I am a caucasian male who loves asian music, most particularly erhu music, an instrument I first learned to play with Shen Qi. Some of the pieces I can play relatively smoothly now are: Jasmine Flower (of course), Little Swallow, Moon River, Annie's song, Edelweiss, Amazing Grace, Danny Boy, Turn!Turn!Turn (to everything, there is a season, O mio babbino caro, Scarborough Fair, Auld Lang Syn and Stars. My favorite erhu players are Song Fei, Wang Guotong, Min Huifen, Shen Qi, Ma Xiaohui, Xiao Dong Wei, Weiwei Wuu, Yu Hongmei, Jiang Jianhua, Chen Min, Injei and Chen Jiebing.
Here is a flash jukebox presenting samples of my friend Wei Xiaodong's first CD. Do not hesitate to go to her page (link below) to learn more about her, her band and her music.
www.myspace.com/xdweiBuy mp3 At GreatIndieMusic.com
I have also a lot of Anime, JPOP and CPOP music. My favorite singer is the Japanese singer Chihiro Onitsuka, who had stopped her career in 2004, but is coming back this year (spring 2007). In the video below, She sings the song Memai (Vertigo)
What an impressive song and what a marvelous interpretation. Here is the English translation of what Chihiro sings for us:
I remember the nights I hid from something cruel and I get scared. Hey, won't you keep smiling at me that way? Leaning on your knee now, I pray the demons won't come. Tell me it's all right. Because you believe in me so strongly, as if it were a lie. Your arms, your voice... My dry ground is soaked by the rain. I can't escape you; you'll follow me wherever I know it so well I want to cry... ...I know it so well. On this cruel road, if I become like a jewel, Throw me into the fire. Burdens will finally disappear. Throw me away. Your arms, your voice, your back, haunt me. I won't even notice. How far can you let me fall, when I've lost myself? I can't find beautiful words to say to you. If you're going to tie me up, if you're going to enslave me, Don't you dare be gentle. Your arms, your voice, your back, haunt me. My dry ground is soaked by the rain. I can't escape you; you'll follow me wherever I know it so well I want to cry... Your arms, your voice, your back, haunt me. Your arms, your voice, your back, haunt me. ========================================I have also started doing strange things, thanks to new friends on MySpace. Thanks particularly to the Silkwormgirl ( www.myspace.com/accessthezone )
who got me interested again to listen to AM Radio; now I am listening to her weekly show The Zone, on New Zealand AccessRadio station in Wellington, and learn a lot about the arts down below while listening to very talented musicians and bands. You can have a look and hear a lot of interesting stuff by clicking on the Silkwormgirl picture just below. Welcome to New Zea-wonderland ! heheBelow is a video from someone I had also the privilege to meet on MySpace, my friend Jing playing erhu in a concert (the name of the song is "The Grape Season").
Get this video and more at MySpace.com