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Who is Wu Man & what's a pipa?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 1:29 am
by HowlinJ
I never heard of her or it until I seen them on Jim Lear's News Hour earlier this evening.

If you love weird ancient instruments and virtuosos who play them,as much as I do, then ....

check out this vidio!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-H4uMMRuKU

Neck thrashin' git-fiddlers, eat your hearts out! :D

Howlin'

PostPosted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 2:12 am
by philbymon
You mean to tell me tha that thing only has 4 strings, & it sounds like that?

WOWZERS!

Thanks, HJ!

PostPosted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 12:03 am
by gbheil
Nice pick up Howlin. Thanks for the post.

I know I've said this before but you guys really should look into
The Twelve Girls Band
All ancient Chinese instrumentation, awsome musical skills.

PostPosted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 12:06 am
by gbheil

PostPosted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 3:43 am
by HowlinJ
WOW!
The only instruments I could recognize in that 12 girl band were the pipas and that weird flute! :D

We are truly expanding our musical horizons now! :wink:

Thanks George ,
Howlin'

PostPosted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 1:26 pm
by gbheil
Yer welcome:
Twas given a CD DVD collection of these girls by one of the ladies whom participated in my fitness class a few years ago.
Awsome.
The Chinese did a nation wide talent search to put together this group.

PostPosted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 2:11 pm
by philbymon
HJ - I'm surprized you didn't recognize the hammer dulcimers!

Way cool. Thanks sans!

PostPosted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 4:19 pm
by gbheil
Yer welcome:

I figured if I got off my butt and posted a link you guys would enjoy them as much as I.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 1:45 pm
by HowlinJ
philbymon wrote:HJ - I'm surprized you didn't recognize the hammer dulcimers!

Way cool. Thanks sans!


:oops: (actually Philby, I wasn't sure if they was dulcimers or kotos)

hj

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 2:07 pm
by philbymon
There was one koto, I think, but you can't miss that definitive trapezoidal hammered dulcimer shape.

This vid brings something to mind, though.

When asian cultures use western rules in their music, their melodies seem rather limited, to me, as a rule. It's rare to see a complex piece of music from them.

I see that in a lot of other world beat cultural music, too. Perhaps it's my own limitations, & I miss the nuances they're displaying, but the melodies themselves often seem childishly simple. This one is more traditional than others, but it seems to hold to its patterns rather strictly to me, & it comes off as being rather mathematical, more than what I would call soulful.

There's lots of buildups & intros, but the actual melodic runs are static throughout. No real change for nearly 3 minutes, & the bridge at that point doesn't really move away from the feel of the main melody all that much.

It reminds me of Yanni, if Yanni was writing in an eastern style, except this has more energy, perhaps.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 2:58 pm
by HowlinJ
I recently dug out of my box of decaying cassetts my copy of an album by the bamboo flute master, John Kaizan Neptune. That is where I first became aware of kotos.

Jeska Hoop receantly used a shamasan player .

The Beatles and The Increadable String Band got a lot of milage out of the Sitar.

G. E. Smith used a conch shell player on one of his songs.

Gustave Holst was perhaps one of the first of the great composers to utalise musical elements of other cultures into his music, an example being his masterpeice "The Planits"


I recall a discussion with Philby on this forum sometime back about that ecleptic banjo player and his tribe of side men wielding exotic instruments.

HJ

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 3:23 pm
by gbheil
MORE COWBELL !!!!





:lol:

PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:16 pm
by HowlinJ
[quote="sanshouheil"]MORE COWBELL !!!!




shhhhhhhh!......not to loud George,

(that's what we're thinkin' about getting Mandy for Christmas) :wink:

Re: Who is Wu Man & what's a pipa?

PostPosted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 3:31 am
by Black57
HowlinJ wrote:I never heard of her or it until I seen them on Jim Lear's News Hour earlier this evening.

If you love weird ancient instruments and virtuosos who play them,as much as I do, then ....

check out this vidio!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-H4uMMRuKU

Neck thrashin' git-fiddlers, eat your hearts out! :D

Howlin'


I don't believe this is posted here!!! I just heard a pipa player about 3 weeks ago and he kickedazz. He played some Chinese folk song but it rocked!!! I just know you guys would have liked it. He performed in our chamber music concert. I just emailed him a couple of days ago because I am interested in doing something with pipa anf flute ( of course ). He just emailed me back today and we are going to cook up something. 8) What a small world.

If you are familiar with the Japanese jazz band Hiroshima, they use folk instruments.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 3:35 am
by Black57
sanshouheil wrote:Nice pick up Howlin. Thanks for the post.

I know I've said this before but you guys really should look into
The Twelve Girls Band
All ancient Chinese instrumentation, awsome musical skills.


I am familiar with them...They did a cover for "take Five"