About four years ago, when I was rooting around for Chinese music videos, I was sent a charming animation from a band called Shanren. The song "30 Years" was about the trials and tribulations of moving from the country to the big city to look for work. This is a motif that resonates with all working folks, and I won't even go into the hundreds of great songs dealing with this from the West's Industrial Revolution right through to today. "30 Years" describes what is going on in China currently, as its rapid industrialization is causing a vast shift in population from rural to urban centers. I was therefor already interested when I was contacted by the band's publicist, informing me that they would be playing on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, at Pianos.

The band comes from Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, with members from the Wa and Buyi minorities. The name Shanren means "mountain men." During a chat with James Pang, the band's Chinese manager, he mentioned that the people of these minorities live up in the mountains, are kind of wild living, like to brew their own liquor, and dance.

Being a lover of country music and bluegrass, I could not help but start drawing parallels between some of the characteristics of our own folk heritage and what I was about to see and hear. I was not let down. Listen to this music and tell me that you don't hear something that sounds remarkably like our own "Old Timey" music, with its trance-like repetitions. People like banjoist Abigail Washburn have been mining these parallels for years, and you can hear why. (The band even uses something that looks mighty like a banjo!)

The song is called "Left Foot Dance of the Yi".

The Yi people, as I mentioned before, are one of the ethnic minorities of southwestern China. There's a family of songs called left foot dance songs ("kind of Yi party music" their manager Sam Debell writes). This is the band's own arrangement of a very well known left foot dance song. It’s usually a circle dance, but the band adapted it, so they do it in a line (in a circle it must look positively Balkan... but I’m not going to get into that, at least not here).

A sample of the lyrics (xianzi is a stringed instrument):

- Brother play the xianzi.
- Sister sing the song.
- The moon is already risen.
- And we're waiting to dance.

And something from our own repertoire:

"Late in the evening about sundown
High on a hill and above the town
Uncle Pen played the fiddle, lordy how it would ring,
You could hear it talk, you could hear it sing."

To contact the band:
Sam Debell (Asia) at unitysam@gmail.com and +86 152-1027-0868.

For more of Michal's original music videos, visit inter-muse.com

A few weeks ago we had the way cool video "Little House" by Napra as our video premiere. Well, they had some great live performances on their DVD, but they could not get broadcast-worthy format of that for us. So here's where it's great to have a blog! Check out this totally killing band doing a distinctly modernized version of an "Ugros," a traditional Hungarian folkdance.

That's some amazing playing, and IMHO this band deserves more exposure. Miklos Both is a true guitar monster, and they could open for just about any rock act, and more than hold their own! This performance is from 2008, at the Palace of Arts in Budapest.

I just read this book called Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd. Very moving and in my opinion relevant to the current ecological situation. She was raised Christian, but found that this tradition could not honor or help her connect to what she calls her “feminine soul” which she defines as a woman’s “deep resource, her natural instinct, guiding wisdom and power.”

For me it was really about the internal journey one takes that delivers you to a sacred place inside. Reintroduces you to you. This journey changes you fundamentally. It can take you closer to your natural way of being…to your essence.   You start to relate to others and yourself in a more unencumbered way…less shoulds, fears and ways to stop yourself.  It was so hopeful to read about a woman who allowed this journey to unfold inside her even though the thought of changing her life, losing what she had built and living in the moment terrified her. It takes terrific courage to let go of what we know and she writes about her vulnerability and personal challenges with such grace and elegance. This book is another example of what this series is about and it really shows me once again we are on to something… thanks to all of you who are taking these steps to find your real self and be a light shining in the world.

I headed over to Drom the other night to catch The Shin, a great band from the Republic of Georgia. The place was packed, which made it hard to get good shots, and as usual, the club was dimly lit, even on stage. Even more frustrating, I am finding that while this little Flip camera shines in an acoustic setting, just get an electric bass in there and that's all you hear. Fortunately, though, the band had a folk dancer, David Ninoshvili, who turned in some pretty dynamic moves.

I was sitting in a tiny space by the stage, so I had a great view of Ninoshvili's footwork.  I captured a fair amount, but at one point (after my batteries had run out!!!) the man actually got on his tippy-toes (yes, just like in "Titanic") and proceeded to go through some truly punishing choreography; he wasn't wearing anyting remotely like ballet shoes, which have a built in box to protect the dancer's foot. Don't mess with those Georgian folk dancers.

Also: just found out about a great site : http://www.radiovideotrad.com

Check out their videos-- the accent is on ethnographic, but from Cajun to Balkan Brass to Bellydance, most of them are a lot fun!

From natknits on YouTube:

"When I heard the song for the first time I was actually watching the video. I was so deeply moved by it. I remember I was on the couch feeling horrible from a cold and when this came on I forgot I was even sick. It made cry because of the strong message but it also made me want to get up and dance. As a way to help spread the message, I choreographed this for my Zumba class."

Here's the video!

We're so excited about this!

In case you missed the original Amnesty International/Link TV co-production here it is: