ADO (band)

ADO were a seminal Sino-foreign rock band, formed in Beijing in 1986. They are most remembered for collaborating with Cui Jian, a partnership that yielded Cui's first complete album, Rock 'n' Roll on the New Long March, in 1989. The album included "Nothing to My Name", the first rock anthem in China, and Cui's most famous song.[1]

ADO
ADO with Cui Jian in Tiananmen Square in 1988. Left to right: Zhang Yongguang, Eddie Randriamampionona, Kassai Balazs, Liu Yuan, Cui Jian.
ADO with Cui Jian in Tiananmen Square in 1988. Left to right: Zhang Yongguang, Eddie Randriamampionona, Kassai Balazs, Liu Yuan, Cui Jian.
Background information
OriginBeijing, China
GenresRock and roll
Years active1986-1996
Past members
  • Zhang Yongguang
  • Liu Yuan
  • Eddie Randriamampionona
  • Kassai Balazs

The band took their name from the Swahili word for "friend".[2] ADO included two foreigners: bassist Kassai Balazs, a Hungarian student, and guitarist/vocalist Eddie Randriamampionona, a Madagascan embassy worker. The band began collaborating with Cui Jian in 1987, the same year the latter left the Beijing Symphony Orchestra. In the years to come, most of ADO's members were absorbed into Cui's own backing band, and continued to tour and release new music with him.

ADO's song "I Just Can't Say It Casually (Chinese: 我不能随便说; pinyin: Wǒ Bùnéng Suíbiàn Shuō)" was featured on the first China Fire compilation, released in June 1992. The band released its only album, I Just Can't Say It Casually, in 1996, and subsequently disbanded.

On December 23, 2014, Zhang Yongguang committed suicide.[3]

Members

  • Zhang Yongguang (d. 2014) - drums
  • Liu Yuan - saxophone, woodwinds
  • Eddie Randriamampionona - lead vocals, guitar
  • Kassai Balazs - bass

References

  1. Paul Clark (2012), Youth Culture in China: From Red Guards to Netizens, page 107. [Quote: "... and others on guitar and drums, including two foreigners (a Hungarian bass player and a guitarist from Madagascar), the ... March 1989's concert in Beijing by ADO, Cui Jian's band, marked the height of the so-called Cui Jian current (chao)."]
  2. Teng, Jimeng (2016). The Power of Culture: Encounters between China and the United States. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 456. ISBN 1-4438-8588-6.
  3. "Veteran Chinese drummer commits suicide". China Daily. 29 December 2014.
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