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east asia - various artists If you want to find a connecting thread between the traditional forms where development has seemingly occurred independently, what do you do? As the illuminating liner notes of this collection suggest, you have to "dig a bit deeper", a good suggestion for anyone interested in any type of music. Introduced as a sort of travelogue to the music of East Asia, it is not averse to the western influence, but rather how this influence has been put to creative use with fine performances that reflect the cultural distinctiveness of a particular area. Extracts might be chosen because the bluesy ambience of the generally pentatonic (five note) local genres rings a universal bell. For instance blind Vietnamese guitarist Kim Sinh who can count Ry Cooder among his fans performs traditional Vietnamese music on a guitar that he modified in the 40's so that he could play it bottleneck style. Another Vietnamese entry is introduced by a local string instrument that has the bluesy ambience of a Moroccan sentir before some spellbinding traditional female singing mixed with muted jazz trumpet improvising. A Japanese koto player and improvising Western violinist lend an ambient yet intoxicating air to the tradition. There couldn't possibly be any historical link between the blues and the performance given by an elderly Japanese lady to the haunting tones of the tonkori (a local lute) but there is definitely a spiritual one. Giving a bit of contemporary western thump on the appropriate selections such as the amplified bass on the local Laotian marlam dance music which also has a bluesy ambience and features male vocal call lead and a female response also works wonders, enhancing rather than diminishing the distinctive flavour. On the more rhythmic side of the fence, Malaysia doesn't really need to fuse music which is itself a fusion of Indian and Arabic influences as an enthusiastic bunch of youngsters fronted by a superb lady singer demonstrate. Another fusion…this time between Javanese and Balinese traditions pulses along merrily powered by indigenous percussion. Ambient techno colours drive along a Chinese melody performed on erhu (one stringed violin) while Arto Lindsay adds contemporary beats to earthy Okinawan folk music. All these pieces are interspersed with
expertly chosen examples of Chinese opera, haunting solo bamboo
xylophone from Burma and Taiwanese Hakka music bolstered by penetrating
playing from the souna, a type of reed horn. And if its expansive
spiritual penetration you want then give the entry from Korea
a listen. Over the gentle commentary from four percussionists
a local reed player gives a performance of jaw-dropping virtuosity
and intensity. East Asia was compiled by Paul Fisher who spent
many years living in Asia. As far as I can tell the only other
Travelogue compilation available is the brilliant South America
which I reviewed last year for the magazine. Let's hope they can
keep up the great work. I'd love to hear what they've got to say
about Africa, the Middle East or the Caribbean.
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