September 29, 2004
News | You've come a long way, Taipei. | Taiwan
In a room on the second floor of Taipei City Hall resides an exhibit on the history of pop music in Taiwan. It's not the flashiest thing, but it's significant nonetheless considering the long history of government suppression Taiwan pop has withstood. As the Taipei Times' Chris Fuchs describes it, The Song: Taipei and Me ranges from the Taiwanese folk song that became a Shanghai silent film hit in 1932 through the strict controls of the Japanese occupation to the Chinese Nationalist government's own strict controls, which lasted into the 1980s. Of course, today Taiwanese pop music is free to say what it likes, as evidenced by Taiwan MTV and the enormous popularity of videos questioning patriarchy, homophobia, free market capitalism and... o.k., just kidding!
September 28, 2004
News | Forrest Gump on Gamelan | Singapore
A recent edition of Singapore's Straits Times newspaper features an essay by a former writer of that paper who has moved to London to pursue a doctorate in ethnomusicology at the School Of Oriental And African Studies. Her focus? The folksong of Taiwan's aborigines.
"And why are you going to ang moh London to study Asian music?" Tan Shzr Ee asks herself rhetorically. "I HAD to go to London because I couldn't study what I needed to study in Singapore itself." Singapore is blowing academic and touristic opportunities, she explains:
Today, contingents of gamelan enthusiasts bypass Singapore and flock to Australia instead as 'the gateway to Indonesia'.
Meanwhile, at home, well-meaning 'gamelan conductors' at Singapore Youth Festival competitions continue to urge their students to mangle Javanese gongs with the Forrest Gump Theme transcribed for 'an Indonesian orchestra'.
Hmm... Call me sick, but I'd rather like to hear that!
September 27, 2004
News | Searching through Time for Tone | Hong Kong
If you're in the market for a new pipa, ruan or liuqin, you may want to stop by the workshop of Yuen Shi-chun. As reported in this AP article, Yuen, a principal musician in the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, is obsessed with finding the perfect sound. Dissatisfied with the tone of today's traditional Chinese instruments, he traveled to Osaka, Japan to examine the world's only surviving Tang-Dynasty-era ruansand pipas, which were purchased for the Japanese emperor 1,200 years ago. When asked about the state of music today, Yuen gives the curmudgeonly response of the true purist: "The younger generation grew up on TV, electric pianos and guitars and pop songs that have very fake sounds. They've lost the ability to appreciate real music."
September 20, 2004
Choying Drolma & Steve Tibbetts | Selwa |Six Degrees | Nepal
buy it
Selwa is a beautifully performed, richly produced disc that outdoes its predecessor, Cho. After its initial impact, this second collaboration between Tibetan Buddhist nun Choying Drolma and Minnesota guitarist Steve Tibbetts raises koan-tough mysteries about aesthetics and spirituality. In the lush, reverberating world the pair create, it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.
News | Japan's Mono on N. American Tour | Japan
The Japanese band Mono, who list Sonic Youth and Beethoven as influences, began a month-long United States tour on the 15th of this month. Most of the dates were to be shared with Montreal's Fly Pan Am, but apparently the drummer of that band fell off a ladder, forcing them to cancel. For the full list of dates, hit the full entry link below.
September 15, 2004
News | Yat Kha Tour Cancelled, Member Leaves | Tuva
I was checking out the Yat Kha site in eager anticipation of their show this Friday at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music when I read this:
The US tour is cancelled from visa problems
Passport theft was followed by theft of the suitcase with all the pedals and gear
Radik has decided to go on paternity leave for the forseeable future
The STORM over ASIA project has temporarily been suspended by REALITY Film because of the above...
Storm Over Asia is a 1928 silent film to which Kat Kha was adding live accompaniment, making this a particularly interesting tour. The Tuvan rock band is known for its heavy touring, but should also get recognition for "family values": Radik is the third member to go on paternity leave.
September 12, 2004
News | 'Music from Japan' kicks off 30th Year | Japan
Music from Japan, the leading presenter of traditional and contemporary Japanese music in the U.S., has launched its 30th season with a concert of traditional and contemporary gagaku works at Zankel Hall in New York City. A concert will also be held today at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley, CA.
Gagaku is the 1,200-year-old music of the Japanese Imperial court. To learn more about gagaku and Music from Japan, go to www.musicfromjapan.org.
September 08, 2004
News | Mei Han and Randy Raine-Reusch | China
Mei Han and Randy Raine-Reusch, creators of 2001's Juno Award-nominated album of modern Chinese zheng compositions, Distant Wind, will play with Japanese ichigenkin masters Issui Minegishi and Ichiyo Saito on September 29th, 8pm at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre in Vancouver British Columbia.
The ichigenkin is a rare Japanese one-string zither said to be "the essential expression of Zen." Randy Raine-Reusch will perform on ichigenkin, biwa and zheng, and Mei Han on zheng.
Randy informs us that "Mei Han and I will also be performing a concert tour of Vietnam, Singapore and Pakistan in Dec 2004, Jan 2005." For more information, check out www.asza.com.
September 06, 2004
News | Japanese Music on the Beeb | Japan
I was planning on pointing everyone toward BBC Radio host Andy Kershaw's amazing musical journey through North Korea, touted as the first radio documentary done in that country. Alas, the audio link has been taken down.
As a consolation, here is this BBC Radio 3 Guide to Japanese music. Although it exemplifies and promotes the myth among World Music types that the only interesting modern Japanese music is that which mines the nation's musical traditions (how they remain oblivious to Japan's global influence on electronic, indie, noise, improv and experimental music I'll never understand), this show is a great introduction to recent mods on indigenous sounds.
One particular standout is Ainu (native Japanese) musician Oki (track 7).