Chinese Wax Cylinders and 78s

Mongolian Tuva and Siberia Recordings

12 Collections of Music

The Chinese Wax Cylinder and 78s Recordings

01) Anthology of Wax Cylinder Recordings from the Late Qing (Chinese) Empire: The Berthold Laufer Collection and More

Berthold Laufer (1874-1934) was one of the most respected sinologists of the early 20th century. Shortly after emigrating from Germany to the United States, famed anthropologist Franz Boas recruited Laufer for the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, during which Laufer conducted ethnographic fieldwork between 1898 and 1899 on the Amur River and Sakhalin Island. Laufer was asked soon thereafter to lead the Jacob H. Schiff Chinese Expedition on behalf of the American Museum of Natural History. Laufer - the only person on the "expedition" - spent over three years traveling China collecting cultural artifacts that showcased the arts and pre-industrialized customs still common in China. In that time, he collected over 7,500 objects of Chinese culture that were sent to the American Museum of Natural History, dramatically expanding the museum's holdings from East Asia. Laufer recorded a wide array of folk music, Beijing opera, and music to accompany dramas and shadow plays.

This compilation is from the Indiana University 'Berthold Laufer Collection,' and had been distributed as a CD set entitled 'Anthology of Wax Cylinder Recordings from the Late Qing Empire,' by Sunchime, this collection consists of 400 cylinders preserved by the University with many of those cylinders dating between 1901 and 1902 and recorded throughout China by Berthold Laufer. These are also the earliest known Chinese recordings. Included with this collection is an English-Chinese translation of the cylinders which are numbered and tracklisting.

As a bonus, the collection on Ambientscape also includes additional historic wax cylinder recordings of Hebei bangzi (河北梆子), which was a genre of local opera (Chinese: difang xiqu, 地方戏曲) from Hebei, northern China, and recorded in China during 1901 the location, date and names of the performers on these recordings are unknown. The play being performed is entitled "Da Xiangshan" (大香山).

During the time these cylinder recordings were recorded, "Qinqiang" (秦腔) was still used to refer to early Hebei bangzi performances, this genre of clapper opera (Chinese: bangzi qiang, 梆子腔) having only been recently introduced by performers originating in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. The accompanying instruments include banhu (板胡, vertical fiddle with coconut shell resonator and wooden soundboard) and dizi (笛子, bamboo transverse flute with buzzing membrane) playing together an octave higher, (with each instrument using its own distinctive ornamentation), and percussion (gong/cymbals and guban 鼓板).

The collection also includes the 'General Zhao Zi Long on Horseback Saves His Master All by Himself,' a 78s compilation record released in 2017 by Fire Sheep Records documenting some of the earliest Chinese Opera and Folk Songs on 78.

Indiana University website

Articles

Berthold Laufer's Chinese Stereo Recordings of 1901 Article Patrick Feaster

Stereo Recordings Believed to be the World's Oldest Preserved at Indiana U

The Strange, & Circuitous Journey, of Berthold Laufer's Chinese Recordings

Ebook

The Biographical Memoir of Berthold Laufer: (1874-1934) by K.S. Latourette

The Mongolian Tuva and Siberia Recordings

Shamanism

Shamanism is the religion most typical of Tungusic peoples of Northeast Asia. The word "shaman" itself (saman in the Manchu language) appears in every Tunguso-Manchurian language and seems to be of Tungusic origins.The most common religion among the Manchus was shamanism, which they and their ancestors the Jurchens practiced long before the Qing dynasty expanded into China.

Mongolian Music

Music is an integral part of Mongolian culture. Among the unique contributions of Mongolia to the world's musical culture are the long songs, overtone singing and morin khuur, the horse-headed fiddle. The music of Mongolia is also rich with varieties related to the various ethnic groups of the country: Oirats, Hotogoid, Tuvans, Darhad, Buryats, Tsaatan, Dariganga, Uzemchins, Barga, Kazakhs and Khalha.

Overtone Singing

Overtone singing, known as höömij (throat), is a singing technique also found in the general Central Asian area. This type of singing is considered more as a type of instrument. It involves different ways of breathing: producing two distinctively audible pitches at the same time, one being a whistle like sound and the other being a drone bass. The sound is a result of locked breaths in the chest.

Long Songs

"Long songs" (Urtyin duu are one of the main formats of Mongolian music. Firstly, when Genghis Khan first united Mongolia (13th century), many different tribes were brought together, and this allowed sharing of music that had not happened before. The song "Ertnii Saikhan" was a popular song at weddings and imperial meetings, and the song "Oyunt Khuu" was a popular song. The most distinguishing feature is that each syllable of text is extended for a long duration; a four-minute song may only consist of ten words. Other features are a slow tempo, wide intervals and no fixed rhythm. The richer and longer hold a singer has, the more appreciated the singer. Lyrical themes vary depending on context; they can be philosophical, religious, romance, or celebratory, and often use horses as a symbol or theme repeated throughout the song. Eastern Mongols typically use a morin khuur (horse-head fiddle) as accompaniment, sometimes with a type of indigenous flute named limbe. Oirat groups of the Western Mongols typically sing long songs unaccompanied or accompanied with the igil. In neighboring China's autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, 15 notated chapters of the court music of the last Mongolian Great Khan Ligdan (1588–1634) was found in a temple near the ruins of his palace Chagan Haote (Ochirt Tsagan Khot). It was already known that the Qing Dynasty of China greatly valued Mongol court music and made it an integral part of its royal ceremonies, especially at feasts.

Throat Singing

The main technique of which is known as khoomei (Tuvan: хөөмей, romanized: xöömej, Mongolian: хөөмий; ᠬᠦᠭᠡᠮᠡᠢ, romanized: khöömii, Russian: хоомей, Chinese: 呼麦, pinyin: hūmài), is a style of singing practiced by people in Tuva, Mongolia, and Siberia. It is noted for including overtone singing. In 2009, it was included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO. The term hömey / kömey means throat and larynx in different Turkic languages. That could be borrowed from Mongolian khooloi, which means throat as well, driven from Proto-Mongolian word *koɣul-aj. In Tuvan throat singing, the performer produces a fundamental pitch and—simultaneously—one or more pitches over that. The history of Tuvan throat singing reaches far back. Many male herders can throat sing, but women have begun to practice the technique as well. The popularity of throat singing among Tuvans seems to have arisen as a result of geographic location and culture. The open landscape of Tuva allows for the sounds to carry a great distance.

Ethnomusicologists studying throat singing in these areas mark khoomei as an integral part in the ancient pastoral animism still practiced today. Often, singers travel far into the countryside looking for the right river, or go up to the steppes of the mountainside to create the proper environment for throat singing. The animistic world view of this region identifies the spirituality of objects in nature, not just in their shape or location, but in their sound as well. Thus, human mimicry of nature's sounds is seen as the root of throat singing. An example of this is the Tuvan story of the waterfall above the Buyant Göl (Deer River in Tuvan), where mysterious harmonic sounds are said to have attracted deer to bask in the waters, and where, it is said, harmonic sounds were first revealed to people.[citation needed] Indeed, the cultures in this part of Asia have developed many instruments and techniques to mimic the sounds of animals, wind, and water.[citation needed] While the cultures of this region share throat singing, their styles vary in breadth of development.

(Source Wikipedia)

02) Mongolian Music, Dance and Oral Narrative: Performing Diverse Identities

This Audio celebrates the power of music, dance, and oral narrative to create identities by imaginatively connecting performers and audiences with ethnic and political groupings, global and sacred landscapes, histories and heroes, spirits and gods. Three distinct cultural eras of Mongolian society are represented. By highlighting the sheer variety of repertories, this Audio illustrates the rich diversity of Mongolia’s peoples and performance arts.

03) Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond

Theodore Levin takes readers on a journey through the rich sonic world of inner Asia, where the elemental energies of wind, water, and echo; the ubiquitous presence of birds and animals; and the legendary feats of heroes have inspired a remarkable art and technology of sound-making among nomadic pastoralists. As performers from Tuva and other parts of inner Asia have responded to the growing worldwide popularity of their music, Levin follows them to the West, detailing their efforts to nourish global connections while preserving the power and poignancy of their music traditions.

A large minority of people in North Asia, particularly in Siberia, follow the religio-cultural practices of shamanism. Some researchers regard Siberia as the heartland of shamanism.

04) Kamtchatka - Dance Drums from the Siberian Far East Korjak

05) Kolyma - Songs Of Nature And Animals Cukc, Even, and Jukaghir

06) Nganasan Shamanic and Narrative Songs of the Siberian Arctic

07) Sakhalin - Vocal and Instrumental Music Nivkh and Ujl’Ta

08) Shamanic and Daily Songs from the Amur Basin. Nanaj, Oroc

09) Yakutia - Epics and Improvisations, Sakha

10) Ritual Songs of the Nomadic Taiga People

11) Buryatia Rites Celebrations and Dances Around Lake Baikal

12) Voices from the Arctic Land's End Nenec Sel'kup

The Chinese Wax Cylinders, Mongolia, Tuva and Siberia Recordings

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