Here's some 60's music from China, Wei Chi-Hsien singing and Hwang Man-lu and Li Pao-chiung playing the piano.... There's no date mentioned and I'm wondering if this came out before or after the Cultural Revolution (which went from 1966 till 1976).... During that period most music (and literature and other arts) were mostly banned, mostly it was Chinese Opera which was tolerated and they HAD TO do songs about the glory of Chairman Mao Tse-tung and communism... The first song on this album is actually a poem by Mao Tse-tung set to music. According to Jung Chang and Jon Halliday's excellent biography "Mao, The Unknown Story" Mao would sit in one of those ghastly concrete buildings he had build all over China, often destroying beautiful very old buildings to build these horrible buildings, read books, listen to music and write his poetry.... (Some have criticized that this book was TOO anti Mao but I found it a riveting read).... Most people in China at that time had no access to books, recorded music or even paintings and having those at home could land you in some very serious trouble, but Mao himself had all his buildings stocked with music, books and paintings.... And I was surprised by Chinese science fiction writer Liu Cixin's book The Three Body Problem, which I loved, where he talks very openly about the Cultural Revolution and its repercussions.... I guess Hong Kong and Taiwan especially profited from it musically because so many Chinese main-land artists fled to those places and then made a name for them selves.....
The album comes with a small booklet too:
GET IT HERE
Enjoy!
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