We Speak Music

Cheerful Music: Building the Bridge Between East and West at Amsterdam Dance Event 2025

Published

10 months ago

October 30, 2025

Cheerful Music made a remarkable debut at this year’s Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) — the world’s most influential electronic music festival. As the only Chinese music company to host an independent stage at ADE 2025, Cheerful Music presented its showcase under the theme “Building The Bridge,” aiming to connect Eastern and Western musical cultures through innovation and collaboration.

“We wanted ADE audiences to experience a different side of Chinese music,” said Snow J., founder and CEO of Cheerful Music. “It’s not just traditional, and it’s not just electronic — it’s the fusion of both. Our goal is to bring Chinese music culture to the global stage while learning from western’s creative energy and artistic approach to sound and production.”

Building the Bridge Through Music

At the Cheerful Music showcase, artists, producers, and label representatives from around the world gathered in an atmosphere that was both energetic and open-minded. The performance took place at Amsterdam’s renowned Escape Club, one of the city’s most iconic nightlife venues, where audiences from different countries came together to experience this cross-cultural musical dialogue.

To connect artists, labels, and audiences from around the world through music, innovative ideas, and creative collaborations, we aim to build a bridge that provides Western artists and industry professionals with fresh inspiration, opportunities for cross-border partnerships, and insight into emerging trends from one of the fastest-growing music markets globally.

Cheerful Music also brought Chinese liquor brands Jiangxiaobai to the ADE stage, offering audiences a new and immersive experience. By incorporating the tasting of baijiu into the showcase, attendees were able to engage with flavors and traditions they might not have encountered before. Many first-time tasters asked with curiosity, “What is this drink? Its flavor is very unique!” This element added a deeper sensory layer to the event, enriching the overall experience beyond the music itself.

Another highlight of the night came when Chinese musician MARSIX performed live. He integrated the traditional Chinese instrument, the pipa, into electronic beats, allowing international audiences to genuinely experience the authentic character of this Eastern instrument. Since the pipa and its melodic system differ from Western music, incorporating it into electronic, pop, or experimental compositions can offer European musicians new timbres, rhythms, and harmonic ideas, providing them with fresh creative inspiration.

The event also featured powerful cross-cultural collaborations between Chinese and international artists. Dutch producer Marco Nobel joined Chinese musician Daven Wu to merge Eastern melodies with Western electronic grooves, creating an entirely new soundscape. Meanwhile, Dutch artist Madism presented a remix of Silk Ye’s song, exploring a new form of musical collaboration that blends different artistic approaches and opens up possibilities for creative exchange between Chinese and international musicians.

Originally scheduled to end at 3 a.m., extended due to the audience’s enthusiastic response. Amid cheers and applause, the DJ returned for an encore, closing the night with a powerful celebration of music as a bridge between cultures.

ADE Interview: The Path of Chinese Music Going Global

During ADE, Snow J. (founder and CEO of Cheerful Music) was invited to join a ADE interview to discuss the internationalization of Chinese music.

She shared, “As a label that blends Eastern and Western musical elements, we are committed to promoting dialogue and collaboration between the two worlds. ADE is one of the most influential events in the global music industry. It not only helps us amplify the Chinese voice but also creates real opportunities for international cooperation.”

Building the Bridge, and Beyond

Through its vibrant showcase at ADE 2025, Cheerful Music presented to the world the diverse faces of Chinese music and deepened the cultural dialogue between East and West. From the live fusion of pipa and electronic sounds, to cross-border collaborations and cultural exchange on stage, every performance demonstrated that Chinese music is stepping onto the world stage in a brand-new form.

Looking ahead, Cheerful Music will continue to build its “bridge of music” — allowing more Chinese voices to be heard globally, while welcoming new international inspirations into Chinese music creation, together exploring endless possibilities for the future.

We Speak Music

SCARECROW’s John Blaze Delivers a Career Milestone With “Twisted” and Earns Josie Music Awards Song of the Year Nomination

Published

17 hours ago

August 31, 2026

Jimmy Star

John Blaze has spent nearly four decades fronting SCARECROW, the New York hard-rock outfit he founded in 1989, and in 2026 he delivered one of the most ambitious releases of his career with “Twisted.” Now, the song has reached another major milestone: “Twisted” has been nominated for Song of the Year in the Metal/Alternative category at the Josie Music Awards.

The nomination places Blaze and SCARECROW among this year’s recognized independent artists and songwriters at the Josie Music Awards, with the awards ceremony set to take place at Nashville’s legendary Grand Ole Opry. For an artist whose career has been built on persistence, independence and decades of hard-rock storytelling, the recognition gives “Twisted” an entirely new chapter.

Written by John Blaze and Chaffin, “Twisted” pulls together a lineup of guest players that reads like a rock family reunion, built around Blaze’s long-standing friendship with Dee Snider and the legacy of Twisted Sister, a band woven into SCARECROW’s story from its earliest days.

That connection goes all the way back to the beginning. SCARECROW’s original lineup featured guitarist Eddie Ojeda, best known for his work in Twisted Sister, and the two camps have remained connected ever since. “Twisted” makes that history explicit: Dee Snider appears on the record with guest vocals during the track’s climactic second verse and chorus, lending the song an instantly recognizable jolt of arena-rock power.

Snider isn’t the only marquee name in the credits. Mark Wood, founding violinist of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, contributes electrifying violin work that gives “Twisted” a cinematic sweep uncommon in modern hard rock. Rounding out the track are TJ Jordan on lead guitar and Bobby Marks on drums, creating a powerful, road-tested foundation behind Blaze’s signature gritty vocal delivery.

The Josie Music Awards nomination feels particularly fitting because “Twisted” isn’t simply another SCARECROW release. It brings together different eras of Blaze’s musical life while pushing the band’s sound forward. There’s history in the recording, but there’s also urgency. It doesn’t sound like a band looking backward. It sounds like one with unfinished business.

For Blaze, the nomination also represents recognition of a career that has largely been built outside the traditional machinery of the mainstream music business. Independent rock artists rarely survive for decades without a fierce commitment to what they do, and SCARECROW’s longevity speaks for itself. From the band’s early years and its 1991 debut, through the Blood, Sweat and 20 Years retrospective and the theatrical production I Am SCARECROW, Blaze has continued developing a world around the music rather than simply releasing songs.

That makes the Song of the Year nomination especially meaningful. After nearly four decades of building SCARECROW, Blaze now heads to the Josie Music Awards at the Grand Ole Opry with one of his most ambitious songs recognized in the Metal/Alternative category.

And there’s something wonderfully appropriate about the song that got him there.

“Twisted” connects SCARECROW’s beginnings to its present, reunites Blaze musically with figures tied to the band’s history, and demonstrates just how much fire remains in the project. With Snider and Wood contributing to the record and Blaze still driving the band he created from the ground up, the track feels less like a nostalgic reunion than a statement of survival.

Now it’s also an award-nominated song.

For John Blaze and SCARECROW, nearly four decades into the journey, “Twisted” has become more than another entry in the catalog. It’s a career milestone — and this September, that milestone is taking SCARECROW all the way to the Grand Ole Opry.