July 24, 2005

Mei Han | Outside the Wall |Za Discs | China

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There’s an old jazz maxim to the effect that “you learn the rules so that you can forget them;” that is, achieving a level of mastery of one’s tradition can free an artist to break through the walls that define that tradition. Thus it seems fitting that Mei Han’s new tour de force CD, Outside the Wall begins with melodies that date back to the dawn of the previous millennium and ends with electronic-wind-tunnel improvisations called “Bamboo, Silk and Stone.” In between, Han uses her zheng’s twenty-one strings to explore a thousand years and the present moment alike.

July 15, 2005

News | Taiwan Chronicle #5: Stranger than Paradise |

As an expatriate destination, the draw of Taiwan is not exactly self-evident. Despite being frequently mistaken for it in conversation, Taiwan is not Thailand-- you’d have to be smoking something really strong to mistake the tobacco-leaf shaped island for an island paradise. Yet many foreigners do come, often to teach English, and some hearty souls stay on for years. In this fifth and final chapter of the Taiwan Chronicles, we take a look at four foreigners involved in Taiwan music.