Traditional Chinese/Asian Music
 

Can anyone recommend some good traditional Chinese/Asian music. Doesn't have to be Chinese. Thai, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Malaysian, Taiwanese, doesn't matter.

I watched the movie, House of Flying Daggers, again recently and was struck by how beautiful the music was.

Here's the kinda sound I'm after:









All recommendations welcome. :)

TUVA



The only immediate thing that comes to mind (though I'm sure there's more) is Chinese opera, which I'm not fond of at all tbh.

Cheers, Frowny. That was nice. Not overly keen on the singing, but lovely music. I'll check out some more of their stuff.

Their best albums are Ancestors Call and Fly, Fly My Sadness. The latter has one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.

That's a powerful song. That guy's voice at the end, is it natural or manipulated? Either way, gorgeous track. :love:

All the singing is natural. They're using a technique called throat singing (pretty much the only thing that Tuva is known for) where you can sing two notes at once.

I like Anna Guo quite a bit. This track is a little more upbeat, but great:




I also like Jiang Jianhua. This is more in the bittersweet, erhu-centric vein of the first track posted in the OP:

I'm really surprised you don't know about throat singing.

I'll hit you with a bunch of asian stuff once I'm home.

If you liked House of Flying Daggers (which it appears you do), you'll probably also love the soundtrack for Hero (another awesome movie in the same genre).



I think "Gone With Leaves" is the best off of this album.

Also, this is by no means "traditional Chinese," but I suspect this might also be up your alley:



The full soundtrack to that game is absolutely phenomenal, highly recommended.

Enjoy xx

Janszoon, the tracks you posted are spot on and just what I was looking for. Cheers. :)

misspoptart, yeah, Hero and Journey both have lovely soundtracks (great movie/great game too). Indeed I bought the Journey OST on CD. It's beautiful.

I'm addicted to it :3

Now I'm looking forward to Grindy's recommendations, too =D

Some great mongolian singing by Enkh Jargal. Sadly the only album I have from him is kinda meh, but this is beautiful



And some music from the altai republic



Japanese music for koto and shakuhachi



And some shamisen music



Miya Masaoka is mostly active in the experimental music scene, in fact the second song is a composition by Thelonious Monk, but it all still sounds relatively traditional.



And here's some indonesian gamelan

I'm glad you liked them!

Another person you might like is Lǚ Wénchéng, who was a really influential Chinese composer and erhu player from back in the day. I have a collection of his music from, I think, the 1940s that's really good. This is one of the tracks from it:

Thanks for the selection, long-beaked grindy. Some real beauties there. The singing on that Altai Kai track is something to behold, really quite something. I'd stroke your long beak as way of appreciation, if only I could. ;)

Liked that last one too, Janszoon, reminds me of those very old kung fu movies.

Glad you liked it.
(I'm stroking my long beak while typing this.)

The greatest Asian music? Oh my. You name em' and I'll post 'em.

I see. You best get your post count up. We can't have all that music in your head going unshared.

K.

1.
The first video I quote ”Lovers“ made by a famous Japanese composer. His name is 梅林茂 (Japanese official name use Chinese characters, you know it)
Japan has 250 famous composers at least, Japan attached great importance to music education. Therefore, I think japan is a Music Empire on today.

Japanese composers love to make a Chinese ancient wind music, There are many great Chinese music made by Japanese composers. but unfortunately, most Japanese made Chinese music always use 'Erhu' this instrument. but other Chinese traditional instrument, they always ignore it.

Although all Japanese instruments come from Tang dynasty, but, nowadays, these instruments not popular in China, just popular in Japan. That's why sometime you listen to some Japanese music feel these music very "old" & a long history feeling. because these Japanese instruments come from Tang dynasty. Japanese musician still use them on today, but Chinese musician less use them on today.

Common sense is : Chinese music have a long history feeling + Miss ancient time feeling + History of melancholy feeling +......
But sometimes you listen to some Japanese music you get "Immolation Devil/Ghost and God" feeling and get "elder than Chinese music" feeling, because it also related to Japanese Sacrifice/Ghost culture. The point is Japanese use these Tang dynasty's instruments let you get "elder than Chinese music" feeling.

I share you a best "Lovers" version play by "Chinese 12 Girls Band" and another music made by Japanese play by "Chinese 12 Girls Band"
If you want you can search "12 Girls Band" on YouTube



the second video---I can't find other video better than this one on YouTube




2.
The second video I quote your post, this music is garbage(I'm sorry to that) But If your are Chinese, you'll know there are tons of music better than this one.

I just show you 3 music, let you know what is the real beautiful Han-Chinese music. I'm sure you will love it :D

I really like Michiyo Yagi. Not sure exactly how "traditional" she is, but she is the main influence on my wanting to get a kyoto. Her music really tells a story and has a unique beauty about it.



Is Yagi a part of a subgenre of Asian music that I don't know much about? I'd love to hear more like this.

Nice, Frownland. :)

Wudadi, thanks for posting those. Some of them were beautiful, particularly the 1st and 3rd. I didn't like the 2nd, it sounded like 'gameshow' music somehow. I understand now when you said a lot of Asian music is difficult to find unless you can read/write the language.

I'll talk about Japanese music later, because Japanese music is the most famous Asian music in the world. Again, Nowadays, Japan is a Music Empire. Japan has tons of famous music and tons of famous composers.

Deal with Japanese music is a huge program, Now I just want to talk some Manchu music first, but nobody care about Manchu music................:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:

Alright, I share a few Japanese epic music for you, but I have no time to explain it. There are too many great Japanese composers, so you just need to search XARA and Kiyoshi Yoshida first.

Some beauties there. :beer:

Share a few Han Chinese songs.

First video title: Rivers & Mountains(=country/territory) Snowing




Second video title: Rivers & Lakes(= all corners of the country)




Third video title: Fusang Tree(Beijing Opera about oppose Manchu Qing dynasty and recover Han-Chinese Ming dynasty)

Thanks, Wudadi. Gotta be honest, I didn't enjoy those as much, probably because I don't consider Chinese a very attractive language to listen to. But please keep them coming. I like the majority of the stuff you've shared and am eager for more. :)

The first song has a lot of dialogue/speak. It's about Taoism theory, that's why I share this song for you. But you don't understand Chinese..........

I can share some Han Chinese songs that maybe change your mind that "Chinese a very attractive language to listen to"

Never mind, two Han Chinese Pipa (Chinese lute) music for you, I'm sure you'll like it.

The first one: Pleasure




The second one: Language of Pipa (Chinese lute)




Btw, the Taoism, the "Tao" should pronounce "Dao" not "T" is "D", I don't know why English translate it wrong pronunciation, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese also pronounce "D" sound.

Chinese characters are hieroglyphs, Dao=道, 道= 辶(road) + 首(head). Road also means the right way of your life, and the way forward. Head also means people's mind/idea and choice.

Therefore, Dao=道(regular meaning is road) also means: At the crossroads, someone=道 pull a stray person's hand(old "道" has a "hand" word in "道") and lead the right way, also means the road that people walked and experienced-It's 道 Dao(is an ideology/the right way that you must find out and comprehend it by yourself).

Main idea about Taoism(Daoism) is "inaction can rule the country/can get nature balance, people should comply with the laws of nature, and people should cleanse their heart and limit their desires"

Taoism(Daoism) also combine Yin & Yang theory. As your know, Yin(like night, moon, cold, winter, foot, woman....) and Yang(like day, sun, hot, summer, head, man.... ) are theory of relativity. like Tai Ji Diagram(Yin & Yang symbol or diagram of the universe) South Korean national flag is a skew Tai Ji Diagram, so traditional Korean music like a skew Han Chinese music.

I think you need to use 道 replace English word(just pronunciation no hieroglyphs meaning) and 禅(Zen, Buddhism ideology) as your signature, it'll let you seem more professional. Japanese also use these two characters and Korean also can understand these two Chinese characters.

Lovely tunes. Enjoyed those. :)

Regarding Taoism, in English the word is usually spelt 'Tao' (sometimes 'Dao') but is always pronounced 'Dao'. Tao translated in English means the 'Way' or 'Path' or increasingly 'Process' but it's an ambiguous word with enigmatic meaning and, as you say, the only way to even half understand it is to experience it first hand.

My signature is a pun, a simple play on words, but with deep meaning for those with knowledge of Zen and Taoism. A friendly, cheeky poke in the eye of Zen. I didn't come up with it myself though.

...but you don't have a signature.

Zen as ****.

I know but Wudadi called it a sig and I knew what he meant and so I left it at that.

Language is for communicating and if it does that then it serves its purpose. Spelling, grammar, calling something that's this that or that this, I pay that stuff no mind.

Edit: nice (Korean, I think) tune from a great movie:

:beer::love:

The tune is amazing. I'll definitely watch the movie :)

Good tunes, Wudadi. :)

I wanted to add some good music but then i got this message:
"You are only allowed to post URLs to other sites after you have made 15 posts or more."

Just found this on youtube, but it's quite nice I think:

Nepal Folk Music

Journey Soundtrack



:love:

:yikes::yikes::yikes::yikes::yikes:

Asian Music

Include:

Manchu(Tungus) Music

Mongol Music

Korean Music

Yamato(Japanese) Music

Uyghur(The Western Region/Central Asia = Xinjiang province + Kazakhstan + Kyrgyzstan + Tajikistan + Uzbekistan) Music

Tibet Plateau(Tibet province + Qinghai province + Bhutan + Nepal + Kashmir) Music

Southwest(Yunnan province + eastern Myanmar + northern Thailand) Music

Vietnam(+Lao) Music

Han-Chinese(Northern Han-Chinese + Sothern Han-Chinese north = 7 different regions) Music

Taiwan(Indigenous peoples) Music-----as a special part

North Asia(also can be included in Manchu/Tungus & Mongol) Music

Been making my way through these slowly and there's some lovely stuff here. Thanks, Wudadi. :)

If you have any questions about these 5 videos you can ask me :shycouch:

My game music mod

Romance of the Three Kingdoms 13---Chinese Style Music Mod