Part-Time Farmers, Part-Time Rock Stars: A Chinese Band’s Unlikely Rise - The New York Times

The band, Varihnaz, has gained fans by offering an alternative to China’s hyper-polished, fast-paced modern life, with songs about pesticides and poultry raising. By Vivian Wang Vivian Wang traveled to rural Guangxi, China, to visit the lead singer of Varihnaz on his farm and to attend the band’s concert in the city of Guilin. Before setting out on his band’s first national tour, before recording another album and before appearing on a major television network, Ba Nong had one task: finishing the summer harvest. Standing in a field edged by rolling hills, two days before the first tour date in late September, Ba Nong, the frontman of the Chinese band Varihnaz, looked over the yellowed remnants of the rice stalks he had spent the past few months tending. “The land gets to rest, and I get to go play,” he said. Planning around the harvest may be an unconventional way to manage an ascendant music career, but Varihnaz is an unconventional band. For its members — two farmers and a former bri

The band, Varihnaz, has gained fans by offering an alternative to China’s hyper-polished, fast-paced modern life, with songs about pesticides and poultry raising. By Vivian Wang Vivian Wang traveled to rural Guangxi, China, to visit the lead singer of Varihnaz on his farm and to attend the band’s concert in the city of Guilin. Before setting out on his band’s first national tour, before recording another album and before appearing on a major television network, Ba Nong had one task: finishing the summer harvest. Standing in a field edged by rolling hills, two days before the first tour date in