Thanks for the suggestion. I may just do that actually.
Classical? Chinese Music
I like watching Chinese martial arts movies, especially well made ones like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which may have historical settings. One of the main attractions is when the soundtrack contains some beautiful, perhaps historical Chinese music. I don’t know how to characterize that music but I’m sure most of you know what I’m describing. I’d like to learn about it and acquire some.
Do any of you know where I may source some CD’s of that music, or even a book to learn about what kind of music that is. That kind of music might be available on Amazon if I knew what to look for. If you could recommend any particular CD’s that would be wonderful. I’d be interested in finding out the same for Japanese music. Thanks,
Mike
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I you are interested in cross cultural music, sample some of the Silk Road Ensemble recordings. The artists involved are amazing musicians. The group was originally formed by Yo Yo Ma, and it brings together music from Japan, China, the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, and pretty much the whole world. I also really like a recording of children's lullabies from around the world called "The Planet Sleeps." I have about a dozen Chinese traditional and modern classical music recordings and I realize I have just scratched the surface. This is an interesting thread that points to more alternatives. I also note that some of the suggestions were for Japanese Koto and Shakuhachi flute music. To those suggestions, I would add a piece by Somei Satoh called "Birds in Warped Time II." It is a modern, minimalist piece for violin and piano where the violin sort of sounds like a Shakuhachi. |
@cakyol - you might want to start a Turkish music thread; a lot more people might see it than in a thread about Chinese music... |
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If you want some larger Chinese Classical works, try these two famous concerto. The Butterfly Lovers - Violin Concerto The Yellow River - Piano Concerto Enjoy! |
This is the kind of post I really enjoy. So much music I have never been exposed to and what I have checked out so far has been exceptionally well produced. DaiQuing Tana and Haya Band are Mongolian I believe but absolutely beautiful music. An added benefit is that my system relishes this type of music. |
The score of the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was composed by Tan Dun. Tan Dun is a very prolific composer of modern Chinese music. I would highly recommend his Ghost Opera (CD) to all audiophiles looking for Chinese music recorded at very high quality. It's a real treat, I'm sure many of you will start using it as a test record to demo gear ; |
@mahgister Obviously a fan... ;) I'll take the opportunity to sample the feast.....*S* Thanks as well... |
Mahjister, thank you very much for all the links. I will start listening to all of them today. Appreciate all the time and effort you put in to post so many of them and I’m looking forward to listening to each. Elliott and xcool, thank you for your links and suggestions as well. I will be checking them out. (I don’t do any streaming xcool since you asked, so I’ll have to rely on youtube) Once I have listened to all your suggestions I’ll get back to you all again. I clicked on the last link above to "Butterfly Lovers" while typing this reply and the intro to that piece on the erhu is cetainly lovely as you say xcool. Thank you all. |
Hey @skyscraper, I found this on the internet. Looks like a pretty good overview of various chinese instruments. My personal favorite is the erhu, which is a bowed instrument with only 2 strings. It only covers about 2 1/2 octaves, and it kind of resembles the human voice. When it’s played in the hands of experts, it can really induce all kinds of emotions. I highly recommend this erhu concerto that I found on youtube. This is by far the best rendition of this classic chinese song called the "Butterly Lovers". The leading lady is simply amazing! Butterfly Lovers is a very famous chinese folklore. Think of it as the chinese "Romeo and Juliet". Do you use Spotify or any music streaming services? There are plenty of chinese instrumental music you can find. There are quite a bit of varieties. It really depends on what you’re looking for. Some are older traditional chinese music, while there are also plenty of contemporary ones played with chinese instruments. I would start with the more traditional ones first. I like both, depending on what I’m in the mood for, especially after listening to too much classic rock like Led Zeppelin. It can be very soothing to me. 😀 Hope this helps. |
I streamed Korean TV Dramas on DramaFever.com for many years, one of the great things about them is the music. After a while you get very fast at subtitles, especially languages without too many words to read. DramaFever is shut down, now I get Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, ... on VIKI.com, all with terrific music.
My Turkish friends hook me up with Turkish Dramas on YouTube, also terrific music. |