After been away from Shanghai for nearly a decade, influential Japanese musical duo Chage and Aska were back for a sell-out show on Saturday night.

Earlier in an interview with Shanghai Daily, the band explained the reason for their absence since 1999 that they didn't "have enough fresh things for Chinese audiences." However, with the release of Double, their first new album in five years, the duo were able to return to China with some new pieces as well as their popular old tunes.

Chage and Aska also performed Teresa Teng's When Will You Return? in Chinese, as a tribute to the late Chinese star.

Among the audience were the band's old-time fans, to whom the show was more like a trip down memory lane. Others came to hear the original version of hit songs often covered by some of today's best-known pop musicians in China.

Chage and Aska played in Shanghai every year from 1997 to 1999, creating ticket-selling records that still overshadow even some big-name Western acts who have played in the city in recent years.

Popping on to the scene in 1979, the band's development was seen by critics as a reflection of Japan's music scene.

In 1996, Chage and Aska both became solo performers, but they continued to release music as a duo occasionally.
 
(CRI November 19, 2007)