071: Walking Shrill, by the Hua Family Shawm Band

Hua Family Shawm Band (China)
Walking Shrill (2004)
9 tracks, 79 minutes
Spotify

Don’t stick this one on if you need a soundtrack to a relaxing evening to tap your toes along to – this is not easy listening. I don’t even really enjoy listening to this, to be honest, apart from maybe in minute-long chunks. Fortunately, this is a blog for Good Albums, not enjoyable ones (it’s all conditioned anyway), and you should definitely give this one at least a listen.

This is chuida music from northern Shanxi province in China. It is ceremonial music that was traditionally used for weddings, funerals, 100th day and 80th birthday celebrations, although now it’s mostly just heard at funerals or 80th birthdays. The ensemble can be made up of many musicians playing sheng (mouth organ), hao (trumpet), mei (flute) and huhu (fiddle), but the most important – and striking – sounds of the ensemble are the two suona and the percussion.

The suona is a shawm with a large bell on the end, making for a very loud, very piercing sound. When played in pairs, both instruments embellish upon the same melody, with the higher-pitched suona (known as the zoujian, ‘walking shrill’ – hence the album name) having the freedom to flourish right at the top of the register. Together with the drums, clashing cymbals and gongs, they get a really intense noise going on. Although it’s all precomposed apart from those flourishes, the way the sounds all combine with each other and the way the rhythm seems to clatter along puts me strongly in mind of the free jazz of Ornette Coleman.

You’ll find much better and more in-depth information about chuida and the music of Shanxi in the work of Dr Stephen Jones. Helpfully, he has a pretty sizable post about the music and the Hua Family Shawm Band themselves over on his own blog, which I would heartily recommend. This is challenging music if you’re coming from a Western frame-of-reference, but it’s definitely worth checking out as an important piece of cultural heritage. And you never know, you may just find your next favourite style.