chris wong in sync

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• The Cellar
• Metalwood

It all started when Qiu Xia He gave a workshop on Chinese music for Mandarin teachers. Some teachers asked He, who leads the group Silk Road Music, if there are any good recordings of Chinese folk songs that students could use to learn about Chinese music, culture and language. She couldn’t think of any, but an idea emerged: He and Silk Road could make exactly that kind of CD.

He thought creating the album would be a simple task. The 37-year-old, who has lived in Vancouver since 1989, was wrong. It took He and a large supporting cast–musicians, singers, arrangers, translators and other contributors–three years to finish what turned out to be an enormous undertaking. The result is Village Tales, a CD that goes well beyond its educational aims to offer cross-culturally distinctive music. Silk Road will celebrate the CD release Jan. 19 with a concert, featuring almost all of the 14 musicians and singers on the recording, at the Britannia High School auditorium.

Holding the concert at Britannia is appropriate. He has worked as an artist-in-residence at the high school, where she tested ideas for the CD with students and teachers. Valerie Dare, the Britannia librarian who ardently coordinates the school’s world music activities, provided invaluable support for the unprecedented project.

He developed Village Tales to include arrangements of Chinese folk songs from various regions in China, such as Shaanxi province where she was born, and incorporate music from minority groups in the vast country. Most significantly, each song pairs a vocalist singing in Mandarin with another singing in English. It wasn’t a stretch for He to take this bilingual approach. "For me it’s very natural, because that’s how I perceive the world," says He, whose partner is multi-instrumentalist André Thibault.

The principal vocalists, Feng Jun Wang and Willy Miles, and other singers on the album perform in an operatic style that I was initially lukewarm about. But their vocals, which exude undeniable passion, have grown on me. The musicians–Silk Road members He on pipa (Chinese lute), Shirley Yuan on erhu (fiddle) and Zhimin Yu on ruan (another type of lute), along with guests Thibault, Celso Machado, Laurence Mollerup and Jian Min Pan–play in a spirited fashion that’s authentic yet more accessible than most traditional Chinese music I’ve heard.

Speaking of accessibility, Village Tales comes with an impressive 40-page booklet that thoroughly explains Chinese music. The booklet, in English and Chinese, contains music, lyrics, information on Chinese instruments, a Chinese pronunciation guide and more. E-mail He at qxcloud@istar.ca to request a complete study guide on Chinese music.

On his now defunct 96.1 FM shows, Cal Koat often said Vancouver is the planet’s world music capital. I used to think that was a major exaggeration, but Koat wasn’t actually far off the mark. While we’re not Paris or London, Vancouver has an exceptional world music scene that reflects and crosses between myriad cultures.

Despite their talents and the international success some have achieved, world music artists here struggle for widespread recognition. The Vancouver World Music Collective has formed to do something about that. Members of the collective, which includes Vancouver’s top world musicians, will jointly market their recordings and live performances at the local and international level.

The group’s first project involves creating a compilation CD to distribute at the Folk Alliance Conference in Vancouver, Feb. 15-18. The collective and the Rogue Folk Club present a fundraiser for the CD Jan. 13 at the Capilano College Performing Arts Theatre. The concert’s strong line-up features Asza, Orchid Ensemble, Cordes en Folie and Tzimmes–among the 10 groups that will have tracks on the CD–along with guests such as Steve Dawson (of Zubot and Dawson), François Houle, Amir Koushkani and Fana Soro (of Masabo Culture Company). Call 736-3022 or 990-7810 for tickets.

It’s official! Metalwood has signed a licensing deal with Universal Jazz. The deal represents a triumph for Vancouver’s jazz community in a number of ways. For one thing, Metalwood includes Chris Tarry and Brad Turner, two of our local scene’s most dynamic musicians. They play alongside Toronto’s Mike Murley and New York-based Ian Froman in the quartet. But there’s another Vancouver connection: Scott Morin, the person at Universal who signed the band, lived here for four years.

Morin, who was a Capilano College music student, attended Metalwood’s incendiary shows at the Chameleon. He became a huge fan of the exhilarating band. In New York, where Morin worked for Verve Records, he spread the word about Metalwood. After becoming label manager for the Verve Music Group and Universal Jazz in Toronto, Morin acted on that enthusiasm by pursuing the deal.

The 26-year-old asked jazz guitar God John Scofield if he would fly to Vancouver and play on Metalwood’s Universal debut, which Morin will co-produce with the band and Shawn Pierce. Sco said yes. So did ace percussionist Mino Cinelu (who has played with Miles Davis and Weather Report) and turntablist DJ Logic (who has spun for Medeski, Martin and Wood).

Cinelu and DJ Logic will perform with Metalwood Jan. 19, the night before the recording sessions, at the Cellar. While that night is sold-out, you can still get into the group’s shows Jan. 17-18 at the Cellar. Call 738-1959 for reservations.

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