eastbound
News of Mogger Spike's visit to east Asia came to me, an erstwhile easterner, at the profoundest time. In the exchange that we had about it, I was, for a moment, displaced and doing battle again but grateful for the brief return.
This is a welcome-from rather than a welcome-to. We are serving traditional Vietnamese. The thing about the source CD is that, when I next returned to Saigon and the little bookstore where I bought it, the bookstore was gone, almost magically, without a trace. My inquiry as to its whereabouts elicited baffled faces as if to say, what the hell schmookstore you on about? I have not since located a better bookstore in town.
The CD sleeve reads Pham Tra My, which seems to be the credited artist/s, and Doc Tau Dan Tranh Vol. 1, which seems to be the credited title. "The đàn tranh is a plucked zither of Vietnam," sez Wikipedia.
A 17-string đàn tranh zither.
Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dantranh_top02.jpg
The compilation sounds like a Saturday. Think river and rice field. And a bit of highland coffee (with sweet milk).
Huong sen dong thap (Dong thap lotus seed pod)
Dong thap is a Mekong Delta province.
Giu tron mua xuan (To live up to spring)
More notions of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) from 2009:
A telephone booth-sized side street barbershop
Taken at the Mekong Delta
Locating MOG account...
Comments (11)
sounds wonderful to my ringing ears.
oh! LOK sighting! (hey, Jeff. :D)
ringing ears? that don't sound too good...
The first track is serving as my wake-up call.
17 strings? I have enough trouble with 12...
that being said, tis a thing of beauty
Thank You for sharing!
d. um, I should be so lucky to start my morning off with this!! this post serves to remind me that I need to get out of America. more often. very beautiful pictures, I wish I could go there! cracking up over wth shcmookstore, hehehe, thanks Ilay!
Know it's not meant to be played this way but playing both tracks simultaneously(at 1st by accident, and now purposefully). simply beautiful. . . .
thanks for this beauty. you probably don't concern yourself much with American football, but these delicate tones (with the tv on mute)transforms the sludge of ineptitude into a pointless swirl of color.
Additionally, that second track is near geography jumping - it could easily be Appalachian bluegrass. ah, the language of music knows no bounds...
This is fascinating, intricate and delicate stuff, Poe.
The sounds and photo images you provide remind me of when Bowie and Eno explored this cultural side of "sound and vision." I've been off and on fascinated with this world, ever since.
Thanks for your personal eye view regarding all this.
Oh, and if you get a minute, Ms. Poe - I've now written something new here as well:
http://mog.com/blog_post/content/4016/2608678
;-)
Love that sound. Very comforting.
'Tis, j.a. The music above purified this listener, but depurification is now in process, alas. Some Vietnamese music sticks to the pentatonic scale, whose five notes would be 1, 3♭, 4, 5 and 7♭, but here it sounds like the major scale, which may have nudged scotfree to think of bluegrass. Aside from the auto, the photos look timeless. Good eyes and ears, poebegone.