Matt Clark ’90 just released his album, called, “Beijing Band 2012: AMERICAN MANDARIN." This English-Chinese translingual rock album is his second record.
“It’s the first kind of project ever done like this,” Clark explained. He is referring to the fact that the album includes 10 American protest songs translated into Chinese and sung in Mandarin. Even more remarkable is the fact that he was able to maintain “100 percent of the content and rhyming schemes” between the two languages.
Clark completed the album after seven years of work. Specifically, he produced, played bass and sang the Chinese version. The band is made up of teachers from New York City; Clark himself has been a high school teacher commuting from Long Island since 2002.
Clark was originally a music major, but after taking a year off after sophomore year to live in China, he changed his concentration to Asian studies, working under professors Thomas Wilson and Hong Gang Jin.
At Hamilton, Clark was a member of the Asian Cultural Society and had a radio show on WHCL. He then earned his Master of Arts in Education from Columbia University’s Teachers College in 2000. After, he spent 10 years working in China. For two years he was the right-hand to Cui Jian, the famous rock singer whose song students sang in Tiananmen Square prior to the widely known June 4, 1989 massacre.
The album can be found on Amazon and BandCamp.
