Traditional Chinese and Irish music

[jordan]

Is there a link between the two, while i was in Hong Kong walking through the various markets you can here traditional Chinese's music, but if you listen closely there is a very strong Irish sound in there to especially the instrumentals, but when (now in shanghai) i was in a restaurant having dinner and in the back ground traditional music was being played as you expect, or was it, to my astonishment the chorus to this tune was the foggy dew, no mistake here, note for note, as a flute player in a Glasgow rfb and i could not believe this, so the question is, is there a connection here, which came first, who wrote the notes for the foggy dew, a Chinese's man or a Irish or has this tune just being used by different cultures for hundreds or thousands of years and just get passed on by generation by generation and then ends up a classic 1916 uprising rebel song. Any thoughts on this comrades [/img]

[Stallit 2 de Halfo]

Could it have been that the tune was learned to "satisfy" or play to the tourists specifically? You might get that sometimes in places, or they pck up and learn phrases from the different languages.

I dont think I could explain why tbh. It would be very coincidental that youd hear the exact same tune created of seperate origin. Foggy dew dosnt sound very chinese ;D

I could speculate about lots of reasons. IMO, though, id say they learned it from the "west", hong kong being british until 1997.

The tune had plenty of time since 1916 to reach hongkong, im sure Irish rebel songs have reached all corners of the world.

I was listening to some Irish chap on the radio a few weeks ago. he cycled from Dublin to Beijing solo. He said that when he was in Iran, when he explained where he was from (he didnt speak Iranian or anything) to this countryside family in Iran - they said "Bobby Sands, Bobby Sands".

So youd be amazed at how far "Ireland" has spread, and to the most unlikely of people.

Looking forward to seeing your travel photo's Jordan, hope your having a good time - no doubt ;D

[Papa C.]

I was watching a documentary a while back which claimed that old Irish traditional music (using harps and different sorts of pipes etcetera) was different than the newer trad (using banjos, tin whistle, mandolin, guitars etcetera) because of the British Government 'influence' and it said how different Irish music was back before the penal laws compared to today.

There's only so much combinations with tunes you can do before it's repeated. Rock music for instance, a lot of bands play the same tune slower or faster or backwards with a different air to get a song that sounds very different. U2's 'with or without you' (hate them) is the exact the same tune as 'when I come around' by Green Day and 'Glycerine' by Bush (the band) and, if I went looking I'm sure I could find you about 100 other songs with the same tune. So in that way it could have been an accident. Excuse my ignorance but what type of instruments do Chinese musicians use. I've heard lots of Chinese music but I've never actually seen a Chinese musician playing which is odd.

[jordan]

The instrumental part which I'm talking about, the sound of the mandolin instrument in Irish music is the same sound basically as the sound of the Chinese's instrument i heard but i don't know what its called, theres no point in asking the staff in the hostel, it was a battle trying to say i want to stay another night never mind asking about musical instruments, when i put the thread on i wasn't sure how to put it across but i think yous are getting what i mean, the two types of music just sound similar if you what i mean, what i will do is buy some Cd's and listen to them, you never know they might play the sash to.

ps just being givin a free bottle of beer from one of the chineses lads who lost at pool, this lot dont drink, but nice people[/img]

[Papa C.]

Sounds like you're having a blast. Good to hear it. The only Chinese I know are in Ireland and they're great people!

[jordan]

sitting in the hostel writting my e-mails with music in the back ground, well this time its george and pop with father murphy in between thats whats being played, its good listening to rebel music in a different form.

[Papa C.]

Lol, sounds good. That sounds a little too coincidental alright. I wonder what the craic is there? Are you sure you're not just a little too hooked on the Rebs to hear anything else? ;D

[jordan]

Its in me blood, morning, noon and night mate, ;D,its strange that Ive heard 3 rebel tunes being played in between Chinese's music, so what is the craic here, well i don't have a clue on this one

[Papa C.]

lol. Good stuff mate. Hope you're enjoying the holliers!

[jordan]

I managed to get a hold of 2 chinese traditional folk music cds but cant play them on the pc, i will just steal somebodys lap top when there sleeping and put it back before they wake up.