Peeter Vähi. The Path to the Heart of Asia

Wagner Strauss Seeger
Wagner Strauss Seeger
December 11, 2011
To His Highness Salvador D by Peeter Vähi
To His Highness Salvador Dby Peeter Vähi
December 11, 2011

PEETER VÄHI
THE PATH TO THE HEART OF ASIA

An exciting dialogue between Western and Asiatic cultures – Estonian conductor Peeter Vähi and the featuring musicians of the festival Orient ’92. ”…this is a most unusual and truly cross-culture breed of many musicians… There’s certainly an electronic presence, yet the acoustic elements are as strong, it’s both atmospheric and dynamic, featuring lots of ethnic instruments I’ve never heard of! All I can really say is that this is alluring and unique.” (Audion, UK)

1 Legend One 7:31
2 Legend Two 6:07
3 Legend Three 3:43
4 Legend Four 4:05
5 Legend Five 2:44
6 Legend Six 3:11
7 Legend Seven 3:29
8 Legend Eight 4:21
9 Legend Nine 4:29
10 Legend Ten 4:27
11 Legend Zero 3:57

Performed by:
Burhan Öçal (darbuka / Turkey)
Boris Salchak (vocal, tungur / Southern Siberia)
Khoun Sethisak (pei poak, vocal / Cambodia)
Ngo Thi Tanh Huong (tryng / Vietnam)
Wen Chin-lung (erh-hu / Taiwan)
Chi Yung-pin (pi-pa / Taiwan)
Li Ting-yui (yang-qin / Taiwan)
Hsieh Meng-ju (yuan-hsien / Taiwan)
Chen Chung-sheng (di / Taiwan)
Mongush Mergen (chanzy, vocal / Tyva)
Peeter Vähi (keyboards, Tibetan cymbals, Indonesian gong, Vietnamese bell, background vocals / Estonia)

Music composed or arranged on the basis Asian traditional tunes and rhythms by Peeter Vähi
Lyrics: trad
Recorded at the Tallinn City Hall (Matrix Audio Studio), in April 1992
Engineered by Jüri Tamm

Artwork by Everi Vähi
Layout by Thomas Kunadt
Booklet (16 pages) compiled by Leili Parhomenko
Liner notes translated by Lize Mazing
Photos by Tiit Koha and Jaanus Heinla
Produced by Peeter Vähi, Dr Vladimir Ivanoff and Ulrich A. Rützel
Published 1992 by Erdenklang Musikverlag, Germany
20602 Erdenklang Records, Germany

AAD, Stereo

#3, Legend Three, fragment, 1 min 32 sec, mp3

#5, Legend Five, fragment, 1 min 51 sec, mp3

#9, Legend Nine, fragment, 1 min 35 sec, mp3


The Path To The Heart Of Asia
– what does it signify? The heart of Asia in the religious sense is thought to be Shambhala, a spiritual brotherhood of mythical people located somewhere in the area of Himalayas. In this particular context, such an interpretation is evidently too concrete. Geographically, the present record represents both the heart and the limitless borderlands of Asia. Different musicians, participants of the music festival “Orient ’92” in Tallinn, took part in the recording: they include, for example, a master of guttural overtonal chanting and a shaman from Kyzyl, the capital of Tyva and the geographic centre of Asia; and also a musician from Turkey, brought up in the traditions of Turkish folk and classical serail music. The choice of Chinese music is specially lucky: it is performed by musicians from Taiwan. In most provinces of the People’s Republic of China, the tradition of “silk and bamboo” music has not been preserved so well. Add a Vietnamese with bamboo xylophone and Khmer folk musicians from Cambodia and you have the geographic range of the festival as well as that of the record.
There are two ways to record music: either in a sterile way with digital purity or maintaining the authenticity of music – maintaining even the occasional slips that are characteristic of folk music. “My aim was to keep it natural”, says the conductor. “A musician should play in the studio just as he is accustomed to play in a mountain village or at a popular festival. In order to communicate feeling, the Legends have been recorded as a complete wholes from the beginning up to the very end, without using the possibility of cuts in the studio.”

Press resonance
The liner notes in Spanish

Distribution in Estonia by Easy Living Music, reispuk@neti.ee, phone +372 51 06058
Distribution in Germany by DA Music
Distribution (MP 3) in Japan by Amazon and iTunes

See other records of Peeter Vähi: In the Mystical Land of Kaydara, Maria Magdalena, Hommage à brillance de Lune, A Chant of Bamboo, Supreme Silence, To His Highness Salvador D, 2000 Years after the Birth of Christ, Tamula Fire Collage, Handbell Symphony, Sounds of the Silver Moon