This Issue’s Music: Prairie Dawn (Morin Khuur)

http://www.58w.cn/SN_Music/UpLoadFile/2007-4/74340_200741764637506.mp3
All the previous ones were Western music; let’s switch to something Eastern.
Choosing music is such a troublesome thing—I’ll just click one at random:
——“After the ‘national treasure’ music maestro Zhang Hongguang once again poured his full efforts into the musical creation for dramas such as [Emperor Kangxi] and [Great Emperor Wu of Han], he has joined hands with the grassland music master Siriguleng to jointly release the NEW AGE original-ecology album [Yi·Wolf City]. For the first time, it combines the concept of the wolf with NEW AGE music. The first original-ecology album to describe grassland life and scenery with music rich in ethnic characteristics.” 04. Dawn on the Grassland
The melody of the morin khuur always seems bleak and sorrowful, while also broad and far-reaching; still, listening to music is mainly a matter of mood, and when the mood is good, nothing you hear will seem sorrowful.
Actually, I usually prefer listening to solo pieces or ethnic music with only two or three instruments in accompaniment; things like this that add all kinds of sound effects generally feel too flashy to me. But this album is made rather well, without overly affecting the simple, unsophisticated character of the ethnic music itself.
The wolf packs of Mongolia have already become legend, and the great grassland is almost history.

Latest Comments
  
UNIC

2007-05-27 00:20:36 Anonymous 222.82.76.68 [Reply]

Actually, I usually prefer listening to solo pieces or ethnic music with only two or three instruments in accompaniment; things like this that add all kinds of sound effects generally feel too flashy to me. 
Me too. I especially dislike the morin khuur being mixed together with Jiangnan dizi and xiao—neither fish nor fowl.

  
unic

2007-05-27 00:30:41 Anonymous 222.82.76.119 [Reply]

Too many line breaks~~~ I tried it. Had no choice but to paste a link. You probably already saw it~ It’s just that this piece is more suitable for a link….
http://uniceros.yculblog.com/post.2579548.html

  
古雴

2007-05-27 10:24:41 http://epr.ycool.com/ [Reply]

I, on the contrary, like the dizi and xiao paired with any instrument. By the way, the dizi and xiao are China’s oldest instruments and are by no means limited to Jiangnan. Although the so-called Jiangnan sizhu is relatively well known, instruments such as the pipa, erhu, yangqin, and so on all originated among various ethnic minorities in the northwest, while the sheng, dizi, and other bamboo instruments all date back to the period before the Shang dynasty in antiquity—at that time, there wasn’t even a Jiangnan region yet. Jiangnan sizhu does not have its own distinctive instruments; rather, it forms by blending various instruments together in the Jiangnan style.

Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.