Customer Reviews

Green Tea Leaf Salad: Flavors of Burmese Music

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Before I get to the music, this cd is still in-print and it being available here used for $80 is ridiculous! You can purchase Pan Records releases for $16 from the Arhoolie Records website, in the "imports" section. www.arhoolie.com/

Or you can purchase this cd for $15, as well as all the other great cd's of Burmese music that Rick Heizman recorded by contacting Rick himself, at earthviewmusic@yahoo.com. This is a great cd, that is why I mentioned all this. I know that no one (myself included) can afford to spend $80 on it, so it is going to go unheard by anyone who stumbles across it here.

To the music! This cd is similar to White Elephants & Golden Ducks in that it is a survey of everything from percussion to mandolin, zither to slide guitar. One of the things that makes this album essential to those of you who already have White Elephants is that these are not the same musicians and instruments as on that cd. The acoustic guitarist/mandolinist on this cd (U Thein Soe) is brilliant! On mandolin I prefer the guy on the White Elephants and Silver Strings cds, but U's playing on acoustic guitar is absolutely gorgeous. For me, he is the highlight of the cd. I could go for an entire cd of his playing.

Also on this cd you get 2 rarities... the crocodile zither and these little tuned claypot things. The croc zither is a fascinating contrast to all the other Burmese music I have heard. If you've heard Burmese music before, you know what I mean. That rhythm and flow found nowhere else. A certain etheral-toned, pan-rhythmic aesthetic. The croc zither is nothing like that. Its tone is rather harsh and the playing is more linear. It makes for an interesting contrast. I love one of the tunes here. Here you also get donmin (zither), various tuned percussion, and oboe-family instruments.

I write this review assuming that those of you reading it already know Burmese music, but if you don't, this cd would be one of several great places to start. I'd probably recommend Green Tea Leaf Salad, White Elephants & Golden Ducks, and Silver Strings Of The Golden Land as the 3 best cds to start with because they give you a wide range of instruments and musicians, and all 3 cds are great. From there you can find what you like best and then get more specific. For instance if you find you love the piano music on White Elephants then you'll want to get the Sandaya: Spellbinding Piano of Burma cd.

Although of these 3...Elephants, Silver Strings, and Green Tea, I'd say Tea is my 3rd favorite, yet still essential for U Thein Soe's acoustic guitar playing.

I agree with Pharoah about people charging so high.
This is great great music, i can barely live without it.
It is crazy sometimes and narcotic others.
Ranges from Coltraneish to Gamelanite.