南音乐评：外国人看南音

http://www.xiamenwave.com/?p=777 Wang Xinxin : Nostalgia in Moonlight [Classical] ♪♪♪♪♪ Anyone that can sing songs about Clouds thinking of Clothes [second track] immediately gets my attention. Wang Xinxin was born in the Fujian Province in 1965 and began her Nanguan training at just four years old. Nanguan music is rich with tonal relationships and interval changes that often surprise the untrained listener. The music, which uses nine tones, is based upon one of the oldest surviving languages of Fujian [Minnanyu]. Ms Xinxin has won a whole string of awards for her music which she has performed all over the world. This album does not fall into the trap of being overproduced, needlessly employing cloying amounts of compositional window dressing to make it more accessible to the masses. With a title like ‘Nostalgia in Moonlight’ the sweetness factor might have been trowelled on by a less sensitive producer but not so with this work, which lets the instruments and singers express themselves in a clean, uncluttered and authentic manner. Wang Xinxin’s singing is gently emotional, intricate but still precise as she recounts her ancient musical poetry against a stark acoustic accompaniment of traditional instruments: the plaintive evocative sounds of the flute and pipa. Wang Xinxin has a plan to publish CDs of all the famous Nanguan tunes she has sung. ‘Nostalgia in Moonlight’ is a work of quietly restrained melancholic beauty. If you wish to explore some of the musical heritage of the Fujian Province then this is a very good place to start.