This ain't therapy or fun...

30-Day song Challenge…

Day 10: A song that makes you fall asleep…

   Awww this is an easy one. I generally can’t have noise going on in the background while I’m trying to sleep but I have two albums that are go to chill music, one is the gorgeously talented Declan Bennett (An Innocent Evening of Drinking) and the other is slightly less herd of Twelve Girls Band (Eastern Energy).

   I’ve already posted some of Mr. Bennett’s amazing-ness so let’s wax poetic about Twelve Girls Band, shall we?

   A quick summery about the girls, in 2001 the Peoples Republic of China put out a call for musicians trained classical Chinese instruments… over 4000 answered! The final twelve girls (plus the one that joined later) came from some of the most prestigious centers of music in the country including The China Academy of Music, The Chinese National Orchestra, and The Central Conservatory of Music.

   Now I could go into a whole bunch of mess about how twelve is a lucky number in china, the twelve hairpins of womanhood how in 618-907 AD during the Tang Dynasty there many ensembles that played in the royal courts… yadda yadda freaking yadda.

   Some of the incredibly bad-assed instruments they played were as listed.
Erhu (Chinese fiddle or the two stringed fiddle),
Pipa (pear-shaped lute with four strings),
Guzheng (zither ummm think lap harp),
Yangqin (hammered dulcimer),
Dizi (transverse flute),
Xiao (vertical flute)  
Duxianqin (single-stringed zither)
Hulusi (three-piped gourd flute)
 
   Here are some more modern numbers in 2004 there first album topped the charts in Japan for 30 weeks. These girls pull from traditional Chinese sounds, to Celtic tones with Enya’s “Only Time”, to their most recognized song in America Coldplay’s “Clocks” with a mellow rock beat… See? Now you’re remembering them right?

   Anyway, I’m leaving you with my favorite song off Eastern Energy.
Twelve Girls Band - “Alamuhan”

7 months ago