Search - Vangelis :: China

CHINOISERIE FROM THE HIGH SPHERES

Marcelino Herrero | GZ, CHINA | 09/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Writing this review is a double pleasure for me, because in its subject matter two of my passions merge into one. I've been a devoted listener and admirer of Vangelis' work and ethos for many years; and my interest in Chinese language and culture ultimately took me to China, where I've been living for almost 7 years now.



I don't know whether Vangelis himself had ever been to China before he got the inspiration for his thematic album or not.

If he had actually been in China before, and experienced some close contact with the country and its culture, then his album "China" should be regarded as nothing less than an example of what an outstandingly gifted musician is capable of accomplishing in terms of, say, "stylistic evocation" of a foreign musical tradition.

If he'd never been to China at all -thus having to rely entirely on "secondary sources" as raw material for this work-, then I'm afraid that "China" could be considered as an early and sufficient proof of Vangelis' right to be called "GENIUS".



This album is a an astounding musical "chinoiserie", in the best sense one could find for this term; Vangelis' has produced here a pastiche of the highest order, lovingly and respectfully utilizing the elements of his own unique sonic language to somehow capture and render -in what seems to me a feat of exacerbated musical sensitivity- what we may dare to call the `Geist', the `spirit', or the general `manner' of Chinese music, its colors and textures; for it seems to me evident that what Vangelis was trying to do, rather than to vainly struggle for some unattainable aboriginal exactness or submissive copycat resemblance, was to apply yet again his inveterate spontaneous approach to musical creation, letting himself take an intuitive leap into the vast but finite world of Chinese musical conventions. However mild and scattered these impressions may appear within the album, an undeniably appropriate "feel" permeates the whole effort. The pieces in tracks 4 and 5 ("The Plum Blossom" and "The Tao of Love")could be mention as highlights. The exhilarating sinuosity of track 3 ("The Dragon") , be that of a Dragon or -as other review suggests- of the dragon-shaped creatures of the folkloric "lion dance", is also full of exact colors and timbres, swirled along amidst its joyful convolutions.



Yes, of course Vangelis displays through this brief set of pieces a candid array of "clichés"; but these "clichés" he conveys (or rather: skilfully mimics) are also exactly that for the Chinese THEMSELVES: those are some of the rutinary devices of their music, their musical commonplaces, so to speak.



"China" could well be, in some of its best moments (which the listener should find by him/herself, and FOR his/herself), quite a beautiful musical instance of what the ancient greeks called MIMESIS, not a mere servile imitation of a given model but the delicate rendition of a much more subtle likeness...

Without ceasing to "be" and "sound" like Vangelis at anytime, nevertheless, "China" is also there, everywhere, "with" Vangelis, "through" him...At least for 40 odd minutes. (However, I do agree with other reviewer whose analysis implied that the most conventionally "Chinese-sounding" touches are somewhat concentrated in only some of the pieces. I would also agree that the powerful, outlandish -and yet majestically earthly- "Himalaya" track is THE ("purely") Vangelis' signature piece of the entire album; somehow emotionally and aesthetically departing from the Chinese world/reverie constructed in the first seven pieces, it plunges the listener's ear and mind into a journey through a path way up those thundering snowy heights of immemorial stone, continuously swept by gigantic blasts of wind, which roaring swoosh I personally find both ominous and eerily soothing. And a ceaseless rattling, tinkling sound weaves fleeting passages of piano, and keeps the pace of the...ascent? I'm not exactly a confident believer in the achievements of the so-called "programatic" approaches to music, but this bold, haunting soundscape that Vangelis manages to portrait through your ears and right into your mind strikes me with quite distinct images every time I listen to it. Clear your mind and listen this track at the right (high) volume, and I think you will SEE what I mean (what Vangelis meant). This ten-minute timeless trek across the Himalayas leads onto (or, rather, ethereally blends into) "The Summit", ninth and last piece of the album; at this point we're definitely fully delving into Vangelis exclusive realm of creation, closing the album in this time-frozen contemplative mood, where every reference to the world below (?) , whether Chinese or not, has been suspended, or rather obliterated from the sound, which melts into a vanishing dreamy acustic mist, strangely icy and warm at the same time...Until everything fades away.)



One day some time ago, while I was listening to Vangelis' "China" (I don't remember exactly which of the tracks was playing at that moment), my wife (she is Chinese) happened to be at home too and casually overheard the music. She didn't have any idea of who Vangelis was and she hadn't heard anything by him before. She earnestly asked me what was the music I was listening; she said she liked it, but she felt weird to find me listening to some "CHINESE MUSIC" (sic!) she'd never heard before! It didn't even occur to her that the author/s of the music I was listening was/were not even Chinese at all!



Maybe some day, as the exchange between the West and China enhances and deepens, more and more Western listeners will be able to appreciate the deegre up to which Vangelis succeeded in this creative endeavour (yet another stroke of his generous and indefatigable genius, guided again, perhaps, by his faithful and equally hard-working Muse).

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