Orchid: by Shao Rong

Pacific Moon Records is rapidly gaining dominance over new age music collection.

Their latest release, Orchid by Chinese pipa artist Shao Rong is an absolute gem of a recording. The pipa, by the way, is a 2,000-year-old Chinese lute. Shao plays the ancient intrument in the classic "Rinshi" style. So to those westerners fortunately enough to hear her play, Shao's chosen instrument comes across as a pleasant melding of the mandolin and banjo.

What's truly amazing tome is that Shao is able to take one of the most ancient instruments still in use and make each of the 10 tracks on this album sound fresh and up-to-date. Yet somehow, you can still feelan enormous sense of tradition behind the ancient instruments used to craft her debut CD.
The skillful blending of traditional Asian tonalities with high-tech Western synthesizers and modern instruments is a trademark of Pacific Moon records. For Shao's debut, the company pulled out all the stops, bringing in acknowledged masters to play almost every instrument on the CD.

Among the backing musicians are Jia Pen Fang, one of the world's top erhu players, and Naouki Onda, a master of the acoustic piano who was the featured artist on an early Pacific Moon release, Dream. The album was produced by Kazumasa Yoshioka and Seiichi Kyoda, who are also the guiding force behind Uttara-Kuru.

Much of the music on this album conjures images of a snow-covered villages or solitary walks through fields and grasslands. Two versions of the tune Wild Rose are provided. The first is a duet between the pipa and erhu (a bowed instrument that sounds almost like a woman singing) while the second blends the pipa and acoustic guitar.

The tune Unicorn features Shao on the pipa, backed solely by a typical Western ensemble -- guitar, bass, piano and drums. Bamboo Dance combines the pipa with a synthesized rhythm that gives you an idea of how jazz might have developed if it's roots had been in Hong Kong instead of New Orleans.

This is the kind of music you'll revisit time and time again when you want to be transported to another world for an hour.

Sample audio clips and purchase information for Orchid are available at Amazon.