Monday's mp3: Listening to the Chinese Marketplace

I'll be the first to admit that -- despite being quoted last week in the Christian Science Monitor's article on Sa Dingding -- I'm far from an expert on Chinese music. Still, I'm doing a little research and collecting these days so I will have some tunes to share here and on Spin The Globe as the world turns to the Beijing Olympics next week.

So here's an offering. Not as hip as Sa Dingding, true, but still fun. This comes from a collection of music put together by Aik Yew-goh, described by All Music Guide as "an Asian Alan Lomax." High praise, and high audio quality as well. His work is a fascinating glimpse into a wide variety of Chinese music that really isn't widely available in the West.

[mp3] Jia-qing: Market Gathering
from Hugo Masters: an Anthology of Chinese Classical Music, Vol. 1 - Bowed Strings

You can still find this album and the other three volumes in the set if you look around a little. Get it and impress your friends and amaze your enemies with your knowlege of Chinese folk music!