Cold Fairyland (Chinese: 冷酷仙境; pinyin: Lěngkù Xiānjìng) is a Chinese rock music group based in Shanghai, China. Their style combines Eastern melodies and rhythms with Western symphonic rock and classical music. The band has two sides; classical and rock, which allows them to play in concert halls as well as in rock clubs. CFL's music has influences from Portishead, Dead Can Dance, Radiohead, early Genesis, Jethro Tull, Wong Faye and Dou Wei, and their genre is best described as progressive rock.
Cold Fairyland was established 2001 by Lin Di (Vocals/Pipa/Keyboard) and Su Yong (Bass). They reworked several songs they had each previously written and made a demo. Unofficially released online, it was soon picked up by an underground record company LStape and released on cassette. This demo became later available as their first CD “Flying Over the City”. Later the same year drummer Li Jia joined the band, and with a few others who came and went, they had their first show at a bar called NowhereTown. In September 2001 they played a cancer benefit at XinTianDi’s ARK Rock Club in Shanghai; thus began their long relationship with the club, playing most months at least once. They have played in many clubs and festivals across China, including The Beijing MIDI Music Festival, often referred to as the Woodstock of China. CFL began a rotation of guitarists until 2003 settling on Song Jianfeng, a MIDI device engineer who works with Su Yong. Next to join in 2004 was the cellist known as Yao Yao (Zhou Sheng'an) from the Shanghai Opera. Xi Jin'e was added as a keyboard player in summer of 2008, and Seppo M. Lehto replaced Su Yong on bass guitar in August 2008.
The name Cold Fairyland comes from a Chinese translation of one of Haruki Murakami's books (known in English as "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World") favored by Lin Di. The name reflects sometimes dark tones of their music.
Composer/arranger/keyboardist and pipa player Lin Di has been playing pipa since she was 4 years old. Her arrangement skills are bringing out often very surprising elements from the mix of cello/pipa/keyboards/bass/drums and guitar.
Cold Fairyland has released six albums, two in Taiwan (as Lin Di / Cold Fairyland) and four in China.
Performances include concerts in Europe, Japan and around China including The Beijing MIDI Music Festival 2004, 2006 and 2009 (in Zhenjiang). In 2004, Cold Fairyland contributed to the John Lennon Tribute of Yu Yin Tang Music and performed & recorded the song "Eleanor Rigby".
Fun fact: The band is made out of 3 married couples Lin & Lasry, Zhou & Li, Song & Xi.