Min Xiao-Fen

Unknown Mirrors
Locked Away
Namboku Records No #

Recorded on two different continents with different assumptions and considerations Locked Away and METTA are united because the duos involved use traditional instruments in a non-traditional way to create idiosyncratic programs. Chinese Min Xiao-Fen, who now lives in the US, has spent years adapting the long-established sounds of the pipa away from its conventional repertoire  with adaptations of Jazz, improv and contemporary notated music. Meanwhile Australian Miyama McQueen-Tokita, who lives in Japan, has modified the timbres of the less-common bass koto to encompass, improv, ambient and Westernized song forms and poetry.

Neither musician approached the task alone. Unknown Mirrors’ other half is Australian recorder player Ryan Williams, whose mastery of different members of the end-blown instrument has been featured with the the sort of open-minded ensembles with which McQueen-Tokita also plays. Much of their disc is concerned with expressing the Japanese concept of Natsukashii which emphasizes a positive, sentimental feeling towards past experiences without wishing to return to them. Designed as soundtracks to two classic Chinese silent movies on METTA, besides pipa, Min also plays ruan, sanxian, guqin and finger piano, creates sound effects and vocalizes. Her partners is Canadian-born River Guerguerian, who plays Middle Eastern and Indian frame drums, hand drums, kanjira talking drums, berimbau, doumbek, Chinese gongs, hand-pan, didgeridoo, rain stick and also vocalizes.

Min’s skill in manipulating the varied Chinese lutes is such that she’s able to draw out pizzicato string patterns that could come from tenor banjo and finger picked acoustic guitar, or  arco reach and pinched glissandi and three-quarter double bass. While a track such as “Mellow” with its clawhammer twangs and percussion stops may sound like stripped down Bluegrass, for instance, Min’s squeaky Asian vocalizing  dissuades the listener from that supposition.

Even without visuals certain tracks’ pivots, emphasis and amplifications stand on their own. “Maitri” for instance featuring hand drumming  and stops is the most soundtrack-like. But the string exposition seems more “Dueling Banjos” then Dynasty fanfares. “Mystique” with its strident cymbal pops and folksy string strums resembles a traditional European ballad, while “Mantra” could almost be Rock music with slurred flanges from Min and Guerguerian’s relentless backbeat.

However the most distinct tracks are those which cunningly fuse traditions in an original manner. Vibrating up and down the scale on “Magic” expresses this wizardry as frame drum breaks and lower-pitched chording suggest Middle East and Eastern European strains not those of the Far East. “Mighty” which include vocalized gurgles and gasps from Min balances on digeridoo-like puffs and what could be electric guitar chording. At points Guerguerian also vocalizes with a low vibration that contrasts distinctively with Mini’s sometime ululating shrieks, yodels and breaths,

McQueen-Tokita is the only vocalist on Locked Away, although Williams’ elevated trills sometimes add more lyricism to the narratives. Like Min-Guerguerian, but in a completely dissimilar manner, McQueen-Tokita-Williams aim for a unique fusion. But their task is even most difficult since they’re fusing a distinctively Japanese concert and a traditional Nipponese instrument with reed fripples that have both Western and Eastern antecedents plus variants of Europeanized avant-folk songs vocalized with English and Japanese lyrics plus wordless intonation.

Although during the dozen tracks, the pace of the vocal and instrumental intersections often come close to sedative, in the main the two manage to overcome this drawback with unexpected pivots. For a start McQueen-Tokita manipulates the buzzes and plucks from the bass koto so that it takes on double bass, 12-string guitar or concert harp textures and even in one interlude flamenco-like chording. Similarly Williams’ recorders express not only peeps, but basso puffs and trills that emphasize linear expositions.

An instance of the realized fusion is on “Yuhi”, Sounding like thoroughly Japanese music – whatever that really means – with taut rubs and scratches from the koto and half-heard singing, the track ascends in pitch as vibrating twangs become more audible. It then become almost oppressively aggressive as the English words become clearer accompanied by woody slaps, what could be electronic bangs and a final crash.

Or compare “Tether” to “Sun Showers”. Somehow what appears to be the sound of thunder mixed with a high-pitched voice, strident reed chirps and string flanges on the first eventually overtake the melancholy mood with livelier recorder trills and koto string pumps. On “Sun Showers” intermittent reed cheeps mixed with constant string strums and stops suggest hillbilly not hōgaku music. Yet as antiphony gives way to aligned, the appropriate connections are maintained.

Sympathetic interaction with billowing reed breaths and intense string plucks usually keep the broken-octave affiliations moving forward. Yet as itemized on “June”,  at nearly 10½ minutes, the session’s lengthiest track, instrumental fusion seems to define the musical objectives more directly then when English poetics are appended to the music. Beginning with measured string strums and horizontal reed patterns, wordless hums seem slotted more appropriately in the mix than elsewhere. As the exposition picks up at mid-point with basso koto twangs and frails plus recorder flutters, the link suggested is confirmed, with the final buoyant vocals only adding to the presentation.

Min Xiao-Fen’s program has created a fascinating intersectional fusion which attains most of its goals. Unknown Mirrors’ Locked Away is an equally engaging variation of the same ideas. Yet perhaps appending English poetry to mostly Nipponese sentiments weakens the performances more than it should,

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: METTA: 1. Magnetic 2. Mellow 3. Magic 4. Mystique 5. Mingle 6. Mirth 7. Mild 8. Mighty 9. Mudita 10. Maitri 11. Merciful 12. Mantra 13. Muse 14. Mindful

Personnel: METTA: Min Xiao-Fen (pipa, ruan, sanxian, guqin, finger piano, sound effects and voice) and River Guerguerian (Middle Eastern and Indian frame drums, hand drums, kanjira talking drums, berimbau, doumbek, Chinese gongs, hand-pan, didgeridoo, rain stick and voice)

Track Listing: Locked: 1. Tracks 2. Promise of Summer 3. Walking Underwater 4. Sun Showers 5. Overcast 6. Tether 7. June 8. Yuhi 9. Anchor Song 10. Like Ancient Runes 11. Yellow Fields 12. Locked Away

Personnel: Locked: Ryan Williams (recorders) and Miyama McQueen-Tokita (bass koto and vocals)