Mark Ralston/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Images Ai Weiwei.When Chinese authorities jailed the dissident sculptor Ai Weiwei for 81 days in 2011, they may have created a monster, of sorts: now Mr. Ai has announced that he is recording a heavy metal album, and he has traced the roots of his interest in music to his incarceration, when his guards asked him to sing, and he realized that he knew only Chinese revolutionary songs.
“After I came out, I realized I had never really listened to music or sung,†he said in an interview with The Guardian, “so I decided to make an album. I knew so many artists nd musicians and they were really supportive.â€
Mr. Ai will be collaborating on the project with the idiosyncratic Chinese rock musician Zuoxiao Zuzhou. He also said he would seek advice from Elton John. Last year, Mr. John angered the Chinese government by dedicating a concert in Beijing to Mr. Ai, and in February, Mr. Ai reciprocated by creating a video clip, “Love Is in My Blood,†for the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
The album, Mr. Ai told Reuters, would be called “Shen Qu,†or “Divine Comedy,†after Dante, and would include songs about the blind rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng as well as a track called “The Great Firewall of China,†about the Chinese Government’s blocking of Web sites it considers dangerous.
Mr. Ai is planning to create his own cover art, as well as a video for the project.
