Chinese

Maggie Chiang Mei-chi (江美琪) is a Taiwanese Mandopop singer-songwriter. She is dubbed a "therapeutic singer" (療傷系歌手) by the Chinese-language media because of her poignant delivery of heartfelt ballads.

Kay Tse On-kay is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer. She is a prominent figure in Cantopop and Hong Kong popular culture and is frequently referred to in the media as a "grass-roots diva" and "goddess." She is known for her versatile vocal range and her ability to sing in various music genres.

Gary Lucas – charmingly oddball pop songwriter, musical world traveler, utterly hellacious guitarist – is perhaps at his most hellaciously, charmingly cosmopolitan on this frankly amazing album, which finds him adapting popular Chinese songs that were originally recorded in the 1960s and which he heard and fell in love with during a sojourn in Taiwan in the mid-'70s. His girlfriend at the time had a cassette tape of such local superstars as Chow Hsuan and Bai Kwong, and it was, he says in his liner notes, "like almost no other music I had ever heard before." Twenty-five years later he put together this quirkily gorgeous tribute, which includes jaw-droppingly virtuosic fingerstyle guitar arrangements ("Mad World," "Wall") and song settings using guest vocalists. Among the best of the latter are the limpidly beautiful "Night in Shanghai" (again, note the guitar playing) and the country-flavored "I Wait for Your Return," which is simply a hoot. He's not playing this stuff for laughs, though; his genuine affection for the music comes through loud and clear, and even when he has fun with it he is obviously trying to do so in a way that brings its haunting loveliness to the fore. Very highly recommended.

Из глубины веков вместе с древней китайской мудростью пришли к нам чайные церемонии. Во время этих красивых ритуалов, имеющих глубокий философский смысл, человек не только наслаждается ароматом и вкусом изысканного чая, но и отрешается от суеты, ощущает покой и умиротворение, обретает гармонию с собой и окружающим миром. Издавна важной составляющей чайной церемонии была музыка. Именно музыка в сочетании с неспешностью ритуала чайной церемонии, с чарующим ароматом и вкусом китайского чая благотворно влияет на человека, врачует его душу, пробуждает стремление к самосовершенствованию.