Graham Reid | | 1 min read
Farewell at Yang Gang
As anyone who has read some of the travel stories at Elsewhere will know, sometimes I undertake journeys or projects which take me away from the usual tourist trails.
And that is the purpose of what sometimes seem like pretty silly ideas, like going in search of the birthplace of an Italian saint who apparently flew, going to a grim deserted prison in Scotland, Noah's Ark (or replica thereof) in Hong Kong, interviewing the (now late) master of Korean gayageum Byunkgi Hwang . . .
And in southwest China going off to find a pipa, a lute-like instrument which I can't play but find the sound of very restful.
So naturally I have been drawn to albums featuring the pipa, and also the sound of the plucked guqin which is like a cousin of the gayageum.
This new album by two women who are acknowledged virtuosi on these respective instruments therefore takes precedence over rather more facile pop.
As the tile suggests, this is music drawing from long traditions – the elements of the opener date back 1000 years – but Gao Hong (pipa) and Zhao Xiaoxia (guqin) also write their own music within the tradition.
There are solo pieces here too (the guqin on Portal to the Clouds; pipa on the more contemporary sounding Jade Beads Tumbling into the Green Lake) but it is the gentle dialogue between the players which makes this album so engaging.
You needn't know anything about the traditions or even have heard these instruments before – in that regard the excellent liner notes fill in the details – but this can be an album which you just let wash over you in moments of quiet.
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You can buy this album direct from ARC Music here.
For other articles on similar music at Elsewhere go here
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