Vietnam - Instrumental Textures

Hm. How can I describe this music? It sounds so unlike anything ever conceived by western ears. And yet there are so many parallels in the realm of feeling and pure sound. The Đàn tranh (long zither) sounds like a slide guitar played by aliens. And the music is pentatonic, melancholy, and wistful like the blues. But it is also striding, triumphant, and exuberant like ragtime. It paints pictures and builds to climaxes like western classical music (both romantic and impressionistic), and bouncing like the best of folk music. 


But really, descriptions do nothing if they cannot bring you to a place of open-mindedness, to hear this music freshly, with innocent ears. Please, listen to these sublime sounds and allow yourself to be transported to another realm.  



Vietnam - Instrumental Textures
performed by the “SONG OF THE NATIVE LAND” ENSEMBLE 

Year: 1996
Label: JVC

Tracks:
01 doc tau dan tranh “Tu Dai Oan”solo：17 string zither “Four Generations” 

02 doc tau dan bau “Ru Con”（dan ca Nam Bo）solo: monochord “Lullaby of the South” 

03 doc tau dan nhi “Se Chi Luon Kim”（dan ca quan ho Bac Ninh）solo：2 string fiddle“Love Song”（folksong from Bac Ninh Province） 

04 song tau dan tranh va dan bau “Doan Khue Lam Giang va Vong Co” duo: 17 string zither & monochord“River Lam and Reminiscence” 

05 doc tau dan nhi voi hoa tau “Phien Cho Mua Xuan” solo：2 string fiddle with ensemble“The Market in Spring” 

06 doc tau sao truc voi hoa tau “Le Hoi Non Song” solo：bamboo flute with ensemble 

07 hoa tau nhac thinh phong mien Trung “Luu Thuy,Kim Tien,Xuan Phong, Long Ho” ensemble in a Central Vietnamese style “Flowing Water, Golden Sapeke, Spring Wind, Dragon & Tiger” 

08 doc tau dan t'rung voi hoa tau“Mua Hai Qua”solo：vertical bamboo xylophone with ensemble“Season for Picking Fruit” 

09 song tau sao va dan t'rung “Buoi Sang Tien Nuong” duo：bamboo flute and xylophone “Morning on the Terraced Fields” 

10 hoa tau“Ly Ngua O” ensemble“Song of the Black-haired Horse” 

11 doc tau dan tranh “Sakura”（dan ca Nhat) solo：22 string zither “Sakura”（variations on a song from Japan)
aliensong or alternate link.
mp3 >256kbps vbr | w/ cover


* out-of-print