From the Top Listening Post 345. Like a mountain wind or a force of nature, Yungchen Lhamo’s voice gracefully and powerfully opens Awakening, her sixth album, demonstrating that beauty exists to direct our attention. In a rare convergence of planetary decay and...
Forest and Trees Listening Post 269. The Sani people are part of China's ethnic landscape but the fine detail of their culture is often obscured behind mythology and rock. The rock is from the Stone Forest: Sani villages dot the area around its spectacular limestone...
Two Cultures, 26 Strings Listening Post 252. “Pity the nation,” wrote Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “that knows no language but its own.” Far more satisfying than pity is listening to Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn, who know one another’s languages and express their familiarity...
Grass, Memory and Song Listening Post 196. The grasslands of China’s Inner Mongolia region are far from any ocean, but Urna Chahar-Tugchi observes that her home turf is often called the “Sea of Songs”—a fitting metaphor for a rich musical culture and for Urna’s...
Always in Steppe Listening Post 87. In the dim light of a New York night club, in a cavernous church in Oxford or in any secluded corner of the globe, the nine musicians of Anda Union recreate the open skies of the Central Asian grasslands. Through traditional vocals,...
