French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre headed to China

Electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre is travelling to China this week as part of a cultural delegation accompanying French President Emmanuel Macron, who starts an official state visit in Beijing on Wednesday.

The first Western musician to stage an official concert in China after the 1976 death of Mao Zedong in 1981, Jarre’s visit this week serves to underscore the cultural ties shared by the two nations.

Now 74, Jarre first gained fame in the late 1970s following his release of Oxygene, an innovative album that had a defining influence on the synthesiser-based music genre emerging at the time.

The maestro has since built a long career punctuated by large-scale performances around the world, often featuring dazzling laser displays and fireworks.

A French press release issued ahead of Macron’s visit — focused primarily on urgent global issues like the war in Ukraine and China’s deteriorating ties with the West — said the trip is also intended to celebrate culture. 

“Cultural and artistic cooperation is a major axis of Franco-Chinese relations,” the statement said.  

Next year — the 60th anniversary of Beijing and Paris establishing formal diplomatic ties — “should be dedicated to cultural tourism” between the countries, it added.

Jarre made history in 1981 by performing two concerts in Beijing and three in Shanghai at a time when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had only just begun opening up to the world after the end of Mao’s brutal reign.

The French musician’s innovative electronic style was a curiosity in China in those days.

After the first concert was attended mostly by military personnel, Jarre distributed tickets to people on the street in a bid to get civilians in, according to the musician’s official website.

In 2019, Jarre married Chinese actress Gong Li, the star of several films produced in China that have earned international acclaim as well as Hollywood movies.

Jarre’s trip to Beijing this week signals a return to normal cultural exchange with China after three years in which short-term visits by foreign celebrities were extremely rare due to Beijing’s stringent Covid-19 control measures.