"Dragon fly", the new release of Huong Thanh
Dragonfly: "The word carries with it a variety of
meanings that conjure up unexpected
comparisons, connections, and enigmatic
relationships.
In the title piece, "Dragonfly", the
unforeseen culminates in a sensitive duel
between the Vietnamese-Parisian Huong
Thangh and the Cameroon-New Yorker Richard
Bona.
It was necessary that such a mythical
creature as the dragon, a symbol for good luck
in Asia, lift itself up and over the chasm that
separates the different styles, the disparate
geographic and historic terrain, thus bridging the gap between musical cultures.
And the same goes for the entire album: magic lies in this alchemy, which
combines the distinctive purity and tradition of the Vietnamese instruments and
vocals with the sudden presence of the electronics, the grooves, the string
instruments, and the African vocals.
And so we climb onto the back of the dragon and fly with him into the distance."
Nguyên Lê
The album title Dragonfly has a variety of meanings. It stands for the
delicate insect that because of its grace and femininity is called
"Demoiselle", or young maiden, in French. It could be thought of as "flight
of the dragon", and in Vietnam, the dragon plays an important roll in the
land's creation myth - Vietnam is denoted as "the land of the children of
the dragon and the immortals".
Singer Huong Thanh is from Vietnam; she has lived in Paris since 1977.
Her '99 debut album "Moon and Wind" has already accommodated
Western ears to the exceptional. Her newest work "Dragonfly" seamlessly
ties together the fascination of Western rhythms and melodies with
Far-Eastern music traditions. Through ten titles, the participating
musicians revel in the music that lies between the traditional and the
modern, between various playing styles and concepts, between the
beguiling voice of Huong Thanh and the many subtleties created by the
compositions' variety of instrumentation.
Sweeping, expressive synthi-sounds join up with warm, measured
guitar sonorities, and a wistful-sounding muted trumpet; they are all slowly
propelled by an unobtrusive, pulsating bass and polyrhythmic drums, as
they fall into a relaxed groove. The love-song "Graceful Bamboo" is a
wonderful example of the tasteful blending of a sensuous Vietnamese
song into the many-faceted tonal world surrounding Huong Thanh's gentle,
tender voice. Dragonfly offers a colorful kaleidoscope of ground-braking
World-Music. African background vocals from the New York-Cameroon
bassist Richard Bona intermingle with the sounds of Zither, flute, and
bass, as they groove into a rollicking stroll ("Crossing the Valley"). On the
title piece "Dragonfly" the charismatic Richard Bona once again takes
over the vocal parts, picks up the bass, derbouka, bongos, and shaker,
and thus lays out continents of music, music that with the addition of the
cajón, the traditional rhythm instrument of Flamenco, extends into
Southern Europe.
Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê lives in Paris. He arranged and
produced this album, the compositions of which are for the most part
based on traditional themes. Lê has a deep understanding of the musical
culture of Vietnam; thus the arrangements retain the authentic character
of ist traditions, while carefully expanding on that character. Lê is not
afraid to intertwine old structures with jazzy lines and other influences
from all over the world. Typical Vietnamese instruments pair themselves
with modern electronic instruments as if such unions were obvious. Huong
Thanh's spellbinding voice joins with the wondrously functioning melange,
as they and the dragon sail gently and weightlessly through the air.
The CD
"Dragonfly" - Huong Thanh with Nguyên Lê, Richard Bona, Renaud
Garcia-Fons a.o. - ACT 9293-2 - LC 07644
Personnel
Huong Thanh - vocals,
Nguyên Lê - electric & acoustic guitars, synthesizers & computer,
Duong Chi Tam -16-strings zither (dàn tranh), moon shaped lute (dàn nguyêt),
2-string fiddle (dàn nhi), cai luong gtr, monocorde (dànbau), woodblock (song lan),
Hao Nhiên Pham - sao transverse bamboo flute, lutes, zither, sapek clappers,
Dinh Cong Tuyên - pi thiu vertical flute,
Richard Bona - vocals, fretless bass & percussions,
Renaud Garcia-Fons - pizz & arco acoustic 5-string bass,
Tino di Geraldo - cajón, frame drum,
Paolo Fresu - trumpet & flugelhornm,
Etienne Mbappé - fretted & fretless bass,
François Verly - percussions (shaker, tibet bowl, tuned bells, gongs, chimes &
brushes & tablas),
Dominique Borker - acoustic piano
The Barbès Deluxe strings: Raphaëlle Pacault - violin, Martin Rodriguez - viola,
Sophie Lechelle - cello
Track list
To play these samples, you need to use RealPlayer Video software :
just click here, to download this one.
From ACT web site, November 21, 2001.
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