Far Eastern Folk Influenced Prog

Toaster Mantis wrote: Zhaoze are a very good band combining post-rock with Chinese classical music, they seem to be pretty obscure outside Asia though to the point they weren't on PA last time I checked. Here's a review of one of their albums complete with a sample track.

Now that this thread has been resurrected, I've fixed the dead link to Zhaoze and removed the one to Flower Travellin' Band. Couldn't find the track elsewhere on YouTube, so I replaced it with an in-depth description of the group's signature style.

Interessting thread. Here is some stuff I got:

Minoru Muraoka: Bamboo
Minoru Muraoka is a shakuhachi player from Japan who mixes traditional japanese music with jazz and rock.
While this is mostly jazz (and unfortunally some standards), it also got some rock tracks on the album,
especially "The positive & the negative" is one of my favorite tracks. Start at 8m 47s to hear it directly.

He also realeased Ozorezan, which is also cool.

Ananda Shankar: Ananda Shankar and His Music
Ananda Shankar is the nephew of the famous sitar player Ravi Shankar and also playes sitar, but in a more
vinionary style. He mixes indian traditional music with jazz and rock and is one of my favorite artists.

He also released a couple of more albums. Just check PA.

John Mayer: Dhammapada
John Mayer (not the random pop guy) is famous for mixing traditional indian music with jazz. The most
releases by him are medicore in my opinion, but this album kicks ass, especially the first track "Maha-
Samana" (or maybe the only track that is really good). Rock drums and bass with various wind instruments,
sitar, veena, koto and tablas. Same goes here, more jazz then rock.
I can't find a youtube link that works, so just try spotify instead: John Mayer – Dhammapada

So far.


Edited by tricksiebzehn - March 04 2015 at 17:49

Neil Ardley - Kaleidoscope of Rainbows

Forgot to suggest Igra Staklienih Perli, they have an interesting space rock facet as well, with of course the eastern european folk influence, very interesting too - their music shows a touch of Middle Orient folk which for me is the cherry in the cake. 

Lo and behold, it looks like Zhaoze have a new album out. From the sound of the streaming, it's at least on par with their first LP, but I need to give it a couple listens more. Has anyone gotten around to adding this band to the database yet?

The group have also made a music video for one of the tracks.



Maybe this will be the album that gets them an audience outside Asia...

Time for me to plug the excellent album by a good friend of mine, Dennis Rea of Moraine - inspired by his experiences in China and Taiwan (also detailed in his equally excellent book, Live in the Forbidden City). The album, titled Views from Chicheng Precipice, is available for streaming on Bandcamp: http://https://dennisrea.bandcamp.com/album/views-from-chicheng-precipice


Edited by Raff - May 13 2015 at 06:41

... Gamelan, kabuki, taiko, you-name-it. And I don't want the Yoshida Brothers.

My favourite track Ronin on the debut solo album entitled Vanished Age by Napier's Bones' Gordon Midgley, uses a Japanese Kumoi scale.


https://gordonmidgley.bandcamp.com/track/ronin










Edited by Svetonio - November 04 2015 at 23:23