Essential Listening for the Demanding listener
curious greg neeld | jacksonville, fl | 01/25/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Don't worry if you're not yet familiar with Liu Sola's music. You will be. And if you think you know what the Beijing-born singer/composer/writer is all about, perhaps you should reconsider. In what has been an explosively productive year for Sola, I've found myself astounded and confounded by each new album from Also Productions (Sola's label) that lands in my mailbox. After so many years spent searching out - and so rarely finding - music with the power to surprise, it's an experience that verges on the holy. Released during the 2000 holidays, 'Spring Snowfall' is as powerful and potent as any of Sola's previous works. Simply described, the cd is a collection of five compositions for pipa (a Chinese lute-like instrument), expertly performed in the studio by frequent Sola collaborator Wu Man. Besides being a regular member of Sola's touring band, both woman had appeared together previously on a voice and pipa project called 'China Collage'. After reading the advance press for the new album, I'm afraid I had already categorized 'Spring Snowfall' as 'China Collage Part 2'. I was wrong. This is one of the reasons I enjoy Sola's work so much: she is far too creative to waste her (or the audience's) time with a simplistic series of sequels. Nor is the album in any way "less" of a collaboration, even though Sola doesn't sing: from the very beginning, her compositions map out the intersection between her imagination and Wu Man's ability to give it voice. The opening track, "Fragmented Images", instantly introduces the listener to the wide range of playing and recording techniques featured throughout the rest of 'Spring Snowfall'. Single line melodies race, then linger, above a soundscape of multi-tracked and effects-treated pipas...shimmering choruses well up like fountains...appregios cascade into one another like strands of a waterfall, combining and intertwining...a busy and hectic sound swirls and whorls, only to suddenly resolve and compress into a simple and powerful statement of melody. It's obvious within moments that Wu Man has not only mastered the nuances of "traditional" styles, but is pushing the pipa in new and dizzying directions as well. If I could admit a first-impression favorite, it would have to be the next song, 'Dragonfly and Swan'. I detect in Wu Man's playing the same raucous, riff-rending sensibility she displayed during the 'Sola and Friends' performances at the 1999 Beijing International Jazz Festival. On the cd recording of that event, I was impressed with how boldly Wu Man took the lead, putting many rock guitarists to shame, generating gorgeous leads over the urgent rhythm section of Pheeroan akLaff and Fernando Saunders. On 'Spring Snowfall', generates the same energy and power by herself. 'Dragonfly and Swan' opens with a four-note motif over a woodblock-like tone (plucked string above the neck?) that segues into a busy overdubbed section, returns to the four-note phrase, and then states the blues-y, six note main melody. Though it's the main figure that I sing along with on the way to work, I'm also fond of the all the other sounds that Wu Man 's fingers give life to: scaped string passages swelling and receding in volume and tempo...frenzied string attacks suddenly contrasting with classical style melodies played with precision...striking imitations of other instruments, other voices. The construction of this song reminds me of John Zorn's cut-up compositions; however, unlike Zorn's sometimes jarring contrasts, which I can only assume reflect the composer's intent and personality, the elements of Sola's composition seem to balance each other, like strong flavors in a well-cooked meal, or the various pieces in a Calder mobile. No one element - no matter how striking it sounds or how energetically it's performed - dominates these songs, even though the recipe for one might call for a different measure of ingredients than another. "Tiny Footprints in the Snow" is the centerpiece of 'Spring Snowfall" both in order and as a reference to the more subdued and courtly ambience of traditional pipa music. This song occupies itself with mostly solo pipa pronouncements of a slow and gentle melody. It's fragile dance is enhanced by Sola's production with its tasteful, piano-like applications of echo. This song is an island of relaxation in the midst of more demanding and challenging experiences. "Shadows" employs echoing masses of pipas in blocks just as large as the solo lead instrument. With guest player Jamil Abbas' bed of bubbling guitars balanced against Wu Man's urgent playing, both players framed by the rhythmic clicks of more above-the-neck pluckings, it's easy to get swept up in the dreamlike push-and-pull of "Shadows". As Sola writes in the inner sleeve "...the sound effects for pipa give the melody long shadows. The shadows sometimes erase the melody, sometimes set it off...." It is easy, especially in this piece, to find advantage in Wu Man's playing of fast figures (especially when compared to other talented players of string instruments). I think it's true that when someone displays both passion and discipline in their performance, you can't help but to be touched on some level. You feel the empowerment and kinship that clear communications fosters. Many times the flurry of notes in the air around me doesn't make sense to me, whether produced by shredding guitar guys or thoughtful jazz players. It be a lack in my musical make-up, but it all ends up the same: the sounds don't get inside me. Wu Man's do. The final title track bursts forth in a fiery display of technique and highlights what may be the most enduring melodies on the album. A repetitive and simple sounding figure played on one pipa stands equal in the mix with an intense and complex one performed on another. Sometimes the different sounds swim in the same direction, other times they describe contrasting arcs in the air; meanwhile, snaps of the strings at specific junctures of the melody surprise with their violence. Letting the strings snap back against the neck is a technique more usually associated with Philadelphian funk bassists than classically-trained Chinese pipa players. It was certainly something I didn't expect. And I think that's the point I'm trying to make: there were many things about 'Spring Snowfall' that I could not predict. I had no inkling that Sola's compositions would showcase Wu Man's playing to better effect than any other, including performances with Tan Dun, the Kronos Quartet, Bill Laswell, or Martin Simpson. It wasn't until 'Spring Snowfall' that I realized how integral Sola's production, especially her mixing and employment of effects, was to the finished project and the realization of her vision. I never planned to spend so much time transfixed by the cd package, gazing contentedly at the cover images, or reading Sola's words inside. Only one thing is known beforehand: Sola will continue to delight and surprise any person seeking the pleasures of entertainment, no matter how great their burden of assumptions or preconceptions."
Groundbreaking, breath taking...amazing!
ragamala78 | USA | 12/16/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Liu Sola has composed music for the pipa that is as shocking to traditional Chinese music afficianados as Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians" was to the western classical world.Wu Man, renowned pipa virtuoso, is the one that makes this music come to life. The first track "Fragmented Images" is aptly titled. Wu Man's playing is filtered through some effects to create an eerily disjointed soundscape that somehow maintains unity (yes, it is a paradox, but it works.) "Dragonfly and Swan" busts out into fits of uncontrolled chaos. It has moments as shocking and dissonant as Penderecki's "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima." The chaos weaves in and out of tense but beautiful interlude passages. Certain riffs in this piece remind of Mali's famous guitar player Ali Farka Toure. Not that the piece sounds African, but the technique strikes me as more West African than Chinese."Tiny Footprints in the Snow" is a bluesy more spaced out piece with some moments that are reminscent of Michael Hedges' odd picking and string popping. "Shadows" is a duet with guitarist Jamil Ammas and includes more of the Malian feel although certainly more dissonant and electic with all sorts of electronic effects and phasings that the pipa is being played through. Given composer Liu Sola's exposure to a lot of African musicians, this is not at all suprising. The title piece, "Spring Snowfall" is the most mainstream sounding of the bunch, but that's not a bad thing. This CD is certainly for the adventerous. Those with a brave ear will be rewarded once they conquer this difficult mountain. As always, Wu Man is to be praised for her adventurous and ambitious projects (she has worked with Kronos Quartet, Tan Dun, as well as having a successful traditional career as well.)"
Track Listings (5) - Disc #1