Customer Reviews

Music for the Motherless Child

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

with extraordinarily naff liner notes by this new-age nitwitKavicnadran Alexander. Whatever. Thankfully Waterlilly Records insistence on "pure" micing didn't over rumi-nate into the quality of the artistry on offer.
If you can see past the notion that Islam created all music as we know it, Que?, you'll find two extraordinary musicians who were independently invited to record, not knowing that they were to record together. Waterlilly is da*ned lucky it was these two. Martin Simpson is one of the finest in a long, make that a very long line of English guitarists who rightly can point to Julian Bream, regardless of what style camp they happen to fall into, as a major influence: it's in the finger and plectrum work.
In the case of Simpson, who cut his teeth in among other ensembles, The Albion Band, he delivers a series of folk and blues workouts here that must have caught Wu Man slightly unawares. But then, you see, you're talking the finest fret player of any instrument anywhere with Wu Man, and from the lovely opening "One More Day," from the inimitable John Tams, she catches on and lays down an improvisation for which all other guitarists would sell their souls.
The finest pipa player ever then rises to the improvisations initiated by Simpson on "A Minor Blues." Playing pipa like a slide guitar, Wu Man brings an accompaniement first, and then some sultry lead work to this effort to Simpson's soulful work. You'd swear you were listening to Fred McDowell or Hubert Sumlin and not a Brit and a Chinese woman. The sophistication and very sound of the fingerwork here is all North Mississippi.
Wu Man's extraordinarily dextrous reverse tremoloes inspire Simpson to dig deep in the music. Their chemistry is so on the moment that it is, as I say, sheerly lucky that Waterlilly had these two in mind. Anyone else and you would have had a mess.
"White Snow in Spring" bounces with a joyousness that inspires dancing. This time, Wu Man directs the piece and Simpson accompanies. and you have to admire how well they have managed to cross cultural bridges and give a traditional piece like this the sense that these two co-wrote it. In his liner notes, Simpson states that the next tune, "Dives and Lazarus" has the Irish tune, "Star of the County Down" as its foundation. That's as maybe to my ears. What is abundantly clear is that it has the warm rich feel of an almost Appalachian quality of improvisational picking, and it is deeply meditative. "The Coo Coo Bird" heightens this analogy, based as it is on American banjo repertoire. Finally, the Cd ends as sublimely as it began with an unforgettably haunting take on Skip James' "Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child." I can think of only Van Morrison who has delivered a more soulful rendition.
This is an outstanding CD. I'd say you'd be hard pressed to find a more sublime recording anywhere. Credit the two musicians for surrendering themselves to their muses and letting Music take them into its confidence.

This is one of my all time favorite recordings. Wu Man is by far the best pipa player I've ever heard. Her playing is powerful and eloquent. Martin Simpson is one of the best guitarists on the British folk scene. These instrumental duo improvisations on tradititional tunes are ravishing. The sound quality on the SACD version is great.

One thing I can't figure out is why it is virtually impossible to bring up these Water Lily SACD's through Amazon's own search functions. I have to step out to Google and enter the artist, title and "SACD" to get a hit that will take me back in to it.

I have more than half a dozen of Water Lily Acoustics simple and elegant cross-cultural records and this is the most consistently satisfying I've heard. I have been a big fan of Simpson for years and am now one of Wu Man as well! The notion of bringing two world class musicians together sight unseen so to speak, is a testament to both the producers and performers faith in the universality of music, beauty and grace. What results here is not flashy (which can easily happen from forced over-production), but instead a true and spontaneous dialogue between artists and cultures.

Simpson's role (on various 6 string acoustic and National Steel guitars) appears to be to set the framework, introducing traditional themes from various British and American tunes, while Wu Man ably and lithely keeps up and fills in with her plucked, strummed and tapped pipa (the Arabic oud/African-American banjo-sounding Chinese 4 stringed lute). There is a sense of both playful and deep discovery and listening throughout. The high point for me is their spacious reworking of Dives and Lazarus, which Simpson went on to beautifully record with vocals in 2001 on his The Bramble Briar.

Water Lily Acoustics' slogan is, "In the beginning there was sound." I would add that that's what there is in the middle and end as well. This is a universe of sound which we sometimes feel separate from. This music yearns to and succeeds in re-uniting us with this source, this Mother. This is really more than just music or art, it's something sublimely real (and really sublime). The beauty of communication itself; passed down through generations of traditions and expressed here and now.

It reminds of what Frank Zappa may have meant when he said, "Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is the best..."