Mudanin Kata

David Darling (Artist), Wulu Bunum (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 21, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Riverboat
• ASIN: B00022MBNA
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #275,674 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This one-of-a-kind collaboration matches field recordings of the Wulu Bunun's ancient a capella songs with the modern ambient leaning music of cellist David Darling, who took the present-day field recordings and added musical accompaniment to the songs for the first time. Darling does a masterful job merging his moody studio-recorded string arrangements into the polyphonic singing of this indigenous Taiwanese tribe. Of particular note is the song "Pasibutbut," which is reputed to be inspired by the sound of humming bees. While most of the songs are a simple folk tunes about everyday life, this one starts out with a singer hitting a low sustained note with others coming in at intervals to create eight-part harmony that goes on for several minutes. Sometimes Darling structuring the songs, which may only have a single verse, adding instrumental breaks, but on the above song he comes in at the top, finishing off the song in the same circular polyphony with which it was started. –-Tad Hendrickson

Product Description

Mudanin Kata unites singers from the Wulu Bunun people of Taiwan with the sumptuous sounds of cello pioneer David Darling, to create a striking reinterpretation of an ancient tradition. David Darling – a Grammy nominated and classical trained cellist – creates his own place within the distinctive eight-part harmonic singing of the Wulu Bunun. Interwoven around a range of singing styles, he melds his unique style of playing to produce an album of intricate and beautiful sounds.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunningly Beautiful, August 20, 2004

By 

Professor Grrrl (East Coast, U.S.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mudanin Kata (Audio CD)

Heard this cd on NPR... went and bought it. Amazing. Just beautiful... Darling's cello serves, somehow, miraculously, to lift the voices of the indiginous people even higher, rather than to overpower and drown them out.

This is one of those cd's that helps illustrate the addage that music truly is the global human language.

Bravo, Mr. Darling.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, April 12, 2005

By 

rm62 (Wichita, KS, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mudanin Kata (Audio CD)

David Darling has done an amazing job of enhancing the traditional songs of the Wulu Bunun with his cello accompaniment. The music of the Wulu Bunun is valuable in itself but may be less accessible to Western ears. Darling's cello, however, does nothing to detract from the singers' music, and instead only supports the inherent beauty of the songs. While the attempts to blend Western and non-Western traditional music can sometimes produce scary results, in this case, the result is sublime.

4.0 out of 5 stars East meets west, April 20, 2008

By 

Mrs. THM Edwards - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mudanin Kata (Audio CD)

An interesting combination of voices and the cello. I'm not quite sure if the cello enhances the singing, but it does break the singing, which is attractive, but could get a bit monotonous.