IZ
B10 Live, Shenzhen, China
Kazakh musician Mamer, from the multiethnic region of Xinjiang in China’s northwest, founded his band IZ in 2002. Over the past two decades, they have evolved two main styles of music, folk and rock, while often incorporating elements of industrial, metal and noise. For Mamer folk music is something he approaches with caution. Indeed, he committed his trio to over 40 days of rehearsal in advance of an 11 city tour, taking in Beijing and Tianjin before continuing south to Xiamen and Shenzhen.
Billed as Trailing Plant after a song on Mamer’s 2012 solo dombra album Kêngistik (Sky), IZ’s 2025 concerts include both new and old songs. The band’s present trio line-up features himself on acoustic guitar, vocals and effects, Xalhar on acoustic guitar, and Zhang Dong on percussion. In previous IZ manifestations, Zhang Dong used to busy himself on stage among heaps of scrap metal and broken electric fan parts, while Mamer let out dark, distorted growls like a kidnapper in disguise, or some otherworldly villain. Together, these manifestations of industrial noise created an overwhelming sense of oppression and intensity. Their 2025 incarnation is marked by Zhang Dong’s switch to electronic drums – Mamer’s idea – and now their music feels more refined, something like a smooth-edged void carved out of chaos.
Zhang Dong stands somewhat slightly awkwardly before his relatively minimalist set-up, his electronic drums at first producing a muffled, distant sound. By the fourth song “Güldêrayem” (“Moon Flower”), he triggers a toy-like cymbal sound that flickers between Mamer’s dense, cascading strums. In one decelerating passage, he drops bounce-less drumstick hits in perfectly synced intervals.
But as ever it’s Mamer who tightly controls the performance. His and Xalhar’s delicately picked instruments evoke the track “Bulbul” (“Nightingale”) from IZ’s 2021 live album Drop By Old Heaven Books. If Mamer’s nightingale is a fragile, clever bird that sings only at night, then Xalhar’s guitar resembles a red-feathered bulbul – a common bird whose fluttering movements produce a light and flowing sound something like a quiet stream, always present yet never forceful.
Between the three of them, IZ channel folk elements and layered, effects-driven noise through string based soundscapes. Often as not, these elements sound out of place with one another, yet somehow all come together under Mamer’s guiding presence. On “Aybalase Kunbalase” (“Moon’s Children And Sun’s Children”) IZ blend his melodic instrumentalism and vocal calls with the increasingly echoing beats of Zhang Dong’s electronic drums. Elsewhere in the set, IZ perform “Kirgiz Shattige”, a traditional song originally played on the komuz – a threestringed fretless lute-like instrument. Given its origin, the way IZ perform this piece in particular raises the question of what folk music means. Does their take on it surpass genre and form, transforming it into something entirely new? Regardless, like a trailing plant it still has roots.
Which is to say the music’s roots remain in Xinjiang, to where Mamer has returned following a period in Beijing. In his early years there he joined the underground folk scene, and got to release a 2009 solo album Eagle on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label, a mercifully brief relationship given the way the company rebranded his sound as a ‘world music’ flavour. Mamer quickly moved on to develop band projects like TAT, 51-RAYON, Bande and Mekrop, whose various takes on industrial, metal and experimental song developed his deeper and more personal understanding of folk.
Though “Xermawek” (“Trailing Plant”) wasn’t part of the Shenzhen set, its presence as the tour’s name still feels essential. Often performed solo by Mamer, the song holds a desolate beauty – mournful and quietly enduring. That same emotional undercurrent runs through the trio’s performance: music rooted in hometown and place, yet refusing to fade in today’s context.
Anla Li
IZ
深圳B10现场
马木尔是来自新疆的哈萨克族音乐人，2002 年组建了乐队 IZ。二十多年来，IZ 的音乐逐渐发展出民谣与摇滚两种主线，并不时融入工业、金属与噪音的元素。对马木尔来说，民谣始终是需要被谨慎对待的。他带领张东与夏力，在历时四十多天的排练后，将积蓄的能量倾注在横跨十一城的巡演舞台上，从北京、天津一路南下，至厦门、深圳。
此次巡演新老歌都有。巡演名称“蔓草”（Trailling Plant）取自马木尔2012年的冬不拉独奏专辑《星空》（Kêngistik）里的同名歌。乐队阵容包括负责木吉他、人声和效果器的马木尔，弹奏木吉他的夏力和打击乐手张东。在过去IZ的演出形态中，张东常在一堆废旧金属和电风扇残骸之间忙活，而马木尔发出黑暗且扭曲的沉吟，像是伪装变声后的绑匪或异界魔王。这些工业噪音的呈现共同营造出一种强烈的压迫感与紧绷的氛围。张东转而使用电鼓，这是IZ在2025年重生的标志，也是马木尔的主意。如今，他们的音乐听起来变得更为精巧，仿佛是从混沌中开凿出的一块边缘光滑的空洞。
张东站在相对极简的电鼓配置前，姿态略显生硬。首次演奏的电鼓一开始发出一种沉闷的、在听感上产生距离的声响。到了第四首歌《月亮花》（Güldêrayem），他触发了一种玩具音效般的镲片声音，在马木尔密集而层叠的扫弦间隙中闪烁跳跃。在轻柔放缓的时刻，他以没有回弹效果的闷实鼓棒敲击，与节拍严丝合缝。
一如既往，演出始终牢牢掌控在马木尔手中。他与吉他手夏力以细腻的弹奏，令人想起IZ 2021年的现场专辑《路过旧天堂书店》（Drop by Old Heaven Books）里《夜莺》（Bulbul）这首歌，如果说马木尔的夜莺是一只仅在夜晚吟唱、脆弱聪明的小鸟，那么夏力的吉他就像是一只红耳鹎——一种常见又可爱的小鸟，振翅间发出轻盈颤动的声响，宛如细细流淌的小溪，若有若无地在场，低调淡然。
IZ以弦乐为基础的音景，在三人之间串联起民谣元素与叠织的效果器噪音。通常它们听起来彼此不那么契合，却在马木尔的带领下融为一体。在歌曲《月亮的孩子和太阳的孩子》（Aybalase Kunbalase）中，IZ将旋律性器乐、人声呼唤与张东愈发回响的电子鼓点结合。他们还演奏了《柯尔克孜欢乐》（Kirgiz Shattige），一首原本由库姆孜（一种三弦、无品的琵琶型乐器）演奏的传统曲子。正因为这是一首柯尔克孜族曲子，它的呈现方式格外引人深思：民谣究竟意味着什么？他们的诠释是否超越了类别与形式，将其转化为某种全新的东西？无论如何，它像是连绵滋生的蔓草，但依然有根。
也就是说，他们的音乐依然扎根在新疆——马木尔在北京生活了一段时间后又回到了那里。早年在北京，他活跃于地下民谣场景，并于2009年在Peter Gabriel创办的Real World厂牌下发行了个人专辑《鹰》（Eagle）。唱片公司以“世界音乐”的标签包装他的声音，但他远不止于此，好在这段合作很快告一段落。此后，马木尔迅速转向发展其他乐队项目，如锈（TAT）、51区（51-RAYON）、响马（Bande）与细菌（Mekrop）。这些乐队从工业、金属到实验音乐的探索，也帮助他发展出一种对民谣更深入、更私人的理解。
尽管《蔓草》（Xermawek）没有出现在深圳的演出现场，作为本次巡演的名称，它依然承载着重要的象征意义。这首常由马木尔独奏的作品，有着一种荒芜的美感——蜿蜒、静默，却经久不息。那样的情感暗流，也在三人的整场演出中潜行：音乐植根于故土与地方，拒绝在当下的语境中被冲刷流散。
Anla Li
July 2025
First published on The Wire. Copyright © The Wire magazine.
