Liner Notes to East Asia Travelogue

South-East Asia, the Far East, the wild east. There can't be a more exciting area to travel around. For sheer variety, it has just about everything to suit everyone. Ancient cultural sites can transport you back in time to a period of immense grandeur and beauty. On bustling city streets, tantalising smells of exotic food (or the poignant bad one in the case of the durian fruit) mingle with the noise and fumes from tuk tuks (motorized rickshaws). While for some, alluring beaches and full moon parties are the main attraction.

East Asia has always held a fascination for western travellers. From the great explorers, Marco Polo in the 13th century, to Sir Francis Drake in the 16th century and those from European colonial powers who fought for control over much of the

region. Something that unites early western travellers and those of today, is their initial reaction to much of the music they hear. Bafflement, dismissiveness or even outright dislike.

Dr William Crotch, a Professor of Music at Oxford, was one of the first European scholars to come into contact with Javanese gamelan around 1817. The experience seems to have left him somewhat perplexed. He examined the instruments and was handed some western notation of Javenese 'airs', despite the tunings of the gamelan bearing no resemblance to western tunings. He concluded the instrument was in the same kind of scale as the black keys on a piano.

Throughout East Asia, most music is pentatonic, (a five note scale) so Dr. Crotch had a point, but his observations were generally way off the mark. The intervals of the scale are not exact, as in the tones and semitones of western scales. Octaves are not exact and there is no fixed pitch. Instead, individual tunings are applied to individual instruments, while minute inflections of notes add extra ornamentation. There is no sense of chord progression to much indigenous Asian music, elaborations being built upon a single melody line. Add to this, unlike some African or Latin music, it's not easy to tap your foot along to, even if the rhythms are not complicated.

Consequently, and not surprisingly, to western ears much traditional East Asian music can sound out of tune, strange, eerie. At best, even if mistakenly so, exotic.

Today's travellers are most likely to hear traditional music in hotel lobbies, or other shows put on for tourists. After all the locals, in most places along the tourist trails, don't listen much either. What they are more likely to encounter is the country's best selling pop music. Throughout East Asia, recent western influences have not been as much assimilated into local traditions, more adopted wholeheartedly without reservation. Add to this equation a general love of karaoke (meaning that songs must be easy to sing, and it doesn't matter how you sing them) and after a few weeks a traveller could feel exposed to a drip drip form of torture. Imagine your worst boy band, girl band, pop idol, take away any talent or rough edges they might have, then double the gloss.

This doesn't mean that all modern music can be described with a word that brings to mind Dr. Crotch again. Quite the reverse. You just have to dig a bit deeper that's all. Below the surface is a quagmire of wonderfully skilled musicians, making wholly palatable traditional music, cutting edge adventurous modern music, or a mixture of both.

Down the years, western musicians have often been the first to embrace music from Eastern Asia, and pass on the influences in their own music. One of the earliest examples of this is a young Claude Debussy, strolling around the World Exposition in Paris in 1889. He heard music from including Japan, Vietnam and most significantly Java. He found inspiration from the musical traditions that would surface in much of his later works. Arguably, Debussy and traces of gamelan influences can be found in so-called ambient music, or the works of John Cage or Steve Reich. Ravel and Messiaen were similarly captivated, while Canadian composer Colin McPhee lived and studied in Bali in the 1930s. He introduced Benjamin Britten to Balinese music when he visited the island in 1956, who even created a gamelan type percussion section in the orchestra. In the 1990s, another British composer Michael Nyman was similarly smitten with Okinawan music, as have a number of other contemporary exploratory musicians such as Ry Cooder, Bob Brozman and Talvin Singh.

The region covered on this CD is vast both in terms of population and area, taking in South-East Asia, North-East Asia and China. There is therefore an enormous variety of ethnic and linguistic groupings, sometimes hundreds within one country. Religious beliefs and variants of similar religions are equally diverse. Political systems range from military dictatorships, remnants of monarchism, republicanism to democracy. Under populated vastness and over populated cities, peasant communities and hi-tech sophisticated urbanized living. There might appear to be little homogeneity within the region.

However, historically, culturally, economically and musically there is much common ground. The influences of China or India or both are present throughout the region, indicative in terms such as Indochina or Indonesia (Indian Islands). Much of East Asia was perceived by early Western travellers as no more than a peripheral edge of it's immense neighbours. Chinese influence is particularly strong in Vietnam (the northern part was under direct control of China for more than a thousand years) and to the north, Korea and Japan. India's influence in South-East Asia was not through military means, but ultimately more extensive.

Nevertheless, the earliest prehistoric people are believed to have developed their own distinctive culture and civilizations long before these influences. Even their animistic beliefs were not totally wiped out by the spread of Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim or Christian religions. After the 15th century, the introduction of Islam

into Malaysia and Indonesia was a gradual process. The cultural influences were adapted and absorbed. Indian instruments apparently didn't survive but were instead adapted. The epic poems of Ramayana and Mahabharata did however take root particularly in Bali, Java, Thailand and Malaysia. The Javanese version, Wayang Kulit, was itself to spread to other parts of South-East Asia. The many gongs in South-East Asia, the region's most distinctive instrument, most famously in Indonesia, but also Thailand or Laos, date back far beyond any Indian influences, it's spread more likely due to migration within the area. Perhaps the instrument originated from China, but the word 'gong' is itself of Javanese origin.

In North-East Asia it is a similar story. Even Japan's most ancient music, Gagaku, is believed to originate from the ancient music of China, India and Korea. Japan's earliest court musicians were all from China or Korea. The koto, (zither) shakuhachi (flute) or biwa (lute) derive from China, introduced via Okinawa and the Ryukyu islands or Korea. A complete metamorphosis can best be seen and heard in the development of the Japanese shamisen (a three stringed lute). From the Chinese sanxien, a three-stringed, snake-skinned, long necked version, it became about 500 years ago the Okinawan sanshin with a shorter neck and the instrument at the heart of all Okinawan music. A mission from the king of the Ryukyu islands then brought it to Japan in the mid 1500s. The Japanese changed the skin from snake to cat or dog, and dissected the instrument into four separate pieces of wood. The shamisen then became aestically Japanese, to suit their own taste.

Only after the Second World War, and the acknowledged interdependence of the region, did the term South-East Asia come into common usage. The need for trading partners precipitated the formation of today's ASEAN group. Musicians in the region that incorporate outside elements into their own traditions, do so quite independently from eachother. A Vietnamese musician is unlikely to have come across much Indonesian music for example. The exceptions are where the cultures have been mixed historically, most notably perhaps in Malaysia. Everywhere though, in the urban centres at least, everyone has heard rock, pop or dance music from the west. Updating these traditions with these influences has become commonplace and in each country can be some of the more interesting music.

It isn't therefore possible to define a boundary crossing East Asian music as such. Musicians in Japan however, with greater access to music from the region have attempted to create a Pan-Asian music such as combining Indonesian music, with Japanese or Okinawan, and Japanese record companies operating in China have encouraged Chinese or Taiwanese artists to record Japanese songs. Young artists in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea are now also looking towards Japan for new trends, not just to America. With the recent economic troubles in much of the region, there isn't likely to be much cross-cultural Asian exchanges. Nevertheless, historically there is much to unite the region and similarities in music throughout the region, even if the musicians themselves are not always aware. However, the vision to create an all embracing East Asian music, in the way that Latin or African music might be perceived in the west, still seems a far off dream. Perhaps this CD can offer just a glimpse towards this goal.

It is a journey from the pastoral, lush, green vegetation of Bali, via the cool highlands of Sunda, Indonesia, to the colourful, culturally mixed Chinese, Arabic and Indian peninsular of Malaysia. Passing through tropical islands, to the steaming streets of Bangkok and the arid, Laotian area of Isaan in the north east of Thailand. Into Burma, a country in a time warp, still devoid of much westernization, perhaps much as Vietnam was before the recent opening up and tourist boom. Now, the vibrant atmosphere of Saigon means just crossing the street can be an experience as you learn how to dodge the oncoming stream of motorbikes, but it's still possible to take refuge among hauntingly rich traditions and beautiful landscapes to the north. Onto the vastness of China, and the ancient culture of the Middle Kingdom, to those hi-tech, commercial outposts of realized Chinese economic potential, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Okinawa, where North and South East Asia have mingled for centuries creating a unique culture in an island atmosphere that even the industrial might of the Japanese or the American military can't destroy. And Japan itself, where bright neon advertising hoards cast a shimmering light over a nearby temple as the past and present, the east and west sit side by side. Finally to Korea, the latest pretender to the region's economic powerhouse throne, a passage recently derailed, but whose people are still proud of a culture, shaped by it's neighbours but intrinsically, uniquely Korean.

 

TRACK LISTING

1. 108 GONGS (EXCERPT) 1:04 (BALI)
The ‘great gong’ the gong ageng, the deepest sound in Asia, resonates with the soundscape of Bali.

2. SAMBASUNDA SABILULUNGAN 6:24 (JAVA/SUNDA)
The two great gamelan traditions of Indonesia, Sundanese (west Java) and Balinese are combined together with riveting results, masterminded by Bandung’s Ismet Ruchimat and his 17 member group.

3. NORANIZA IDRIS YA ALLAH SAIDI 5:06 (MALAYSIA)
Arabic music merges with Indian and other south east Asian influences to form a distinct Malay concoction, performed by one of the young singers currently at the forefront of the Malaysian roots music revival.

4. ISAN SLETE HUA NGWAK YAWK SAO
Laotian dance music in the morlam tradition given a thumping bass treatment in this previously unreleased version.

5. WU KOU WOO LA TWE KALE YEDE MYEN 4:09 (BURMA) BO TIN
Masterful performance on the bamboo xylophone, the pattala from the western edge of south east Asia.

6. VC HOOKER VC'S BLUES 3:37 (VIETNAM)
Recorded on the streets of Saigon, guitarist plays the Vietnam blues amid the sound of motorbikes.

7. HUONG THANH ONE RIVER, TWO STREAMS, 5:47 (VIETMAN)
Vietnamese chanteuse, resident in Paris, reviving Vietnamese traditions with jazz and other Asian influences with producer and guitarist Nguyen Le.

8. KIM SINH LY GIAO DUYEN 5:05( VIETNAM)
Traditional South Vietnamese song, arranged and performed by blind guitarist, who first modified his guitar to play bottleneck style in the 1940s, and can now count Ry Cooder among his admirers.

9. KIN TAII DRAGON FESTIVAL 6:00 (CHINA)
Of Chinese Han, Manchurian and Japanese descent Kin Taii plays what he calls Chinese techno ambient music. The melody is performed on the erhu, one of the Chinese family of bowed lutes.

10. ZHENG JUN MIAN AND LI HONG HON NIANG HUI ZHANG SHENG
Excerpt from a Cantonese opera, popular in the tea houses of Hong Kong in the 1960s, and featured in the atmospheric film from Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai, "In the Mood for Love."

11. LABOR EXCHANGE BAND AH-FEN'S CARRYING 4:47 (TAIWAN)
Hakka Chinese ( one of the Chinese minority groups in Taiwan) play their traditional music with other Chinese, Taiwanese opera, aboriginal and western influences, on guitar plus Chinese instruments including the reed horn, the souna.

12. MIYAZAWA CHIMUGURI UTASHA 7:05
Japanese singer and composer who has done much to popularise Okinawan music in Japan, returns to Okinawa with help of producer Arto Lindsay, and on this mix, Monaural in Rio de Janeiro.

13. CHIEKO MORI 5:04 (JAPAN)
Japanese koto player improvises with American composer and violinist Michael Galasso.

14. UMEKO ANDO PEKANBE 5:15 (JAPAN/AINU)
An elder Ainu (native Japanese) singer, is accompanied on tonkori (a long stringed instrument) by Ainu musician and producer, Oki.

15. PURI KAN 2:41 (KOREA)
From Seoul, four piece percussion group update traditional music, with stirring performance on reed instrument.

16. 108 GONGS (EXCERPT) 1:04 (BALI)