Miao Mouthorgans & Other Rare Instruments (in Guizhou, Sichuan, China)

Description

A series of unreleased recordings of mouth organs and other rare traditional instruments from China’s Guizhou and Sichuan provinces. “The term Miao is a very old and deceptive Chinese pseudo-ethnic categorization, corresponding to Hmong in Western languages, a term recognized by French colonial Indochina. Miao has become a generic term that does not reveal the diversity of the 38 subgroups or the 9 million people, mainly in Guizhou province, in southern China. As China has moved towards a market economy, a large number of minority regions have commercialized a product that only they have: their ethnicity itself. Ethnic tourism has developed strongly in China since the 1990s for both Chinese and foreign tourists, and it is often presented as a way to create income in these regions for development. I generally stay away from ethno-tourist shows and try to listen to music that is not a commodity! I was based in Dali, Yunnan, China between 2006 and 2013.”