9/23/2014

Jan Johansson - Jazz in Swedish (Jazz på svenska)




This time, after only a (less than) month of pause, I bring you some jazzy stuff that hails from cold Sweden, home of meat dumplings and depressing, existentialist movies of Ingmar Bergman.
Jazz in Swedish is a 1964 jazz album that consists of 12 (originaly swedish folk) pieces, so one could place it in the jazz folk genre (don't know if that genre actually exists, but if it doesn't someone should make it, even if this album is it's sole representative!)
Interestingly, this album is one of the best selling jazz albums in Swedish history and many of the tracks are famous within Sweden, especially the lead track "Visa från Utanmyra".Another interesting fact, the only instruments are the piano played by Jan Johansson and bass played by Georg Riedel.
Sadly, the pianist Jan Johansson died a tragic death (he died in a car crash) in 1968 - he was only 37! At that time, he was popular in Sweden and even won a Grammy for his album
Musik genom fyra sekler (Music from the past four centuries), which is also built on traditional Swedish melodies. He also wrote the music theme for the world famous Swedish TV series Pippi Longstocking.

So, if you like relaxing, folky jazz, this is the album for you :)

Enjoy!


TRACKLIST:
"Visa från Utanmyra" – 4:30
"Gånglek från Älvdalen" – 1:56
"Polska från Medelpad" – 2:27
"Visa från Rättvik" – 3:18
"Brudmarsch efter Larshöga Jonke" – 2:00
"Vallåt från Jämtland" – 1:51
"Emigrantvisa" – 3:25
"Berg-Kirstis polska" – 3:25
"Leksands skänklåt" – 2:56
"Gammal bröllopsmarsch" – 3:41
"Visa från Järna" – 1:18
"Polska efter Höök Olle" – 2:24

8/16/2014

yoshiko yamaguchi[ 山口 淑子]/ li xiang len [李香蘭]


Three years have passed and here I am out of the blue with a new music post that was actually supposed to be posted oh so long ago.
Today's feature is Yoshiko Yamaguchi, or on Chinese Li Xianglen, a Japanese singer and actress active in the 30s and 40s. Ms. Yamaguchi is one of those people with an helluva interesting biography. Born to Japanese parents in 1920 in Manchuria, Yoshiko Yamaguchi started taking music lessons as a therapy (she suffered a bout of tuberculosis). Soon she began acting in movies made by Manchuria Film Production, was billed as Li Xianglan (a name given to her by her Chinese godfather) - which was ofcourse, motivated by political reasons. Political controversies didn't avoid her. 
According to her Wiki entry: " The 1940 film China Nights (支那の夜) also known as Shanghai Nights (上海の夜), by Manchuria Film Productions, is especially controversial. It is unclear whether it was a "National Policy Film" and portrays Japanese soldiers in both good and bad lights. In this film, Li Xianglan portrayed a young woman of extreme anti-Japanese sentiment who came to fall in love with a Japanese man. A key turning point in the film has the young Chinese woman being slapped by the Japanese man, but instead of hatred, she reacts with gratitude. The film was met with great aversion among the Chinese audience as they believed that the Chinese female character was a sketch of debasement and inferiority. 23,000 Chinese people paid to see the film in 1943,[2] but after the war ended one of her classic songs, "Suzhou Serenade" (蘇州夜曲), was banned in mainland China and continues to be. A few years later when confronted by angry Chinese reporters in Shanghai, Yoshiko apologized and cited as pretext her inexperienced youth at the time of filmmaking, choosing not to reveal her Japanese identity. Though her Japanese nationality was never divulged in the Chinese media until after the Sino-Japanese War, it was brought to light by Japanese press when she performed in Japan under her assumed Chinese name and as the Japan-Manchuria Goodwill Ambassadress. Oddly enough, when she visited Japan during this period, she was criticized for being too Chinese in dress and in language.
Still, in that same period she managed to rise as one of the Seven Great Singing Stars.
However, by the end of WWII, she was under investigation by the Chinese authorities (they suspected she was a Japanese spy), and was banned from using her Chinese name. So she moved to Japan, where she launched her movie career under her Japanese name, and was even featured in Scandal (Shubun (醜聞)) by the acclaimed (and my favorite) movie director Akira Kurosawa. In the movie, she plays a popular classical singer Miyako Saijo who meets a not so known painter played by Toshiro Mifune, who offers her a ride on his motorbike. However, they are spotted by the papparazzi, who work for the tabloid magazine Amour.  As Saijo refuses to grant the photographers an interview, they plot their revenge by taking a picture of the couple having breakfast on a balcony and print it under the headline 'The Love Story of Miyako Saijo'.
The painter sues the magazine and hires a shabby lawyer played by Takashi Shimura. What happens after, I won't tell you, the movie is good, so you should better see it.
In the 50s, she was featured in some Hollywood films, such as Japanese War Bride, and House of Bamboo,and married the renowned Japanese - American artist Isamu Noguchi.
For a short time, she returned to make Chinese movies, but gave up on movies altogether, and returned to Japan, where she worked as a reporter and was even a member of the Japanese Diet for 18 years.

Now, as for this "album", it's actually a selection made by yours truly, as I searched the internet for her songs. Most of the songs are sung in Chinese.
Enjoy!

Download here

7/07/2011

Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie - On The Sunny Side of Street


here's some swing to enjoy during the summer :) especially if you have 8 exams left for September (like me -.-)

8/22/2010

almost a year....whithout posts

why?
i am too lazy to zip files -_-
I am sorry
but I will not close the blog,because I still have hope I'll put something on this poor blog :)

greetings!!!!!

xoxo

Lu

10/10/2009

Björk- Drawing Restraint 9




as you know...Bjork is not an asian artist (although she kinda looks kinda asian XD) but the album pretty damn is!
Beautifully orchestrated it also features the spooooky japanese instrument Sho played by Mayumi Miyata ,a Noh score and vocal performance by Shiro Nomura.
Interestingly , her vocals feature only on 3 tracks: "Bath", "Storm", and "Cetacea".
The album is actually an OST for Bjork's husband ,the visual artist Matthew Barney "film" Drawing Restraint (but without the 9 :P)
you can read more on the movie on wiki or check out the official page.

~ DOWNLOAD ~



Tracklist:

Original release*

  1. "Gratitude" (Barney, Björk)
  2. "Pearl"
  3. "Ambergris March"
  4. "Bath"
  5. "Hunter Vessel"
  6. "Shimenawa"
  7. "Vessel Shimenawa"
  8. "Storm"
  9. "Holographic Entrypoint"
  10. "Cetacea"
  11. "Antarctic Return"
________
*on other releaes there are more tracks :P

9/22/2009

Ryou Kunihiko- Saiunkoku Monogatari Original Soundtrack 3




Right!
This one is for all you anime lovers out there,and esp. those who love Saiunkoku or traditional chinese music :)
In my humble opinion, it's the best ost of all three that have been released, because this one is the most traditional of all with sad melodies,happy and sometimes a modern one hops in .


Dowload をして ください

9/18/2009

Junoon- Azadi (1997)

This band hails from today very troubled Pakistan and they are the representatives of the sufi-rock. And theyhave been dubbed as "U2 Of Pakistan" but personally I think there's more to that :) . Probably most of you who read this are not familiar with the term "Sufi" so I'll make it easier for you as much as I can : according to Wiki, Sufism is a inner,mystical dimension of Islam, and according to my understandings is heavily connected with music,because the sufis believe that through music they can achieve God (that's why its so universal!!!) . The most famous example of sufism are the whirling dervishes who through the whirling accomplish the remembrance of God ( dhikr) which is an important aspect of sufism

photograph by Umut Kebabci


Therefore,despite the obstacles and in some parts of islamic world, even baning, throughout the centuries Sufism managed to withold (especially!) in music , so hence the term Sufi Rock.To cut the story short, so far, Junoon are the only sufi-rock band I know, so I'm not entirely familiar with that genre of music,but no worry, the music is very catchy and has some superb rythms and melodys,especially cause of the heavy use of tabla.
Unfortunately, this is the only material I have from this band. If anyone knows where I could find more please contact me ^^
More info on the band on their official site and Wiki
tracklist:

1. Sayonee
2. Meri Awaz
3. Khudi
4. Yaar Bina
5. Mukh Gae
6. Heer
7. Kyun Parishan
8. Mahiwal
9. Kisne Suna
10. Lal Meri Put
11. Dil Nahin Lag Raha
12. Loi Shay
13. Saeein Allap

Dowload をして ください