Various Artists
Only The Mountain Echo Responds / A Song Wafts Into The Heart Music of the Bai Opera and the Dai Opera in Yunnan Province (2CD)

PAN2120-21

Opera in China combines (folk) stories, song, and dance in colourful costumes. Modern opera refers to the professionalized form practiced by the state supported troupes, while traditional folk opera is still practiced by amateur troupes in the countryside.
The Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture Bai Opera Troupe feature on most of disc#1, and the Dehong Prefecture Dai Opera Troupe feature on most of disc #2. The rest of both discs are recordings of amateur opera troupes and/or individual opera singers.
This double CD is a unique document, there exist no other such extensive productions on Bai and Dai opera. All in all it took some 20 years to produce, from first planning to last translations. Most problems were encountered in the translating of the specialised vernacular in the Bai and Dai languages. Our heartfelt thanks go to Prof. Zhang Xingrong (Kunming) who made the recordings, and the unusually skilled translators Helen Rees, Satoru Ito, and Yang Hong.
Digipack with extensive liner notes, 56+ and 70+ min.

Published: 2017

Genre: Asia & Oceanic
Label: Pan Records