Beijing is modern day China at its most brash and dynamic yet has also been at the centre of China's imperial past. Oppressive foreign dynasties made it their capital, as did the Communists, resulting in Beijing absorbing a range of outside influences and becoming the hotbed of a subversive youth culture. Bar Beijing reflects the passing of time through the centuries; from imperious classical music to contemporary folk and the latest sounds emanating from the Beijing underground.

CD1- CLASSIC

1. Nanjing Song, Dance and Theatre Ethnic Music Group - Kansangetsu 2. Folksong of Shanxi region - Murmuring of the Fen River 3. Yao Gongbai - The Drinking Song 4. Cao Xuejing - Satokibi Batake Music- Naohiko Terashima 5. Music of Small Ethnic Groups in Yunnan, China - Hani no Melody 6. The Society of Jiangnan Sizhu of Shanghai - Yunqing 7. Fei Jianrong - Gao Shan Liu Shui 8. Jei Shio Fan- Marika 9. Nanjing Song, Dance and Theatre Ethnic Music Group - Shichikuchyo 10. Zhu Changyao- Chang Xiangsi (Endless love) 11. Music of Small Ethnic Groups in Yunnan - Tanreiga no Hotori 12. Mongolian Folk Song- A Wide Steppe 13. Fei Jianrong - Mei Hua San Nong 14. Dai Shuhong and others- Hanjing Canxue 15. Liu Fang - Spring Rain

CD2 - NEW

1. Fei Jianrong - The River of Rain 2. Wu Hong Fei- Cang Yang Jia Cuo Qing Ge (Love song of the 6th Dalai Lama) 3. Isabelle Huang - Yang (Itch) 4. Cao Xuejing - Kougenfujo 5. Jiang Xiaoqing & Fei Jianrong - Ihoujin-Silk Road Theme 6. Da Qiao Xiao Qiao - Feng Qiu Huang (male Phoenix chasing female Phoenix) 7. Liu Fang & Farhan Sabbagh - Shepherd Maid 8. Jiang Xiaoqing & Fei Jianrong - Koino bakansu (Vacance de l'amour) 9. Cao Xuejing - Saima 10. Zuo Xiao Zu Zhou - Ye He Wan Shi Xing (Making Love Outside) 11. Hiroko Kuwakino - Kinmokusei 12. Zhong Tong Quian - Mou Tian Xia Wu (Some Day Afternoon) 13. Zuo Xiao Zu Zhuo - Dang Wo Li Kai Ni De Shi Hou (When I Left You) 14. Jiang Xiaoqing & Fei Jianrong - Last Emperor Theme 15. Jia Peng Fang - Maryvonne's Cherrytree

Brilliant album of traditional songs from Hue by Vietnam's leading singer of the genre, the wonderful Van Khanh. Evocative music, and one of the great female voices of Asia.

Price:   £13.99

Modern versions of Vietnamese folk tunes and orignal songs. The Vietnamese instruments combined with synthesizers and drum machines, with superb singing from Hue's finest vocalist.

For the most part, top female singer Cam Ly and her male counterpart Quoc Dai take it in turns to sing on this album of contemporary pop tunes with a Vietnamese twist, except for one duet. 10 tracks.


Price:   £13.99

Paris resident Vietnamese singer Huong Thanh has become known for her groundbreaking collaborations with guitarist Nguyen Le, that combine Vietnamese traditional songs and sounds with jazz and other roots styles from around the world. Thanh comes from a family of Cai Luong (renovated theatre music) singers and as a young girl used to travel around Vietnam with her family when they were performing. Cai Luong originated in southern Vietnam and blends folk music with Hat Van (classical theatre music) becoming eventually the national theatre music. When she first arrived in France, Thanh used to sing Cai Luong for the Vietnamese immigrant community, becoming quite a star of the scene. On this album she goes back to her earliest roots, with an album of traditional Cai Luong music, beatifully sung and performed.

Recorded in Ubud, Bali, this is a collaboration between Japanese guitarist Tatsuya Koumazaki and a ten piece gamelan group called Dharma Shanthi. Koumazaki is used to playing his guitar with its special design, tunings and sound (similar to a Japanese koto) in unusual collaborations such as with Japanese Buddhist chanters. His guitar either picks out the melody or is used in quite a percussive way and on the final track accompanies a single instrument, the gender. 1. Empathy 2.The First Meeting 3. Sekanti 4. Jalanan Ke Bulan 5. Kesanga 6. Ameagari.


Price:   £16.99

Classic early lukthung, with brass, wind and string instrumental accompaniment with some keyboards and fine male vocals. 14 tracks.

From Bandung, Indonesia, Jaipong is the meeting of gamelan and rock 'n' roll, a village ritual music with a martial art and Wayang Golek. All in all, one of the stranger types of music you'll likely to hear, the music and dance invented by Gugum Gumbira. Now, a new generation of jaipong musicians have come of age, with a new album of inventive jaipong, with great female singing, chorus vocals, and the mixing of quick fire rhythms with tradition. 8 tracks. 1. Ampun Teuing 2. Tablo Naek Kukupu 3. Entog Mulang Naek Rancag 4. Arion Naek Kosong-Kosong 5. Siuh 6. Mojang Jaipong 7. Botol Kecap 8. Mojang Priangan


Price:   £18.99

There have been many China themed Japanese popular songs down the years, from the time of the Japanese occupation of China to more recent years. This interesting compilation puts some of them together with Taiwanese legend Teresa Teng singing in Japanese to stars of the Japanese kayokyoku scene. 1. Teresa Teng/ Itsu Kimi Kaeru 2. Tsubame Yu / Sennen no Inori 3. Yasunori Sugahara / Tomo Yo 4. Teresa Teng / Ie Rai Shang 5. Miyuki Kawanaka / Yoru wa Furusato 6. Yujiro Ishihara / Shanghai Blues 7. Nobue Matsubara / China no Yoru 8. Hiroshi Ishihara / Kokkyo no Machi 9. Yujiro Ishihara / Kokkyo no Machi 10. Noboru Kirishima / China Tango 11. Miyuki Kawanaka / Soshu Yakyoku 12. Koji Honda / Mu Ryojo 13. Maiko Takigawa / Isoge Horobasha 14. Masayoshi Tsuroka & Tokyo Romantica / Shanghai no Machikado de 15. Yoshimi Tendo / Ikoku no Oka 16. Koji Handa / Tairen no Machi Kara 17. Joji Yamamoto / Yosukou 18. Yujiro Ishihara / Yogiri no Blues

Compilation of Chinese artists playing traditional instruments, such as Cao Xue Jing (Erhu), Jiang Xiaoqing (Guzheng) Fei Jianrong (Pipa, Sanxien), Jia Peng Fang (Erhu), George Gao (Erhu) and singer Jenny Zhang mostly accompanied by western instrumentation in a kind of new age mix. Some pure traditional tracks and some tasteful productions and arrangements of Chinese traditional songs, Japanese popular songs and original tunes. 14 tracks. 1. Heri jun zailai -[Ye Lai Xiang] Jiang Xiaoqing & Fei Jianrong 2. Boy in the sunset -Jia Peng Fang 3. Shimauta- Cao Xuejing 4. Three Variations of the Plum Blossom -[Continental Melody] Fei Jianrong 5. Hua-Zi Hill -George Gao 6. Shyounen-Jidai - Jiang Xiaoqing & Fei Jianrong 7. Shanghai story - Cao Xuejing 8. Kougenfujo - Cao Xuejing 9. Big Waves Against the Sand - Fei Jianrong 10. Aisansan - Cao Xuejing 11. Nada-Sousou -Cao Xuejing 12. Tokino-Nagareni-Miwomakase - Jiang Xiaoqing & Fei Jianrong 13. Magnolia Park -George Gao & Jenny Zhang 14. Sarai - Cao Xue Jing


Price:   £13.99

Chinese two stringed violin, the erhu, played by Jia Peng Fang and Hiroko Kuwakino, accompanied by synthesizer, acoustic guitars and percussion into a mostly new age style of music. Music composed & arranged by Yoshihiko Sano 1. Foreigner in Shanghai 2. Boy in the sunset 3. Ocean harmony 4. Rainy day on the beach 5. Under the blue sky 6. Maryvonne's cherrytree 7. Farewell in the hill 8. Kinmokusei 9. From savanna to the hill 10. Misty dawn

Excellent tradtional CD of the guqin (zither) and the pipa (lute) played by Fei Jianrong plus the paixiao (pan pipe), and the dizi (flute). 1. Three Variations of the Plum Blossom 2. The River of Rain 3. Moonlit Night on a Spring River 4. Passing Yang Guan 5. The Mantra of Pu'an 6. Lofty Mountains and Flowing Waters 7. Big Waves Against the Sand 8. The Forest inside the water


Price:   £13.99

Chinese erhu renditions of mostly Japanese and Okinawan popular songs including Hana, Nada Sousou, Umukaji, and his tune 'Put Your Hands Up', the theme tune to the TV programme News 23.

Jiang Xiaoqing (guzheng), Fei Jianrong (pipa,sanxien) plus Daisaku Kume (piano, synth, pianica) and others perform a mixture of Asian and Japanese tunes, including the Peanuts 'Vacance de l'amour'. 1. Ye Lai Xiang 2. Shounenjidai 3. Miagetegoran Yorunohosiwo 4. Amairono Kamio Otome 5. Sakutazaka 6. The River of Rain (Fei Jianrong Original) 7. Last Emperor-Theme 8. Chijounohoshi 9. Ihoujin-Silk Road's Theme 10. Heri jun zailai 11. Tokinonagarenimiwomakase 12. Kokoro-no-tabi (Jiang Xiaoqing Original) 13. Asian Dream 14.Koino Vacance (Vacance de l'amour) (Vocal:Jiang Xiaoqing & Fei Jianrong)

Price:   £13.99

Yilana was born in Inner Mongolia in 1987 and plays the morin khuur (horsehead fiddle) and sings. The traditional sounds are accompanied by keyboards and a string section into a kind of pop/trad sound bordering on new age. 11 tracks.