Search - Nhu Quynh & Various Artists :: Stilling Time - Traditional Musics of Vietnam

This recording is a work of wonder, an act of dedication by Philip Blackburn, an American contemporary composer who traveled to Vietnam in 1993 as a visiting artist and came home with some of the best recordings of contemporary folk-music traditions available anywhere. Nineteen tracks display the cultural variety and excellent musicianship of this nation, from street musicians, school children, farmers, and mothers as well as classically trained artists and professional folk musicians. There are work songs, play songs, songs of religious fervor and simple life events, and each is well recorded, on location, without any pretense at production or "art." Works are performed by gong ensembles; by skilled chamber-music ensembles using ancient zithers and modern, altered guitars; by theater orchestras and solo singers; by lutenists and bamboo-xylophone players. Blackburn has also include a lengthy piece recorded at random on a street in Hanoi, complete with the sounds of passing vehicles, street musicians, a bell smith, bikers, and chirping bugs. --Louis Gibson