VIEW THIS PAGE The sound of galloping horses, Middle Eastern melodies and reggae — keen listeners will hear all of these influences in the music of Yerboli Ahmethan (葉爾波利), a Kazakh musician born and raised in China’s Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region.
Ahmethan, who is currently based in Shenzhen, is traveling outside China for the first time ever to play at the Bitan Music Festival (碧潭音樂節) in Taipei County tomorrow and Sunday.
Although he started learning the dombra, a traditional stringed instrument common in Central Asia, at the age of 5, Ahmethan says he also spent his youth listening to the likes of Frank Zappa, AC/DC and “all kinds of rock ’n’ roll.” He finds it hard to communicate at length in Mandarin, so during a phone interview earlier this week his manager and close friend, Tu Fei (塗飛), helped answer questions.
Ahmethan, 28, now plays Kazakh folk music — which reflects a combination of “Islamic and Mongolian culture” in Tu’s words — but with his own twist.
He rearranges traditional songs, adding elements of improvisation and displays of virtuosity on the dombra. He says half of his material consists of original songs, which mix Kazakh lyrics and music with contemporary forms like reggae, folk and rock.
The dombra features prominently in Ahmethan’s debut CD, Kazakh Spirit, which Ahmethan released on his own last year. The instrument, which has two nylon strings, a pear-shaped body and slender neck, was traditionally used as accompaniment for Kazakh folk songs and poems.
When strummed rhythmically, the dombra has been compared to the sound of galloping horses, which play a major role in the lives of the nomadic Kazakhs. When plucked, it sounds somewhat similar to the oud, an Arabic lute, and echoes the hints of Middle Eastern melodies found in Kazakh music.
Ten years ago, Ahmethan wouldn’t have imagined that he would still be playing the dombra. After leaving Xinjiang at the age of 16, he was a guitarist in AC/DC cover bands and made a living by playing piano, mandolin and accordion for live bands and studio sessions.
Ahmethan’s situation is typical, says Tu, who works as a radio DJ and runs a live music venue in Shenzhen. “In the interior [of China], a lot of traditional things are almost all gone. A lot of young people, in order to survive, can’t do [traditional music]. So they have to do Western music in order to make a living.”
Ahmethan started to rediscover his musical and cultural roots when he moved to Beijing in 2000. There he played in IZ, the locally renowned band led by fellow Kazakh musician Mamuer Rayeskan (馬木爾). Ahmethan met Tu on a visit to Shenzhen, where he gigs regularly with his current three-piece band, which will also be in Taipei this weekend.
Tu encouraged Ahmethan to go back to his “roots” while exploring “world fusion” music. Tu says Ahmethan’s current interests include working with avant-garde and free-jazz musicians.
But Ahmethan doesn’t intend to put the dombra down again. “His biggest goal,” says Tu, “is to let more people around the world know about Kazakh culture.” VIEW THIS PAGE
It is jarring how differently Taiwan’s politics is portrayed in the international press compared to the local Chinese-language press. Viewed from abroad, Taiwan is seen as a geopolitical hotspot, or “The Most Dangerous Place on Earth,” as the Economist once blazoned across their cover. Meanwhile, tasked with facing down those existential threats, Taiwan’s leaders are dying their hair pink. These include former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), among others. They are demonstrating what big fans they are of South Korean K-pop sensations Blackpink ahead of their concerts this weekend in Kaohsiung.
Taiwan is one of the world’s greatest per-capita consumers of seafood. Whereas the average human is thought to eat around 20kg of seafood per year, each Taiwanese gets through 27kg to 35kg of ocean delicacies annually, depending on which source you find most credible. Given the ubiquity of dishes like oyster omelet (蚵仔煎) and milkfish soup (虱目魚湯), the higher estimate may well be correct. By global standards, let alone local consumption patterns, I’m not much of a seafood fan. It’s not just a matter of taste, although that’s part of it. What I’ve read about the environmental impact of the
Oct 20 to Oct 26 After a day of fighting, the Japanese Army’s Second Division was resting when a curious delegation of two Scotsmen and 19 Taiwanese approached their camp. It was Oct. 20, 1895, and the troops had reached Taiye Village (太爺庄) in today’s Hunei District (湖內), Kaohsiung, just 10km away from their final target of Tainan. Led by Presbyterian missionaries Thomas Barclay and Duncan Ferguson, the group informed the Japanese that resistance leader Liu Yung-fu (劉永福) had fled to China the previous night, leaving his Black Flag Army fighters behind and the city in chaos. On behalf of the
The Taipei Times last week reported that the rising share of seniors in the population is reshaping the nation’s housing markets. According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, about 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident. H&B Realty chief researcher Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨), quoted in the article, said that there is rising demand for elderly-friendly housing, including units with elevators, barrier-free layouts and proximity to healthcare services. Hsu and others cited in the article highlighted the changing family residential dynamics, as children no longer live with parents,
RSS