Xinhua reports that Chinese grunge rock singer/guitarist Xie Tianxiao – also known as XTX or 谢天笑 – has announced the upcoming release of his new album in December 2009, to be titled The Chinese style of reggae. Xie Tianxiao has declared that this album will bring reggae to China’s mainstream audiences, combining traditional Chinese instruments, such as the guqin, with Jamaican reggae music.

This is not an unexpected move for Xie Tianxiao, as his band Cold Blooded Animal’s previous album, 2008’s There is Only One Desire, included reggae themes and CBA’s bassist Guo Jian is also the leader of Taoist reggae band The Way of the Dragon God.

For Xie Tianxiao, The Chinese style of reggae will also be a homage to Bob Marley, who personified the Jamaican brand of reggae before his death in 1981.

“I have been always fascinated by him and planned for a long time to make a reggae album. Now I have,” Xie Tianxiao says. “In combination with Chinese traditional sounds you create a complete new style of music.”

One such traditional Chinese instrument, the guqin, has a history of more than 5,000 years and belongs to the family of “zither” instruments. “You need to have the feeling for playing it. Just practising is not enough,” he said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency.

He describes music as like an ocean: “Its the endless vastness I get my ideas and inspirations from.”

The rock star, who was awarded Best Male Rock Vocal Performance and Best Live Performance honors at the Midi Awards at the end of October 2009, first came into contact with reggae during a year-long stay in San Francisco in 2002.

The fascination remained after Xie Tianxiao and his band, Cold Blooded Animal, decided to go back to China. They regarded their style as too similar to Western bands and they preferred to develop an individual style in which their Chinese origins would be obvious.

About Xie Tianxiao and Cold Blooded Animal

Xie Tianxiao, who was born in 1972 in the town of Zibo, Shandong Province, started his music carrier at the age of 9 in the role of “The Monkey King” in a local opera production of “Journey to the West.”

In 1990, he began composing his own songs and moved to Beijing, forming Cold Blooded Animal in 1997.

A contemporary leader of the Chinese alt rock scene, 12-year-old Cold Blooded Animal has undergone many changes to it’s lineup. Current members include Xie Tianxiao (vocal/guitar), Li Ming (bass) and Wu Rui (drums). Cold Blooded Animal also records as 谢天笑与冷血动物 (Xie Tianxiao and Cold Blooded Animal). Their music fuses grunge, acid rock, and punk music.

Cold Blooded Animal released a self-titled debut in 1999.

Between 1997 and 2002, Xie Tianxiao and Cold Blooded Animal performed hundreds of gigs in China, Europe, Japan and the United States, where they were the first Chinese rock band to appear at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

In 2004, the band released the album Xie Tian Xiao X.T.X and also renamed the band with this title. That was the first time the band broke with the three-instruments mode and adopted traditional Chinese instruments.

You can hear more of Xie Tianxiao’s music at Last.fm and learn more about the band on the Rock in China Wiki.

If you’re interested in hearing more Chinese dub and reggae, check out D&R member reggaechina, AKA Jiang Liang.

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