Drifting flowers over the water, wandering clouds in the wind. Deep in the night she awaits for her love. These themes, often found in Vietnamese poetry, are buddhist-inspired images of the world’s impermanence, of the fragility of our existence. Ephemeral yet always renewed. Thus the Vietnamese musical tradition is transfigured in Fragile Beauty by unexpected encounters (jazz harmonies, African rhythms, Japanese vividness), by new orchestration of ancient instruments (koto, trung or luth) and a true dimension of improvisation and interplay. Nguyên LêDas Weltbürgertum ist im 21. Jahrhundert keine persönliche Haltung oder utopische Geistesströmung mehr, es ist die Realität der Großstädte. Wer heute durch die Straßen einer beliebigen Metropole schlendert, sieht, hört und spürt, dass das „globale Dorf“ kein Schlagwort mehr ist. Die s...

Besetzung

Huong Thanh - vocals
Nguyên Lê - electric & acoustic guitar, synthesizer, computer
Mieko Miyazaki - koto
Hao Nhiên Pham - monocorde (dàn bau), 16-strings zither (dàn tranh), sao, meo bamboo flutes
Nguyên Van-Hong - backing vocals
Paolo Fresu - trumpet, fluegelhorn
Stéphane Guillaume - soprano sax, flutes
Renaud Garcia-Fons - pizz & arco acoustic 5-string bass
Etienne Mbappé - fretless bass
Alex Tran - percussions
Francis Lassus - percussions
Illya Amar - bamboo balafon (trung)
Dominique Borker - piano

Aufnahmedetails

Recorded and mixed by Nguyên Lê at Studio Louxor, Paris Barbès, France, December 2006 - May 2007
Produced by Nguyên Lê