Guo Yue - Music, Food & Love
March 21st, 2006 by admin
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ARTIST: Guo Yue |
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"Music, Food & Love" is an evocative journey through the life of the musician, composer and cook Guo Yue. From his early years in The Hutongs of North-East Beijing, through the Cultural Revolution that exploded in 1966 when he was just eight years old, to his departure for London in 1982 and his vivid, bitter-sweet memories of his recent visits back to China, the album paints a vivid picture of a remarkable life. The sounds of dizi (bamboo flute), yang qin (Chinese dulcimer), sheng and erhu are showcased in either stark simplicity or set against the subtle arrangements of the strings of the Secret Sound Orchestra of Budapest. Guo Yue and his second sister Guo Xuan provide the beautiful voices. The album was recorded in Beijing, Bath and Budapest by Richard Evans, who is the producer/collaborative musical partner of Peter Gabriel. Richard played the mandolin on ‘White Swans’ and worked with Yue on the orchestral arrangements. Alongside Guo’s flute there is also the erhu, a traditional two-stringed violin whose bow is woven permanently between the two strings. The erhu has a haunting, almost pleading voice which is intensely moving. This was the instrument Yue’s father played; he was a professional musician and died when Yue was five years old. Intermingled with the various Chinese instruments are an accordion, a mandolin, a string orchestra, a double bass, percussion, a piano and a silver flute - all of which compliment each other. Each instrument is like a character in a play, the erhu representing Yue’s father, the suona being three courtyard musicians, the flutes are Yue as a child, the drum in track 9 ‘Su Lin’ is his mother’s heartbeat and the zheng (harp) is the river where he liked to play. |
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