"... a virtuoso player of the pipa (and no slouch on the guzheng zither), as ably displayed on this CD of time-worn compositions from back home. She shifts nimbly from sparse passages that allow the pipa? sharp tones to blossom and breathe, to blistering runs that, in their density, would make flamenco masters weep." - Montreal Mirror.
This CD (The Soul of Pipa, Vol. 2) is a veritable feast of alluring sounds, ranging from the eloquent and lyrical to the flamboyant and percussive. The varied soundscape produced by one player and one instrument is quite dazzling. Liu Fang's masterly technique (e.g. tremolo, delicate harmonics, lyrical tunes, and boisterous percussive effects), as well as the music itself -- which is based on short sections characterized by ever-changing tempos and dynamics - all evoke an improvised and exciting quality. ... Definitely a CD to enrich anyone's musical palette and provide a sample of China's rich musical heritage, ..." - The Wholenote Magazine
Price: £11.99
10 pipa solo pieces performed by Liu Fang as part of her pipa series. This volume concentrates on various folk roots styles from different parts of China, including Yunan Province (southern China), Yinzhou pipa music (southeast China) Guangdong music (southern China) Shanxi Province (west China) and Xinjiang Province (northwest China). Exquisite performances from a true maestro.
The Guzheng (pronounced "Goo-Jeng") is a plucked zither, related to the Japanese koto, Vietnamese dan tranh and the Korean kayagum. It is one of the most ancient Chinese musical instruments dating back to at least the Qin dynasty (about 220 BC). The guzheng is made of a wooden sound body with strings arched across movable bridges and usually has between 21-25 strings.The guzheng has been a popular instrument since ancient times and is considered as one of the main chamber as well as solo instruments of Chinese traditional music. Liu Fang, already established as one of the world's leading pipa players, has recorded her first album of solo guzheng music. The twelve tracks are traditional pieces for guzheng and folk melodies from various areas of China. Beautifully recorded, fantastically played, the guzheng has long been a part of Liu Fang's live performances. Now at last her exquisite playing can be enjoyed on a CD of pure quality.
Released October 2006 on the Far Side label. On the album Hinemosu, Micabox combine ancient with modern Japan. Kagura (music for the gods) minyo (local folk) and other Oriental sounds are mixed with the cutting edge electronics of Toshimi Mikami, together with help from his mentor, the legendary Haruomi Hosono (ex-YMO) and superb female vocalist Ayako Takato. Hosono who mixed and adds additional sounds to this CD has been a pioneering musician in Japan for several decades, at the forefront of creating Japanese rock music with the group Happy End, technopop with his group Yellow Magic Orchestra (along with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi) world music and electronic dance music. Kagura "god music" is music and dance played at shrines, and is probably Japan's most ancient surviving music. It has its roots in acts of magic in worship of the gods inhabiting the forest and sea. Minyo are local Japanese folk songs of which literally thousands exist, from the far north of Hokkaido to the deep south of Okinawa. It wasn't until Mikami met female singer Ayako Takato in the Pan-Pacific Mongoloid Unit, a group run by Haruomi Hosono of which Mikami is also a member that Mikami had found a singer with the versatility to sing the tunes he had composed over a number of years. The album is a bit like a snapshot of today's Japan; where the grounds of an ancient, peaceful temple stands adjacent to the blazing neon of an advertising hoard. A curious mixture of the old and new, spiritual and hi-tech, serenity and chaos.
'Oki's approach fuses reggae, Africana and electronica with Ainu folk melodies. The wistfully brittle sound of the tonkori (a long flat stringed instrument with an unfretted soundboard that produces mysterious overtones) on Dub Ainu may suggest kora, sometimes qin or guitar but generally it's like nothing you've ever heard before.' Steve Barker in Wire February 2005.
'A fascinating mix of old and new, sort of T Rex meets Horace Andy and Can in Hawaii.' Charlie Gillett
'A bugged out trippy affair distinct from any dub contemporaries we have come across.' Future World Funk in Straight no Chaser
'My tip for the top-it sounds like a polite oriental Bow Wow Wow. Great fun. (4 Stars)' Howard Male, Independent on Sunday
'Mesmeric acoustic grooves and assorted global influences. Odd...and out there.' Neil Spencer, The Observer.
'No holds barred having great fun stripping down the vocals, adding bits of reverb and pumping up the volume.' fRoots
'With rock 'n' roll attitude Oki Dub Ainu Band spun trance-like grooves with bass and side drum percussion.' Simon Broughton in Songlines
Price: £9.99
Kazufumi Miyazawa has been called the Japanese David Byrne, Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel rolled into one. On this best of album, Miyazawa combines Brazilian music with Japanese and Oriental influences, a version of the million selling Okinawan song 'Shima Uta', plus western and dance oriented sounds. All with the help of a stellar cast of collaborators from around the world, including producers, Arto Lindsay and Hugh Padgham, musicians, Carlinhos Brown, Marcos Suzano, Max de Castro, Lenine, Takashi Hirayasu, Manu Katche and Dominic Miller with dancefloor remixes by Truby Trio and Monaural. Click Read About for the full story and check out his official English web site http://www.five-d.co.jp/miyazawa/en
The first release on the Far Side Music label is, surprisingly, an album by an African musician! Abdul Tee-Jay from Sierra Leone, recorded in London, produced by Paul Fisher. Price: £11.99
Originally released in 1991 in Japan, and re-released by the Far Side in association with Riverboat Records. Classic recording of Pop Sunda produced by Makoto Kubota. Born in Bandung, Sunda in 1960 Detty Kurnia is Indonesia's finest singer of pop sunda, that mixes traditional Sundanese music with western elements, the term coming into general usage at the beginning of the 1980s. Detty Kurnia started singing traditional music in her early childhood and made her first recording aged 11. She went on to sing what was to become known as pop sunda from the mid 1970s and became well known first locally before her fame spread to other areas of Indonesia, eventually recording over 150 albums. Dari Sunda became a popular album in Japan and Detty Kurnia performed at the inaugural WOMAD festival in Japan in 1991. Her mellifluous voice is still one of the most beautiful to ever emanate from Indonesia, and a match for anyone, in any genre in the world.
