Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The lute-like pipa has a taunt banjo-like tone that may sound alien to Western ears, but when pipa virtuoso Wu Man picks up the instrument, she is able to conjure both the alien and the conventional, and does so with a remarkable flair. A member of Yo-Yo Ma's groundbreaking Silk Road ensemble, Wu Man plays the instrument with the kind of skill generally associated with fleet-fingered classical guitarists. But there's more to this musician than chops. Here she makes revelatory connections with such guests as Appalachian banjo player Lee Knight, Ukrainian bandura player Julian Kytasty and Ugandan endongo player James Makubuya. More than meeting her collaborators half way, Man seamlessly meshes with her guests, able to create bluegrass grooves, Eastern European melodies or flurries of African harp-like notes. Highlights include "Nightrider" (with Kytasty) and "Raining" (with Makubuya), but the surprising versatility of this pipa player is biggest revelation of all. –-Tad Hendrickson

Wu Man & Friends, Music, Wu Man & Friends, Chamber Music & Recitals, China, Classical, Traditional Chinese, World Beat

Tical 2000 : Judgement Day
Average customer rating:

best album by mef

A Mini Masterpiece

Method Man

A good sophmore effort

Another One from Wu Brother #1

Tical 2000 : Judgement Day
Method Man
Manufacturer: Def Jam
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

East Coast | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
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Tical

Blackout!

Tical 0: The Prequel

The W

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx

ASIN: B00000DLVQ
Release Date: 1998-11-17

Tracks:

Judgement Day (Intro)
Perfect World
Cradle Rock - Method Man/Left Eye
Dangerous Grounds - Method Man/Streetlife
Sweet Love (Skit)
Sweet Love - Method Man/Cappadonna/Streetlife
Shaolin What (Skit)
Torture
Where's Method Man? (Skit) - Method Man/Ed Lover
Suspect Chin Music - Method Man/Streetlife
Retro Godfather
Dooney Boy
Spazzola - Method Man/Streetlife/Raekwon/Masta Killa/Killer Sin/Inspectah Deck
Check Writer (Skit)
You Play Too Much - Method Man/Chris Rock
Party Crasher
Grid Iron Rap - Method Man/Streetlife
Step By Step
Play IV Keeps - Method Man/Inspectah Deck/Streetlife/Mobb Deep
Donald Trump (Skit)
Snuffed Out (Skit) - Method Man/Streetlife
Elements - Method Man/Star/Polite
Killin' Fields
Big Dogs - Method Man/Redman
Break Ups 2 Make Ups - Method Man/D'Angelo
Message From Penny (Skit)
Judgement Day
C.E.O.Utro

Amazon.com

The Wu-Tang warrior's second solo joint is so conceptually huge, only somebody who's been high every day for a decade could have imagined it: hip-hop album as science-fiction double-feature as celebrity parade as horror movie as multilayered masquerade as an endlessly Baroque flow of spiels and skits, hallucinatory fantasy, and killer-bee menace. The romantic strains of Tical have been replaced by pure, sweaty sex, and Meth's image transformation from laidback muscle to bloodthirsty cyborg (with a phone book's worth of guest stars) just means he compacts his flow more tightly. The production is the Wu standard of berserk little loops and spare boom-bap, though RZA's tracks are head and shoulders above those of his disciples. --Douglas Wolk

Customer Reviews:

best album by mef.......2006-09-01

there is just no bad songs on this album every song tends to flow with the album , must by cd.
bestsongs:
torture
cradle rock
perfect world
spazzola
sweet love

A Mini Masterpiece.......2006-08-30

This album is one of my Top 10 All-Time favorite hip hop albums. Sweet Love and Perfect World are the 2 best tracks on this release.

Method Man.......2006-03-30

I like this album a lot it has a lot of great songs but there are too many skits. It kind of reminds me of mixtapes with so many tracks you can only get so far and then you get kind of bored with some of the tracks. But Method smokes so much weed he probably was too high to care. But that does not matter because they are great songs on here and I will let you decide what those are. I recommend this to all rap fans great choice to add to your collection.

A good sophmore effort.......2006-01-25

The problem with so many tracks is that you can lose memntum and or originality and then adding so many guest stars (Left Eye, Mobb Deep, Streetlife, Capponada, Chris Rock, Ed Lover, Raekwon, Redman...just to name a very few) you can risk losing limelight. The greatest thing about this CD is that, while there is some filler, Meth never loses his footing on the floor. He is the star of this album and every guest just compliments Meth's ability to comand the album. In fact, my favorite song "step by step" doesn't even have a guest rapper. So if your a fan of the Wu-Man they call Method Man AKA Jonny Blaze AKA The Iron Lung AKA...no I'm just kiddin'...anyway, if your a fan of the man they call Meth then pick this up because whatever Meth puts his name on you know is gonna be hot!

Another One from Wu Brother #1.......2006-01-15

when i copped this back when it came out, i remember being very into Wu-Tang and with that said this album is an Epic and doesn't sink like Leo's Titianic. this disc from top to bottom is method man every which way possible to name it. mostly produced by RZA & The Wu Elements (Mathematics, 4th Disciple & True Masta) and also Erick Sermon & Havoc guesting on two tracks makes this disc a worthy counterpart to Tical. With 28 tracks as a lengthly opus to starts and funny as sometimes unnessesary skits makes it a characture of itself but still keep the ship intact thou. lots of singles could of been chosen off the the album but the two main ones were "Judgement Day" & "Break Ups To Make Ups" feat D'Angelo make it a sorta purchase but what makes it a purchase is that it's just so dope as a listen that why you couldn't cop it. favorite tracks are:
Shaolin What (cuz of lex lugar line)
Judgement Day
Spazzolla feat Wu Tang Clan
Play IV Keeps feat Rebel Ins, Streetlife & Mobb Deep
Grid Iron Rap feat Streetlife
Step By Step
Killin Fields (with the warriors type of intro/outro)
You Play Too Much Skit (always makes me laugh)
Torture
Suspect Chin Music feat Streetlife
Dangerous Grounds feat Streetlife
Sweet Love feat Cappadonna & Streetlife (reminds me of one of my homegirls plus it was her fav. song)

Overall i'm give this a 4.5 Stars

Average customer rating:

Long Road to China
East meets modern
Magnificent
great music!
The Best World Music CD in Decades has Arrived

Pipa from a Distance
Wu Man
Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

China | Far East & Asia | International | Styles | Music

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$7.99 and Under | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music

All Classical Music Blowout | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music
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Spirit on Two Strings

ASIN: B00008RV0E
Release Date: 2003-04-15

Tracks:

Invocation
Dancing!
Ancient Shadows
Journey
Hangzhou Blues
Vincent's Tune
Crescent Moon Over The Mountain
Ambushed Again
Full Circle
From A Distance
Bonus Track

Customer Reviews:

Long Road to China.......2006-11-14

It began for me like this, in 1989 or thereabouts, I was flipping through channels on the telly and happened upon the tail end of a documentary on China. I remember little of the program, save the ending. As the credits rolled a young Chinese woman was playing a stringed instrument that I thought at the time was a samisen (gives you an idea how long it had been since I'd seen one of those). I know now it was a pipa. Her performance was strikingly virtuosic. I was amazed at both her amazing technique and equally, the wonderful sounds she was coaxing from this unique instrument. Though I could see the pipa was lute-like, its sound reminded me of the guitar and the banjo, but with a level of sonority that dwarfed both. The player executed what American musicians would call trills and minor bends on the strings that gave the instrument an aural tactile quality that was quite haunting. I was blown away.

Flash ahead 17 years.

I was walking through the Xavier University Library near the magazine section and happened upon an issue of World Literature Today. Famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma was on the cover and there was a blurb about his Silk Road Project. Being a fan of Ma, I decided to pull the mag and check out the article. On one of the pages there was a picture of Yo-Yo Ma, and two other musicians, one of them, a woman, playing a pipa. When I saw the instrument I immediately flashed back to the closing of the documentary 17 years before. The woman playing the pipa was Wu Man. Later, I came here to seek the Silk Road recordings for samples, then on a whim clicked on the link to Wu Man, saw pipa: from a distance, listened to samples and was instantly hooked.

Pipa from a distance is a remarkable recording. Wu Man manages to give the listener a taste of tradition and the contemporary, and at times the surreal. The pipa is the lute of China, with a history spanning two millennia. Its unique voice is not unlike the American banjo at times, but the pipa's dynamic range is far greater. Wearing artificial nails taped on all fingers of the right hand, a master pipa player can coax all manner of sounds from the instrument; individual notes can burst from the instrument in a staccato cascade, picking patterns that sound like rainfall, strings are sometimes trilled as in Blues, chords can be either delicate or thunderous. In capable hands, the pipa can be a formidable means of self expression, and Wu Man conjures the magical on this breathtaking recording.

The blend of musical forms is adventurous and amazing. There is the tranquil first track, "Invocation". Man wafts over the sounds of bells and e-bowed electric guitar, with the use of sound manipulation, the piece is both meditatively traditional, yet bordering on the mildly psychedelic.

"Dancing" is a joyous tune. This piece includes banjo and it compliments the pipa well. Their voices are similar, yet so different, as they call back and forth. The didgeridoo is used to good effect here and elsewhere on the recording.

"Journey" displays the lyrical side of the pipa. Lilting and graceful, yet powerful, Wu Man glides through the piece like a bird in flight. Tabla samples, shaker and didgeridoo provide gentle accompaniment. This is one of my favorites on the CD. I often leave it looped to bask in the beauty of it.

"Hangzhou Blues" was quite a surprise. Wu Man plugs in, connecting her pipa to a wah wah pedal and into an amp. I had this image of her sitting next to a Marshall stack, pipa induced feedback rising behind her. You'd think this wouldn't work, but it exceeded my expectations. The sound is otherworldly, and massive. I had to remind myself she was playing a pipa. This track stands out from the others in sheer daring. She doesn't overplay her hand, and her technique transferred well to the electric context. Hendrix would have loved it (of course, the pipa acoustically would have stunned him).

"Vincent's Tune" is another favorite. The piece slowly builds to a climax that made me think of Meredith Monk, the screeching "toy" used at the end comes very close to sounding like a human voice. The piece exudes an almost overwhelming exuberance.

The last track I'd like to comment on is one of the solo pipa pieces, "Ambushed Again" The pipa alone is incredible. As a solo instrument one can hear how versatile the pipa can be in the right hands. Wu Man bears down on the instrument, drawing out its subtleties and its thunder. Any rock guitarist could appreciate the edgy chordal passage of "Ambushed Again". Man's rhythmic sense shines through on this piece; darting back and forth like a boxer, until the pipa sounds like its being shaken to pieces.

This recording is a great place to start for the novice to pipa music. Here it is very accessible and beautifully produced. Still, one should not overlook the classical pipa music of China. Wu Man has a two disk set of this traditional music. "From A Distance" clearly shows how well she works in collaboration, but alone she is a wonder to behold. I can only hope I get the chance to see her live.

East meets modern.......2006-11-10

What an interesting CD. Pipa from a Distance presents an exciting blend of ancient styles and modern sounds. Very interesting to the ear. Some selections are unusual - almost irritating (but so is Led Zepplin and I own all of those CDs) - but overall a CD for the person who likes variety and sometimes the unusual.

Magnificent.......2005-02-15

Just can't praise this CD too highly.

I usually stick with classical music (Mozart, Stamitz etc) but this CD,has opened up a whole new dimension. I just play it over and over. Never get tired of it.

great music!.......2004-08-23

"Dancing" is my favorite song! I listen to this CD over and over, and never get tired of Wu Man's music.

The Best World Music CD in Decades has Arrived.......2003-04-25

Wu Man is to the pipa, the Chinese lute-like instrument, what Robert Fripp is to the guitar. There are no limits, there is only walking out into the garden to greet the future. The music here is ecstatically inspired and while the Cd begins and closes with sublime traditional tones, what happens in between is the stuff of dreams, of wonder, of giving oneself over to Music so that Music may take you into its confidence.
Not since King Crimson's "Discipline" have I been so thoroughly amazed and inspired by a sustained effort throughout an entire CD. This is not to say that Wu Man is replicating Fripp's Bartok meets Hendrix in style, but certainly in spirit.The opening "Invocation" is as quietly spiritual a piece as you are likely to hear. A bit like Fripp's Soundscapes before the roar of Crimson. "Dancing" is almost Beatle-like and absolutely inspiring. All through I kept expecting to hear McCartney, Lennon and Harrison chime in, and if you're sitting all through this number, you have serious enjoyment issues. "Ancient Spirit" and "Walking to the East" begin an hypnotic, polyrhythmic journey into another culture. Surely Wu Man's participation in Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble has given her a sense of adventure, and this sublimely sets the tone for the adventurous and blistering "Shanghai Blues", and here is where Fripp meets his match. The intensity of Wu Man's electric pipa is scorchingly awe-inspiring. This is as brilliant a display of electric blues as Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile, Slight Return." Stevie Ray, Jimi, and the remarkable Fripp would all pay homage to such protean fretwork. And it has a deep blues groove that is just fantastic. If you have ever seen Wu Man in concert, you know this girl can cook, and cook she does!
"Vincent's Tune" returns a sense of innocence to the proceeedings as it opens and closes with a sample from her young son on toy piano and voice. Very reminiscent of Yes's "Circus of Heaven." "White Crane Flying" is a zen like mesmerizing piece worthy of Takemitsu in its subtle complexities. "Ambushed Again" turns up an incendiary heat once more that is resolved in "Bamboo Dreams." Again, I would draw the analogy to Crimson's "Sheltering Sky", a polyrhythmic meditation.
As for the title track, I had steered clear of this disc for a few weeks because I dreaded the prospect that so intrepid a performer as Wu Man might have recorded the treacly pop tune of the same title. Imagine the overwhelming relief when I discovered that this is an original, as is the entire CD, composition setting a certain distance of reflection on the preceeding 50 minutes, before it closes with the hidden track that is just Wu Man singing, and her voice is gorgeous!
All in all, Wu Man has done that rare thing of advancing the art of a tradition with inspired new compositions. There are many wonderful interpreters of the canons of culture. There are few who take that culture on to an inspired new plane. Wu Man has done just that. I hope you will pick this CD up. I hope Amazon will promote it visibly on its site. This is worth the attention. All praise to Naxos for releasing it so affordably. This is the best 10 bucks you'll ever spend on music. Thank you deeply to Wu Man for sharing her vision and her art.

Average customer rating:

The Ghosts are in your memory!
A COLD, NEEDLE SPRAY SHOWER ON A HOT SUMMER'S DAY
For musical masochists only
This is the Avant Gard kind of Kronos that i can't get into so much
Cats yowling

Ghost Opera
Joan Jeanrenaud , Dun Tan , Kronos Quartet , David Harrington , Hank Dutt , John Sherba , and Wu-Man Zheng
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
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Symphony 1997
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Tan Dun: Out of Peking Opera, for Solo Violin & Orchestra / Death & Fire, Dialogue with Paul Klee / Orchestral Theatre II: Re, for Divided Orchestra, Bass Voice & Audience with Two Conductors

ASIN: B000005J4K
Release Date: 1997-03-18

Tracks:

Ghost Opera For String Quartet And Pipa With Water, Stones, Paper, And Metal: Act I: Bach, Monks, And Shakespeare Meet In Water
Ghost Opera For String Quartet And Pipa With Water, Stones, Paper, And Metal: Act II: Earth Dance
Ghost Opera For String Quartet And Pipa With Water, Stones, Paper, And Metal: Act III: Dialogue With 'Little Cabbage'
Ghost Opera For String Quartet And Pipa With Water, Stones, Paper, And Metal: Act IV: Metal And Stone
Ghost Opera For String Quartet And Pipa With Water, Stones, Paper, And Metal: Act V: Song oOf Paper

Customer Reviews:

The Ghosts are in your memory!.......2007-02-23

Three disclaimers to start my review:
1. I like Avant-Grade/Experiental music.
2. I adore Chinese music!
3. I generally do NOT like Tan Dun's music.
That said, I have listened through Tan Dun's "Ghost Opera" five times in a row since I purchased it. To neatly pigeonhole it, the music is experimental, multi-cultural and for lack of a better term, "post modern." Tan Dun is one of the best-known representatives of the "Sent Down"/"New Wave" generation of composers. (Others include the CHEN Yi, ZHOU Long, CHEN Qigang, HE Xiantian and GUO Wenjing). Growing up during the Cultural Revolution, these young men and women were sent into China's hinterlands both to represent the revolutionary values of the Party and to share in the experiences of the peasants first hand. These musically gifted teenagers absorbed - and several of them catalogued and transcribed -hundreds of folk songs. When the Cultural Revolution ended, this same group was among the first students admitted to China's newly re-opened conservatories and universities and were the first to have exposure to the modern music of the west.
TAN Dun is certainly more fortunate than most of his generation, is better marketed and is a bit of a musical chameleon in comparison. His scores for Hero, Crouching Tiger and most recently The Banquet are very different from his "concert" music. Yet there are similarities. What sounds audacious in a concert is perfectly suitable in a soundtrack for a epic martial arts film.

I do not know if TAN Dun would agree, but upon my listening to this piece, I found that the "Ghosts" alluded to in the title are indeed, the Ghosts of Memory. Passages of Bach weave in and out of textures generated both by natural sounds (TAN's signature use of water sounds...), traditional Chinese gestures (brilliantly performed by WU Man on the Pipa) and extended playing techniques from the Kronos Quartet. The use of the voice - often in hushed whispers or fragmentary vocalizations - is ANYTHING but jarring. To even suggest that this music may have been influenced by Peking Opera is ill-informed. This music sounds more like George Crumb at his most "oriental", poetic and dream-like rather than anything you'd ever hear in Chinatown.
FINAL WORDS: While not a fan of this composer, I found the music poetic, creatively scored, brilliantly performed, at times quite beautiful and profoundly sad. To the ignoramus who likened this to Kabuki, well, first off Kabuki is JAPANESE! This composer is from CHINA! I think there is a difference! And whoever heard "yowling"... what were YOU listening to? JEESH!

A COLD, NEEDLE SPRAY SHOWER ON A HOT SUMMER'S DAY.......2007-02-09

I'm fortunate because I brought to the first hearing of Tan Dun's GHOST OPERA, a love of string quartette music; a love of percussion music of all kinds; Cinese Opera music, as well as contemporary Avant-Guard compositions that incorporate drumming, strings and mixed sounds, including voice. Coming to GHOST OPERA with wide listening experience, allowed me to focus on the limited numbe and t ypes of instruments used, as well as on the non-instruments used to produce music, and to focus on the way these sources were chosen to form patterns. I did not expect melodies, and did not feel the need for them, yet when they came, though they very seldom appeared, I found I could enjoy them as arbitrary choices on the composer's palate.

There are five sectins in this GHOST OPER. Myself, I did not find the titles of these pieces anything other than irrelevant. The music, overall, is abstract, and nearly impossible to describe.

All in all, if you enjoy to experience something very different from the usual, the hackneyed, this piece has much to offer. As a piece of chamber music it has everyting one hopes for; it is intimate, spare, compelling, dramatic, comic sometimes, and always demanding or challenging. It is ear candy, both sweet and sour -- a prickly confection -- and wuld sit well on a program with the latter Bartok quartets, or some Schoenberg or Berg equivalent. (German elecronic music of the 70s might appear more human, beside it.) The difference would be, perhaps, that whereas European quartets would be expected to sound well in an enclosed space or room, this (augmented) quartet suggests an enclosed space open to the sky. A garden, you see. Something to be played and listened to in a pavilion. This is music to clean the palate, so to speak; to scrape off of one's organs of perception, the mucus of the ordinary; the common place. This piece, like others of his pieces, help one experience the present more vividly.

For musical masochists only.......2006-04-03

CD's that I don't care for go into the charity box. This is one that went straight into the garbage (but I can always re-use the jewel case)

This is the Avant Gard kind of Kronos that i can't get into so much.......2005-09-18

i LOVE Kronos Quartet...got the chance recently to see them live performing "again" with Wu Man..doing a Terry Riley piece which put me into heaven, i didn't want them to stop, and didn't want to leave...therefore why wouldn't i wan't to hear some other work of theirs with Wu Man, and a composer whose movie music i've liked...
well it didn't pan out so well for my feeble brain, it's cute, it's crazy, it might be great to see live (or on the DVD of them), but it's not something i can listen to frequently, as background music...guess i like their more accessible stuff..Nuevo, Caravan, Pieces of Africa, etc.

Cats yowling.......2005-09-11

I don't care for this particular style of japanese music. It reminds me of something I saw called kabuki, a sort of opera. I would not have bought it knowing what I know now.

Average customer rating:

Method Man & Posse

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000OT8L4Y
Release Date: 2007-07-10

Average customer rating:

Be Warned - Just Beats, No Lyrics
Special Herbs from the 36 Chambers...

Soul of a Man
Mathematics , and Wu-Tang Clan
Manufacturer: Nature Sounds
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

East Coast | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

Gangsta & Hardcore | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

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Unreleased

ASIN: B000FA5604
Release Date: 2006-06-13

Customer Reviews:

Be Warned - Just Beats, No Lyrics.......2006-06-25

Just got the album and honestly didn't know what I was getting. I'm a big Wu fan and thought both of Mathematics other albums were quality products, so I didn't hesitate to pick this one up. I checked it out on Amazon first, no reviews and no track listings. Found it at the store, no track listings on the back of the CD case either (but I was excited to learn it's a double CD). I was definitely disappointed when I started to play the CD and found it was ALL BEATS, NO LYRICS. I grab the CD to check out the package and the little sticker on the cover says "classic and unreleased beats from the longtime producer of the Wu-Tang Clan," so I guess the disclaimer was right there, I just didn't realize that it meant it was just all beats with no lyrics, choruses or hooks. Just got through listening to both CD's, from my first listen it seems like the first CD is pretty much all unrealsed stuff and the secnd CD is pretty much just beats from his second album, The Problem. I rate it as a 3 because if you know what you're getting it's a quality product, but if you don't know you'll be disappointed. Don't expect to hear any rapping or singing, both CD's are filled with nothing but beats (although they are quality beats).

Special Herbs from the 36 Chambers..........2006-06-23

Definitely one for the beat aficianados, especially the die hard Wu-Tang Disciples. A two disc set of what I assume is his best and unreleased beats from the man who basically took over on the boards when Rza retired from making dope beats. His vibe is pure Shaolin and at a time when the beat gods are finally releasing albums of their own like Doom's Special Herbs, Dilla's Donuts, and Madlib's Movie Scenes, this album deserves a seat right along side of them. At 34 tracks deep, it's definitely worth it for the fellow beatmakers out there, or for the emcees looking to brush up on their freestylin. I did give this 4 stars only because there are a few throw away beats on here, but otherwise it is bumpin.

Average customer rating:

Yet another triumph

Wu Man and Friends
Wu Man and Friends
Manufacturer: Trad. Crossroads
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

China | Far East & Asia | International | Styles | Music

General | International | Styles | Music

Pipa from a Distance
Chinese Traditional and Contemporary Music
Chinese Music for the Pipa
Music for the Motherless Child
Spirit on Two Strings

ASIN: B0007NBAEA
Release Date: 2005-03-22

Tracks:

Nandere
Love Song
White Snow in a Sunny Spring
I'm Going Back to North Carolina
Raining
Dance of the Yi People
Cossack Lament
Old Joe Clark
Bat-Out-Of-Hell Kozachok
Waves Lapping at the Shore
Night Rider

Amazon.com

The lute-like pipa has a taunt banjo-like tone that may sound alien to Western ears, but when pipa virtuoso Wu Man picks up the instrument, she is able to conjure both the alien and the conventional, and does so with a remarkable flair. A member of Yo-Yo Ma's groundbreaking Silk Road ensemble, Wu Man plays the instrument with the kind of skill generally associated with fleet-fingered classical guitarists. But there's more to this musician than chops. Here she makes revelatory connections with such guests as Appalachian banjo player Lee Knight, Ukrainian bandura player Julian Kytasty and Ugandan endongo player James Makubuya. More than meeting her collaborators half way, Man seamlessly meshes with her guests, able to create bluegrass grooves, Eastern European melodies or flurries of African harp-like notes. Highlights include "Nightrider" (with Kytasty) and "Raining" (with Makubuya), but the surprising versatility of this pipa player is biggest revelation of all. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews:

Yet another triumph.......2005-05-07

On paper, this shouldn't work. There comes a point where cross cultural efforts tuen into a ben and jerry's blend of flavours, none of which are distinct or genuine.
Not the case with Wu Man! I can think of no other musician who might pull together Ugandan, Ukrainian and Appalachian musicians and have the individual collaborations work so seemlessly into an integrated whole. More 4 and half stars than 4, and absolutely worth owning if you are a fan of any of the disciplines on offer here.
"Nandere" with James Makubuya is magical, positively a match kissed by God Himself, were the old codger able to carry a tune in a bucket. "Love Song" displays everything that enchants you about traditional Chinese music, and in the hands of Wu Man, it is a reverie of passion and desire and longing so sublime as to transport you to where your heart dwells most peotically. Odd metered work outs with Julian Kytasty are the stuff that works up a sweat in the likes of Andy Irvine or Nikola Parov, and the duo work here is sheer brilliance. Jolting the listener back to North Carolina with Lee Knight steels its way into the mix so effectively, you'd swear these tunes were meant to follow each other!
The recording is miked perfectly and balanced to give the Cd an intimate feel of people sitting around in a circle working off of each other. I don't know exactly how she did this, but to achieve such a terrific spirit is testimony to what an incredible artist is Wu Man. There is no one like her. Having caught her in concert with Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, I can tell you that she is the glue that holds down the entire effort. She dances with her instrument, sometimes literally, and has so given herself over to the confidence of Music, that no one or ensemble is ever the same thereafter.
I would encourage you to seek out any Wu Man project, but especially FROM A DISTANCE, possibly the finest CD of this new century. WU MAN AND FRIENDS is a worthy addition to her canon.

Wu-Tang Clan-Return Of The Swarm Part 3 (Mixtape) [Explicit Lyrics]

Average customer rating:

Has the Wu taken over the underground?

Wu-Tang Clan-Return Of The Swarm Part 3 (Mixtape) [Explicit Lyrics]

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

East Coast | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

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The Wu-Tang Manual: Enter the 36 Chambers, Volume One

ASIN: B000BTNPLG

Product Description

This brand new mixtape for winter 2005/2006 features new exclusive tracks from all 9 members. New heat from Ghostface, Raekwon, ODB, GZA, RZA, Method Man, Masta Killa, and more, as well as guest appearances from Tragedy Kadafi, Black Rob, Cassidy, MOP, and AZ. A must have for all Wu fans!

Customer Reviews:

Has the Wu taken over the underground?.......2005-11-25

Ten years ago they were the most powerful force in Hip Hop. After experiencing an astonishing fall-off in recent years, it looks like the Wu Tang Empire has reinvented itself in the Hip Hop Underground circuit. It should be noted that this is not an official album but rather a Wu Tang-endorsed mixtape compilation by the soon-to-be-legendary underground DJ out of Queens, Mr. J-Love. This mixtape contains several recent releases from the Wu Tang from its original 9-member core to the farthest reaches of the Empire. Defintiely a must for true Wu Tang enthusiasts.

Wu-Tang Clan-Return Of The Swarm Part 2 (Mixtape) [Explicit Lyrics]

Average customer rating:

Wu-Tang Clan-Return Of The Swarm Part 2 (Mixtape) [Explicit Lyrics]

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

East Coast | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Wu-Tang-Return Of The Swarm [Mixtape] [Collector's Edition with 6-sided fold-out insert]
Wu-Tang Clan-Return Of The Swarm Part 3 (Mixtape) [Explicit Lyrics]
Put It on the Line
Unreleased
The Undaground Emperor

ASIN: B000BTNO9O

Product Description

This second official mixtape from DJ J-love follows in the tradition of Vol. 1, featuring mad new exclusives from Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, ODB, GZA/RZA, Inspectah Deck, and more. 30 blazin' tracks.

Chinese Traditional and Contemporary Music

Average customer rating:

COMPILATION THAT ABSOLUTELY DAZZLES

Chinese Traditional and Contemporary Music
Wu Man
Manufacturer: Nimbus Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

China | Far East & Asia | International | Styles | Music

General | International | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music

General | International | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Pipa from a Distance
Chinese Music for the Pipa
Wu Man and Friends
The Art of the Chinese Erhu
Spirit on Two Strings

ASIN: B00003INIS
Release Date: 2000-01-11

Tracks:

Lanterns And Moon Competing In Brilliance
Ancient Melodies Of Wulin
The Tyrant Removes His Armour
Chen And Sui Dynasties
Sounds Of Nature
The Moon On High
The Points

Tracks:

Flute And Drum At Sunset
Run
Birds In The Forest
Autumn Moon Over The Han Palace
C-A-G-E IV
The Mantra Of Pu'an
Ancient Poem In Three Verses
Ambush On All Sides
Three Verses On The Yang Pass

Customer Reviews:

COMPILATION THAT ABSOLUTELY DAZZLES.......2005-04-21

All of these tracks are culled from recordings made from 1993 through 1996 and are rooted in the traditional repertoire of Chinese Pipa music or are recent commissions from the emerging young Chinese composers. In the person of Wu Man, they have an extraordinary champion. She will forever be regarded as one who has elevated her tradition with a prowess and finesse that is the benchmark for excellence. By acheiving such heights, she effectively challenges composers to push themselves with their own disicipline, and the results are sublime, sensual and imaginative.
The sad thing is, you can only listen to these performances. Having seen Wu Man perform many of these sides, I can tell you it is something that will live with you forever. This marvellously creative artists responds to this music with her whole body and that delicate and supple shidt in her touch brings forth from the pipa such extraordinary music! Her passion and commitment are infectious. She is an emotional, spiritual and intelligent artist who inspires audience and colleagues.
This is a fantastic survey of the more classical side of her endeavours, and I highly recommend it. She currently has a CD out entitled WU MAN AND FRIENDS, which brings together Chinese, Ugandan, Ukrainian and Appalachian songs in a wonderful cross-cultural program that should not work, but does to exceptional effect. And she is very much the focal point of Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble. I don't doubt for a second that she pushes all of them to do what they do not know how to do, as Fripp would say.
So, pick this up, and pick up any disc to which she devotes her talents. Wu Man is amazing!

Average customer rating:

Sparkling, Shimmering, Passionate!

Chinese Music for the Pipa
Wu Man
Manufacturer: Nimbus Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

China | Far East & Asia | International | Styles | Music

General | International | Styles | Music

Pipa from a Distance
Chinese Traditional and Contemporary Music
Wu Man and Friends
Chinese Traditional & Contemporary Music
Spirit on Two Strings

ASIN: B0000037F1
Release Date: 1995-04-16

Tracks:

Dengyue Jiaohui (Lanterns And Moon Competing In Brilliance)
Wulin Yiyun (Ancient Melodies Of Wuliin)
Bawang Xie (The Tyrant Removes His Armour)
Chen Sui (Chen And Sui Dynasties)
Xu Lai (Sounds Of Nature, By LIU Tianhua, 1929)
Yue'er Gao (The Moon On High)
Dian (The Points, By CHEN Yi, 1991)

Customer Reviews:

Sparkling, Shimmering, Passionate!.......2003-03-06

Having recently caught Wu Man in concert with Orchestra 2001 in Swarthmore, where I was totally blown out of my seat by the dynamics and intensity and passion of her performance, I hurriedly picked up this disc, hoping it would reflect the power and majesty I had witnessed. It does! In spades!
This is a blend of traditional pieces and 20th Century pieces and it is a stunner top to bottom. Wu Man is an exquisitely beautiful woman who is regarded as a master of the Pudong school of pipa playing. I know nothing about that. What I can tell you is that her fretwork and absorption into the soul of the music is compelling!
In concert, she played pieces by contemporary Chinese composers Zhou Long, May-Tchi Chen, and Tan Dun. This disc includes a masterpiece by Chen Yi, "Dian", written in 1999. Wu Man takes this piece and flies with it. It is breathtaking. In the course of the entire disc, you'll find yourself swept away, exhilarating and seduced by her uncompromising command and devoted passion to this music. Supremely sublime, intensely performed, the music crosses all cultural boundaries and gets inside you, all as a result of Wu Man's commitment to the music. Nimbus did a great job recording her. You owe it to yourself to check this out and to catch her in performance. If you thought Michelle Kwon was amazing in "Crouching Tiger," wait til you see Wu Man command a concert audience. When she finished at Swarthmore, the crowd would not let her leave! Her encores included 2 traditional pieces, "White Snow in Spring", exhilaratingly passionate, and "Bright Moon," sublimely sensual and soothing, and in the afterglow of that spellbinding moment, she disappeared. Go, purchase this, catch her live!

Music Review:

Music Review

music review

Music Review

Soul Deep [Import]

Classics Collection: Robert Schumann

Holy Week & Easter

At Newport [Live]

Lord of the Dance [Soundtrack]

Henkaku No Seiki: Century of Reform [Import]

Festival Latino

Greatest Hits [Import]

Foreign Film or Tango Dance?

Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado / ENO · Robison [Highlights] [Soundtrack]

Jazz Cafe at the Movies

Decada De Los 50's

Dos Camionetas Blindadas

Midnight Baby

Gangster & A Gentleman

1. Nandere
2. Love Song
3. White Snow in a Sunny Spring
4. I'm Going Back to North Carolina
5. Raining
6. Dance of the Yi People
7. Cossack Lament
8. Old Joe Clark
9. Bat-Out-Of-Hell Kozachok
10. Waves Lapping at the Shore
11. Night Rider