007.
In 2008, GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare is a division of GE Technology Infrastructure, which is itself a division of General Electric . It employs more than 46,000 people worldwide and is headquartered in Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom. GE Healthcare is the first GE business segment to be headquartered...
used her song "In Summer" (在夏天) in a television commercial for Healthcare Re-imagined. She has also composed songs for several other Chinese singers, including Jin Haixin, Qin Hailu, and the first Super Girl winner An Youqi
An Youqi
Angela An Youqi In 2004 Youqi won the first season of Super Girl, a national singing contest. Subsequently she signed a recording contract and released an album which recorded sales of over one million.-Albums:-External links:* - * - *...
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Her hobbies include drawing and lomography
Lomography
Lomography is the commercial trademark of Lomographische AG, Austria for products and services catering to the Global Modern art community of Lomographic photography. The name is inspired by the former state-run optics manufacturer LOMO PLC of Saint Petersburg, Russia...
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