Alive

Sa Dingding | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 29, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Wrasse Records
• ASIN: B001AZ8BM8
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,823 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Mama Tian Na [Mantra]

2. Alive [Mantra]

3. Holy Incense [Tibet Version]

4. Oldster by Xilin River [Self-Created Language]

5. Tuo Luo Ni [Sancrit]

6. Lagu Lagu [Self-Created Language]

7. Flickering with Blossoms [Chinese Version]

8. Holy Incense [Chinese Version]

9. Alive [Chinese Version]

10. Qin Shang [Chinese Version]

Editorial Reviews

Sa Dingding combines Eastern and Western music in a powerful, sophisticated sway. The track Alive contains Chinese Folk Music and Western electronica, overlaid with her strong, haunting voice. As a product of modern China, Sa Dingding has developed a deep interest in the country's minority religions, particularly Buddhism. This is reflected in the Alive album, which includes singing in the ancient language Sanskrit and Tibetan. She plays several Chinese instruments, choreographs, and has even created her own language where new words are formed from the emotions evoked by music.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sonic Trek to the East, July 30, 2008

By 

Dr. Debra Jan Bibel "World Music Explorer" (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alive (Audio CD)

Contemporary in its high production values with layering of varied instrumentation and electronic accents, fine sonics, back-up vocalists, strong beats, and very melodic tunes sung in Tibetan, Chinese, Sanskrit, and Sa Dingding's own invented language (Asian scat?), this album is not what you would expect to reach American shores from China, but Shang-Hai has always been progressive and inventive. From the beginning, the album captures our interest with exotica. It would make a great soundtrack; indeed, it reminds me of the music to the film "Himalaya". It takes us from temples to discos, from mountaintops to tropical beaches. Sa Dingding seems to have found an atypical niche, an original East Asian popular sound. The insert includes lyrics, but they are in Tibetan, Chinese, Sanskrit, and transliteration of her own idiom. Some are mantras, anyway. Although two songs, Alive and Holy Incense, are repeated with the same arrangements, the strong difference in phrasing and rhythm between Tibetan and Chinese languages makes the respective vocals unique. The last song on the CD, however, is entirely out of character, being a simple Western style popular song with piano accompaniment. It seems to serve as a transition to ease us back to our customary life after this audio adventure. This album won the BBC 3 World Music Award for Asia/ Pacific recordings.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So good, but also very promising., March 6, 2009

By 

Steven Guy (Croydon, South Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alive (Audio CD)

This is a beautiful album full of beautiful melodies, colours, sounds, rhythms, counterpoint and some lovely and very characterful singing. Sa Dingding was born in Inner Mongolia, the part controlled by China, and she is a young and highly talented artist.

Some rather limited and silly Westerners have called her an "Asian Björk". Silly and superficial as this sounds, I guess it may help or encourage a few more people to explore this singer.

Sa Dingding is a very talented singer and musician and she has a huge future in music ahead of her, I strongly believe this.

What is "Alive" like? It is an album of very haunting and lovely songs, presented by an artist who takes some risks and lets the music live with grace. Occasionally, the instrumental music dominates the songs, and that is a very fine thing, because the instrumental sounds, traditional and electronic, are so delicious and colourful.

Don't just sit there reading this silly review! Buy the thing!

5.0 out of 5 stars Magical musical adventure., October 18, 2008

By 

Aaron Shepard - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alive (Audio CD)

I really don't know how to describe this music. New age with an edge? World music meets electronica? It often sounds like thoroughly modern pop, but some of her lyrics seem to come from religious texts. (They're not translated, so I can't say for sure.) Fascinating rhythms, vocal tricks, blends of Western and Chinese instrumentation -- just fascinating from beginning to end. And very, very addictive. Buy this for a magical musical adventure. And then wait anxiously for her next one!