"Great Wall of China" and Canadian Brass

 

Purple Bamboo melody - Canadian Brass - From the "Great Wall of China"
The ensemble's Canada/China folk song medley (which has a bitter-sweet edge, given that thousands of Chinese workers laboured in appalling conditions constructing our railways) included The Red River Valley and Purple Bamboo Melody, from the Shandong province.

I found this recording very interesting because of the sound that it uses the trombone to imitate the sound of the traditional Chinese instrument Erhu (a string instrument). As a Chinese, I think this recording tried its best to show the style and technique both in their playing and the arrangement of the music composition. I really appreciate that. This whole album "Great Wall of China" collected a lot of very classical Chinese traditional folk music.


In 1977, as China emerged from the Cultural Revolution, Canadian Brass arrived in Beijing for a concert tour that was part of a cultural exchange. They were the first Western musicians to visit the country since Western music & art were banned in May 1966. The experience was the inspiration for this album that features the world famous ensemble performing arrangements of some of China’s most popular songs.



A look back at Canadian Brass' historic 1977 trip to China


The selections on the release by the perennially popular Canadian Brass are all apparently genuine Chinese melodies, arranged mostly by members of the group. They're so heavily remade that in some cases some might not even guess that; the music goes far beyond the usual pentatonic codes for Chinese music and clothes the melodies in various kinds of Western clothing. One might wonder about the point of it all, but the group has been popular in China since 1977, when it claims to have been the first Western musicians to visit the country after the Cultural Revolution. Half a billion people viewed a 2010 television concert featuring some of the music heard here, and plainly that's food for thought that makes the album worth hearing. Otherwise, listeners could probably find releases that better demonstrate what this durable group is all about; this one inhabits novelty territory.







Pangmi is an American cat but only understands Chinese... How can I help her to learn more English?




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