Bamboo on the Mountains: Kmhmu Highlanders from Southeast Asia & The U.S.

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Bamboo is the mainstay of Kmhmu music, especially the reedpipes, flutes, blowing-tubes, mouth organs, and percussion instruments heard here along with cymbals and gongs, wooden drums, and exciting vocal styles. Drawn from fifteen years of field research that extended from garden apartments in suburban California to mountain villages in Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand, this CD samples the deep reservoir of musical traditions maintained today in Kmhmu communities. The first of its kind, this recording reveals the enduring beauty and individuality of each community's performances.

Bamboo on the Mountains: Kmhmu Highlanders from Southeast Asia & The U.S.,Various Artists,Smithsonian Folkways,Asia,Asian,Asian Folk,Int'l & World Music,Laos,Pop,Thailand,Traditional,United States of America,Vietnam,World Beat Collections,World Music
Bamboo on the Mountains: Kmhmu Highlanders from Southeast Asia & The U.S.
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • "Little sister Thoan will sing one bit!"
Bamboo on the Mountains: Kmhmu Highlanders from Southeast Asia & The U.S.
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Folkways
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00002JXDN
Release Date: 1999-11-16

Tracks:

  1. Pii Koon Rook Reedpipe
  2. Teum Song
  3. Teum Song With Sngkuul Mouth Organ
  4. Teum Song With Chorus
  5. Toot Flute
  6. Hur Tlaa Rung Blowing Tube
  7. Teum Song With Sngkull Mouth Organ
  8. Sngkull Mouth Organ
  9. Toot Flute
  10. Pii Reedpipe
  11. Teum Song
  12. Teum Song With Sngkuul Mouth Organ
  13. Toot Tlveel Flute
  14. Toot Flute
  15. Pii Tuut Ngo' Reedpipe
  16. Teum Song With Sngkuul Mouth Organ
  17. Pii Triil Flute
  18. Briing Drum, Rbaang Gong, And Ceng Cymbals
  19. Teum Song With Pii Reedpipe
  20. Pii Reedpipe
  21. Hur Tlaa Rung Blowing Tube
  22. Teum Song
  23. Toot Flute
  24. Briing Tube Zither
  25. Hroong Jew's Harp
  26. Ritual Music And Song For The Buffalo Sacrifice
  27. Teum Song
  28. Pii Ta' Laen Reedpipe
  29. Pii Rmblaang Reedpipe
  30. Toot Teum Flute
  31. Dav Dav Bamboo Tuning Fork
  32. Briing Drum, Rbaang Gong, And Ceng Cymbal
  33. Briing Tlaa Tube Zither
  34. Hroong Jew's Harp
  35. Hur Suul Tlaa Blowing Pipe
  36. Tnheek Chordophone
  37. Teum Song
  38. Pii Teum Reedpipe

Album Description

Bamboo is the mainstay of Kmhmu music, especially the reedpipes, flutes, blowing-tubes, mouth organs, and percussion instruments heard here along with cymbals and gongs, wooden drums, and exciting vocal styles. Drawn from fifteen years of field research that extended from garden apartments in suburban California to mountain villages in Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand, this CD samples the deep reservoir of musical traditions maintained today in Kmhmu communities. The first of its kind, this recording reveals the enduring beauty and individuality of each community's performances.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars "Little sister Thoan will sing one bit!".......2001-05-12

I asked for this cd for Christmas, and while I did not like it right away, it has grown on me immensely, although yes, there are still a couple tracks I don't care for very much.

First, I want to make sure you know that this is a "field recording" type of Indigenous music cd that is recorded in wonderful sonic quality. This is not a "world music" cd that is more-or-less Western Pop Music that just happens to be sung in a "foreign language". This is like a documentary or an audio-snapshot of the traditional musics of the Kmhmu highlanders, with all tracks recorded in Laos, California, Thailand, and Vietnam.

This is the most primitive Asian music I have yet to hear. Although even "primitive" is not the perfect word because I'm sure that just getting a tone out of some of these instruments is near impossible. The instruments included are things like mouth organs, various flutes, reedpipes, percussion, etc... The mouthorgans I find to be quite intriguing. Even with only one mouth-organ player at a time it always sounds like we are hearing notes from two or three different instruments simultaneously. This instrument seems to go from sounding like some sort of alien wind howling through caves, to resembling an orchestra of car horns. The reedpipes give you the feeling of listening to a flock of geese while on nitrous oxide.

For you fans of West African musics there is a one-string fiddle on here that in terms of sound, somewhat resembles the njarka violin of western Africa. It's quite interesting to hear two similar, but evolutionally unrelated instruments played in such disparate melodic and rhythmic ways.

The singing was my main hurdle on this cd. Much of the singing I could do without from an aesthetic point of view, although even having said that, at times it's interesting to hear a style of vocal music that is so completely unreleated to any other music I have heard. There are indeed though two vocal tracks that are wonderful. Track #37, sung by a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl with a great and adorable voice, and Track #7 sung by a woman from Laos.

My strongest words of advice are this: If you are already interested in various traditional musics of Southeast Asia then this cd is indeed a historic set of recordings because it fills in a missing piece of the puzzle, and to the best of my knowledge is the only available recording of the various Kmhmu musics. On the other hand, don't purchase this cd expecting it to resemble anything else in your collection. Being in love with other Southeast Asian music's is no guarantee that you'll enjoy this cd because this music is so unlike anything else out there. I was shocked and delighted to hear this little pocket of ethnic musics that seem to bear no resemblance to any of the other traditional musics in their home countries.

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