Rock singer says Wu Tong mixing musical styles is not only creative but also shows that people can live together in harmony.
Rock singer and player sheng (Chinese mouth organ), Wu Tong continues to show its versatility, this time with his solo CD The sound of my heart, which he defines as a crossover album. This album contains music honest and is not labeled organic or limit “, announces the introduction of the CD cover.
It employs a variety of instruments from around the world, including Xun (Chinese ocarina), qin (Chinese plucked instrument), guitar, cello and Indian tabla (drums). The works include compositions for Wu, a piece of narrative music of northern China, and popular songs in China.
“What attracts me most about the cross is its tolerance and respect for various styles and musical thought. Although people from different areas have different styles, the last thing we want to express is the same, “says Wu, who sings vocals and plays the instruments blown.
“The music is crossing the easiest way to tell the different peoples can live together in harmony.”
Looking for wind in spring, a song from Taiwan, Bach Cello Suite No. 1 in G is perfectly woven sheng harmony while singing in a dialect Wu Taiwan.
Torre Linglong track was popular piece of Wu, when he performed in Tianjin, a city with a long tradition of storytelling and music Quyi. Wu merged this twister happy with the rhythm and blues.
When Wu made in the United States, improvised songs by Jimi Hendrix in his sheng. Although improvisation seems to be something unusual when playing the sheng, Wu said that the Chinese popular music is full of possibilities.
“Whatever music I play, will always be close to being Chinese and express life experiences,” says Wu.
Born into a family of blown instrument makers and players, Wu sheng began studying at age 5.
It was not his choice, and found no useful instrument until he was 11, when he had his first experience of improvisation with sheng, which he felt like an adventure.
In 1990, Wu enrolled at the Central Conservatory of Music as a student sheng, but spent most of his time again, a rock band he formed with some friends.
Once again it was one of the first bands to mix rock with Chinese idioms. The band not only used Chinese instruments such as pipa (lute), but their guitars tuned according to Chinese traditional scales. They also used the Chinese ancient poetry as lyrics.
“At that time I was interested in breaking the stereotype of a mild, Chinese music, and rock ‘n’ roll gave me valuable experience,” he says.
Wu released four albums with new, but gradually the rock that are restricted his musical ideas. I was looking for something more open.
The opportunity came to explore a different way in 2000 when he was invited to participate in Joint silk cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s Road. Started by Ma, this set is a collective of musicians from different countries and regions interested in maintaining their own cultural heritage while sharing ideas through seemingly disparate cultures.
Since then, Wu has participated in recording four albums and many performances by the Silk Road Ensemble, during which brought together musicians from traditions as diverse as Mongolia’s song time, the traditional Persian music and Azerbaijani Mugam.
On behalf of Chinese music instrument blown Sheng Wu is part of a large family of world instruments in the ensemble that also includes the duduk (Armenian wind double reed), shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) and morin khuur ( Mongolian horse-head fiddle).
This exposure to such diverse musical traditions, opened a door to the vision of Wu, and urged him to discover the styles of music you heard as a child, including Chinese opera, music and lyrics pop narrative.
“The experience of playing in the Silk Road Ensemble led me to break the idea of gender. Is a new revolution for me, like rock music was for me before, as something that can break the barrier between the musicians and the public “says Wu. “In the Internet age, it is easy to get to know the different musical traditions, and music is open to the immense possibilities.”
In The Sound of My Heart, Wu is to reinterpret the music of “standing over style.” One of the tracks, Snowing, is one of his early compositions, dating back to when I was in college, but has a totally different now under its new concept.
A serene atmosphere is created by a guqin, when Wu starts singing about his inner loneliness when walking alone in the snow. The job becomes more animated as the table adds a rhythm of heartbeat-like, as if a positive mood gets through philosophical thought.
Another example of the works of Wu crossing is Deep Song, a popular Kazakh folk song Wu learned while traveling in Xinjiang in northwestern China. Accompanied by a cello, the melody of the song becomes even sadder.
Wu performed a song titled Kuai Le in the CD of Yo-Yo Ma and FriendsSongs of joy and peace, who won the 52 Best Classical Crossover Album Grammy Award in 2010. This year, the Silk Road Ensemble’s Off the Map, involving Wu, was also nominated for the award.
Wu is no longer the singer again, but has a new group called Magpie, which plays traditional Chinese music with new arrangements and instruments including the violin, pipa, guitar and the sheng.
“I feel very fortunate to be living in a time when a musician is able to meet so many diverse cultures,” he says. “The power you get from the tradition makes me more sure to create the future.”
