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“14tracks: beyond the forbidden city”

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156
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MACHINEFABRIEK

Chinese Popular Song

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MACHINEFABRIEK

Chinese Popular Song

Plunderphonic homage from Rutger Zuyderveldt's Machinefabriek.

156
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Liang Min-Shih

Ascending to The Top of A Tower

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Liang Min-Shih

Ascending to The Top of A Tower

Music for sheng, hsiao, hsuan, cheng, and nan hu, under the direction of Liang Tsai-Ping

156
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Lou Huiping

The Silent Moon Mirrored In The Fish Pond

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Lou Huiping

The Silent Moon Mirrored In The Fish Pond

A deeply contemplative excursion with cascading harp oddly reminiscent of Alice Coltrane.

156
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Bai Hong

The Rosebush (Qiang Wei Hua)

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Bai Hong

The Rosebush (Qiang Wei Hua)

Immeasurably lovely 1940's Chinese song from one of the original "Seven Great Singing Stars".

156
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Caidanzhuoma

Keba Spreads Her Flying Wings

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Caidanzhuoma

Keba Spreads Her Flying Wings

1950's gem from Caidanzhuoma, one of the most famous Soprano singers of the era.

156
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Min Huifen

Moon Reflection In Erquan

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Min Huifen

Moon Reflection In Erquan

Masterful performance from Min Huifen on the "Chinese two-string fiddle", known locally as the Erhu.

156
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Zhang Lu

Excursion Melody In the Spring (Chun You Qu)

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Zhang Lu

Excursion Melody In the Spring (Chun You Qu)

Perfect song from another one of Shanghai's most famous singers.

Illustration_china
156
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Wang Changyuan

Fisherman’s Song at Dusk

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Wang Changyuan

Fisherman’s Song at Dusk

One of the worlds most impressive Guzheng players with a deeply immersive recital.

156
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Liu Changfu

The Happy Grassland

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Liu Changfu

The Happy Grassland

Another master of the Erhu, Liu Changfu is part of the Inner Mongolia Arts Company.

156
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Xiang Sihua

Sakura

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Xiang Sihua

Sakura

Classic Zheng folk from Xiang Sihua.

156
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Deng Yuhua

Everlasting Friendship (Qing Shen Yi Chang)

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Deng Yuhua

Everlasting Friendship (Qing Shen Yi Chang)

Deng Yuhua was one of the best known Chinese singers of the late 1950's.

156
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James Ashley Franklin & Antony Wheeler

Yi Gu Ren (Remembering An Old Friend)

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James Ashley Franklin & Antony Wheeler

Yi Gu Ren (Remembering An Old Friend)

Amazing recital from two Western masters deeply influenced by the classical traditions of the East.

156
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Yu Shuzhen

Fernleaf Hedge Bamboos in the Moonlight

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Yu Shuzhen

Fernleaf Hedge Bamboos in the Moonlight

Heartstopping version of this romantic standard, performed by Yu Shuzhen.

156
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Chen Jiebing

Listening To the Soughing Wind In the Pine Forest (Ting Song)

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Chen Jiebing

Listening To the Soughing Wind In the Pine Forest (Ting Song)

Chen Jiebing has spent much time in the West, collaborating with the likes of Max Roach.

Disco01
Hip_hop02
Tokyo02
Jazz01
Summer01
Xela01
Echo_chamber01
Piano01
Volmeter
Verandaillustration
Hardcorenebulus
Ladiesjkndfl
Berghaindjgkgkg
Super8dnf
Kompakt
Dubwise14
Illustration_china
Coversversiondhfdh
Hybriddubstep
Corrosivesign
Oscilloscope
Detroitbeyone
Reinforcedhghg
Plugdrone
Shiva
Basichannel14hjfhjgj
14trackswonkyehch
Cello
Fieldrecordings
14trackscharts08
Bestoffff008
Bestof142008
2step14tracks
14tracksgamelandg
Surgeonsty
14yracksdarkambient
Logo_g_wackies
Heartbreakdhfhfh
Melodicaaccordio
Clonebadge_3
Wonkypart2
Sonicyouth14
Earlyelectronics
14tlarrywarehouse
Moved14
Filmnoir
Bristol_badge
Sunracosmic
Janjelinek
Cache_2
Hypercolorsynth
14tracksmali
14tracksbowed
Rushhourtgh
Jamalmoss
Casiomt40_2
Ukfunky
Digitalhardcore

This time on 14tracks:

“14 tracks: beyond the forbidden city”

With all the cultural and political interest in China recently we've found ourselves increasingly drawn to its rich and varied musical heritage. The country has a musical tradition as diverse and sprawling as its numerous ethnic groups, and it would be virtually impossible for us to offer anything more than a fleeting glimpse at its tremendous musical legacy, but it has been an amazing experience picking these tracks from just a handful of its seemingly endless regional and historical varieties, including a couple of contemporary pieces made outside the country itself. Of course this seems to be the era of Chinese reinvention, and even at our little end of the musical spectrum you can notice the influence taking hold: from the Sino undercurrents of so much recent dubstep through to Damon Albarn's 'Monkey' project and the plunderphonic crackle of Dutch experimentalist Machinefabriek (who features here) - it seems that we're all venturing further East. These 14 Tracks hopefully capture the mysterious and impenetrable essence of a culture that most of us know very little about, hidden somewhere beyond the forbidden city...

Take part! Leave a comment!

What do you think of this selection?
Any suggestions?
All comments are warmly welcomed.







On 03 Sep 09:54 hanna etterhaus said:

“thankyou..”

My favourite 14 Tracks yet.....

On 03 Sep 11:35 dj sieben fünf from berlin said:
http://www.dj75.de

“na das is ja ma was”

whohaaaa, deep and something different. awesome!

On 03 Sep 13:03 alex Pullen said:

“Downloads”

Great music. Why is the downloading so hard?Can't download in a group, some download in parts. Not easy. Thanks but. Alex

On 03 Sep 13:39 Jack L said:

“cool, but...”

Nice selection, as per. Won't be buying this one just yet but it's on my 'when I'm rich' list. Just to add to what other people are saying, please can you slicken up the download process. I just bought the Berghain 14 tracks and had to supervise the entire process, including refreshing the page three times when the downloads stalled, then putting all the tracks into a newly created folder. Ideally, I'd like a one click download that delivers all the tracks, the logo, and an .m3u playlist. This would make it more like buying a nicely package *thing* rather than a bunch of tracks and a whole lot of work. One other thing: the 14 tracks thing seems to be distorting the 'bestsellers' section of the boomkat main site - any way you could filter these out? This is a great concept and I hope you guys keep tweaking things to make it perfect - this music deserves a huge audience and the better the site works, the easier that will be.

On 03 Sep 13:50 artur said:

“bad downloading”

wow, can't believe how difficult it is to d/l samples. u have such gr8 music...but sampling is so difficult. hit the play button & u would think that is it but no, nothing works, wow......

On 03 Sep 14:17 Peter Wullen said:

“Something Modern Out Of China?”

Oh, but i expected something else from Boomkat. Something more modern... There's a string of artists now in China who make electronic or experimental music. People like Zhang Jüngang, Wang Changcun, Fu Yü, China Sound Unit,... (I do my best!) They were compiled on the 2003 Post-Concrete 2xCD 'China - The Sonic Avant-Garde' by Yao Dajün. Check it out! Also, try Taiwan the next time. There's some excellent modern music coming out of Taipei!

On 03 Sep 14:50 kingLuma said:
http://www.clickscape.net/something.html

“love it...”

I'm buying the whole set - if you like the female vocal stuff you might like this too ; http://www.lyrichord.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=308 I have owned this recording for years and really enjoy it

On 03 Sep 15:08 james ackroyd said:

“to Peter”

Actually i love the fact that the selection is mostly non-modern..... this music is so lovelY.

On 03 Sep 17:01 Peter Wullen said:

“Cinnabar Red Drizzle”

Check out the 'Cinnabar Red Drizzle' cd then by Yao Dajün on his label Post-Concrete. It's a mix of traditional and experimental. Great cd from a great man who's doing so much for Chinese music.

On 03 Sep 20:01 Sam said:

“Want to buy, but as yet no answer to the download problem...”

This is an amazing selection - just listening to it now. I would like to buy it, but until you sort out the download process I can't. Last time I downloaded it took an age to get all the tracks downloaded. Once imported I found that some of the tracks were even incomplete, hence had to re-download. Also the progress bars do not seem to make sense. Please, please sort it out. I've bought 4 of these selections now. I love em, but I'm not parting with any more money until it's sorted, which is a pity for me cause this is the best yet! Would at least be good to know if you are even intending to improve the download process or not.

On 04 Sep 16:50 Sam said:

“... I had to have it”

OK, despite my comments above I've gone and downloaded this selection anyway cause it was so bloody good. Definitely my favourite yet.

On 04 Sep 23:48 tomc said:

“wtf”

i just bought 4 of these 'albums'...and i have to download each track individually??!!! sort it out! great site otherwise!

On 05 Sep 09:48 Steve Barker said:
http://www.onthewire.uk.com

“Scratching the tip of the iceberg .......”

Top stuff as usual from the BK boys and girls. If further research is necessary then suggest for more contemporary side of Chineese musics then these avenues are checked: Lawrence Li has started writing for the Wire, his blog is at: www.chinesenewear.com/ The excellent Yan Jun should be explored at: http://www.yanjun.org/blog http://www.yanjun.org http://www.myspace.com/yanjunyanjun http://www.subjam.org If you are in Beijing then a visit to Sugar Jar records is essential, at the 798 Art Space and occasionally (if not blocked) at www.sugarjar.cn Look for stuff like: Anything by Huan Qing, especially new CDs ‘Water’ and ‘Fire’ and also the 8 CD set called ‘SouthWest China Field Recording from Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet’ Laurent Janneau's field recordings from S. China / and also S E Asia Any music by: Wang Fan (noise) Sulumi (break / bitcore) Dead J (electro breaks) Ronez (noise mixologist) IZ (Kazakh folk) MaFeiSan (acoustophreakpunk) Xiao He (phreakfolk) The D22 club launched a label a little while ago - Maybe Mars (look for PK14) , and a new one Maybe Noise where 1st release will be by White (Jeff Zhang of CarSickCars and Shenggy) - produced by Blixa Bargeld in Berlin Yaojuin Dao of Post Concrete is top guy - but works out of Berkeley CA Nearer home Zi Lan Liao's Chinese Youth Orchestra in Liverpool is the real deal featuring Da Hu - a Chinese bass invented by her Dad Mr Li!

On 11 Sep 02:00 Evan said:
http://myspace.com/thecoloroflight

“Design ?”

Why is the design for this site enormous and really impractical and ridiculous ?

On 08 Oct 17:32 Carl F said:

“Nice.”

Thanks for going through all these albums recently released as MP3s/FLACs and picking your favorites. Good choices. These sounds are just what the doctor ordered on a crisp autumn morning.