The glorious result of the combination of traditional Tibetan music, a New Age
sensibility and modern technology, Dadawa's Sister Drum is one of the most
fascinating world music albums to come along in recent memory. Sister Drum has
just been released in the U.S. by Sire Records, and is the first album
with lyrics in Chinese released by that label.
In China, Sister Drum has already become the best selling Chinese-produced
album of all time. The music on Sister Drum was written by Chinese composer He
Xuntian (they knew each other when they lived in Si Chuan), with lyrics
written by Xuntian's brother Xunyou and Chinese singer Dadawa, whose changed her
name from Zhu Zheqin.
It's not easy to pin-point just where the sound of Sister Drum fits, but
if you take a combination of the dense, layered vocals of Enya and mix in a small
helping oftraditional Chinese music, you'll be in the ballpark.
He Xuntian, the composer, is a music professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and was inspired to create the Sister Drum project on a trip to Tibet in 1993 with his brother, HE Xunyou, and Dadawa, the singer. Although none of the music itself is Tibetan, the album is deeply influenced by the trip, and the trio made recordings of Tibetan monks while on the trip and some of the samples show up on the recording. Although the average American listener probably won't understand a word on the album, its strength lies more in the sound of what is said, rather than the actual meaning. Nonetheless, the lyrics are printed both in Chinese and in English. Throughout, the album is soothing - Dadawa's voice ranges froma soaring over the music at one moment to becoming a part of the rhythm at thenext. The music is a hypnotic mix of instruments, both acoustic and electronic, that melt into a gorgeous sonic wall. It is well worth checking out.