Comments for Sola, Liu, Blues From the East

Produced by Bill Laswell, this disc is an attempt to fuse traditionalChinese operatic and folk music with blues and funk and dabbled a little of Japanese theatrical music. Liu is a Chinese singer of Peking operaand she was backed by excellent musicians such as James Blood Ulmer, Henry Threadgill,Aiyb Dieng, Jerome Brailey, Umar Bin Hassan and a hosts of others (you know, the Laswell/Axiom mob) interpreting two traditional Chinese stories. Although this is an excellent idea,the disc seems to gets lost with all the ingridients mixed in. The traditional bits and the contemporary parts seems like oil and water to each other. Although one can hear some interesting interplay between Sola`s soprano-like singing over Japanese percussions, but itsounded dragging when the funk kicked in. This happens especially in the first story. I reckonUmar Bin Hassan delivered much more powerful in that part. The second story, Married to Exile is muchmusically cohesive. At least the funk and the Chinese story-telling mixed more comfortably than before,without the embrassment of the previous tracks. Good musicianship, but lacks focus to make these characteristicsshines through.