|
Danwei TV
Bela Fleck, Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet in BeijingPosted by Jeremy Goldkorn, November 6, 2006 9:38 AM
Bela Fleck, Abigail Washburn, Casey Driessen and Ben Sollee, fresh from their tour of Tibet, are playing in Shanghai tonight and in Beijing on November 10 and 11, 2006. This Danwei Music interview with the band was recorded on a hutong house rooftop as they jammed with Illiqi and Hujilitu, two members of the Beijing-based Mongolian folk band Hanggai, before they left for Tibet. Sound was recorded with on camera microphones.
Sexy Beijing is now on its own website: check the latest episodes at www.sexybeijing.tv |
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
affordabe on
Blogspot unblocked, but Blogger is blocked
Adam J. Sc on
Snow in Beijing
Peter Kauf on
Bound feet in China
lost in tr on
Shanzhai National Day parade
Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
 Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
 Xujun Eberlein's Apologies Forthcoming: Hong Kong's Blacksmith Books has published a short story collection by Xujun Eberlein.
Princess Der Ling: Two Years in the Forbidden City: Two years in the Forbidden City is largely a reminiscence of the minutiae of life for one of history's most powerful women, by one of her court attendants, a Manchu noble's daughter by the name of Der Ling.
Carl Crow's The Long Road Back to China: In 1939 Carl Crow - an American journalist, advertising executive and author who had lived in Shanghai for 25 years until forced out by the Japanese - travelled up the Burma Road from Rangoon to Chongqing on assignment for Liberty magazine － 'the most interesting assignment I have ever been given'.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ New Weekly: Do Chinese kids know anything about traditonal Chinese culture? (2004.06): Q: Do you know what China's four great inventions are? Paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder 49.3% know all four, 37.3% get one or more wrong, 13.3% don't know at all (2004.06.12) + The horrors of SMS messaging (2007.09): Naraka 19 (地狱第19层), based on the Cai Jun (蔡骏) novel, gets neutered by SARFT. + China's illegal yellow press (2005.05): On the left is the front page of 'Military News', a newspaper without masthead, contact phone number or any kind of publication licence (required by Chinese law). The paper was purchased on the Beijing subway for two yuan, which is relatively expensive, as most of the city's daily newspapers cost only half a yuan.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky
 (on the mainland)or Feedburner  (blocked in China) Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links) Top Links: Links from the top bar Danwei Jobs: Want ads Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30 |
 |
Chinese media, advertising, and urban life. |
|
tweet
facebook
bookmark
HaoHao
digg
Comments on Bela Fleck, Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet in Beijing
That's an awesome clip. Wish I was in China to watch them!
A very special concert - wonderful atmosphere. Danwei and others should note that it is entirely unacceptable to tell people to move their tables and/or sit down to accommodate your cameras. If you haven't got a good view then get taller tripods.
excellent!
The concert at Star Live was incredible. Fantastic atmosphere, Mongolian guest stars, cello, fiddle and banjo solos - brilliant.
I'm glad your other commenters so far enjoyed the show at Star Live, but everyone I know (= people who've seen Abby on her previous visits here, I suspect) thought it kind of sucked. They're a small band with a small sound, and they really need a small venue. That place overwhelmed them: the show lacked any intimacy, any real feeling.
And Bela Fleck fans will no doubt heap abuse on me for saying this, but I feel he seriously unbalances the band. Ben and Casey are great players too (perhaps greater), but they ration their soloing, and serve the stripped-down style of a simple folk band. I found Bela's extravagant (but musically empty, emotionally lifeless) virtuosity to be intrusive, incongruous - and, at times, downright tedious.
I've seen almost every show Abby has done here, and I think the one last year at Dashanzi's South Gate Space was way the best - not least for the fantastic jam session with IZ afterwards. (Although the venue that suited her best was perhaps the even smaller Sanwei Bookstore tearoom, where she played one of her first Beijing gigs a few years ago.)