Afterquake: Fusing folk and electronica for victims of the Sichuan earthquake

Jerry Chan | May 12, 2009 9:00 am | Add a comment | 2265 reads

With all that has transpired in the past twelve months, it’s hard to believe just a year has passed since the devastating May 12 earthquake that decimated parts of Sichuan. While life goes on here in Beijing, many of the survivors of the quake are still slowly rebuilding their lives. To commemorate this momentous tragedy, acclaimed folk artist Abigail Washburn (The Sparrow Quartet) and producer David Liang, the founder of the Shanghai Restoration Project, have teamed up on a project fusing their field recordings of Sichuan folk songs and ambient sounds with a mélange of electronica textures and hip hop-laced beats. The result is Afterquake, a seven-song benefit ep that comes out on the one-year anniversary May 12th. We spoke with both collaborators about what inspired the project, how it was put together and their individual plans for the future.

Abigail, You spent time in Sichuan a while back – when was that and how did that experience shape your life and career?
A: I first lived in Sichuan for seven months in 1997. Although I had traveled along the eastern seaboard in ’96, my time in Sichuan a year later was when I really fell in love with Chinese culture and knew that I’d spend the rest of my life coming back. Sichuan is rich with culture… literally wet with it. The air is so heavy with moisture it hangs in the air almost visibly and slows everything down. You find yourself spending hours in teahouses going through piles of sunflower seeds, drinking the same cup of tea and playing mahjong or cards.
However, the most compelling draw into Sichuan was an old lady named Wang Dehua (王德花) whom I met in 1997. She spoke broken British English and took care of the foreign kids outside my dorm. She introduced herself to me on the street and before I knew it, I was having dinner with her and her husband at least two nights a week and listening to stories from every part of their lives from the Qing dynasty to the Cultural Revolution and then some. Their losses were so great and their hearts seemed to expand with every loss to beat out the grief. They set the bar for me for the potential kindness, warmth and depth of humanity. I was totally hooked to them and Sichuan for the rest of my life. They passed several years ago, well before May 12 2008.

Dave, what’s your background and what brought you to China?

D: I am ethnically Chinese but was born and raised in the United States. I started coming to China during college and really fell in love with the place. I currently reside in New York City and try to visit China a few times a year. I grew up playing classical piano and transitioned to jazz when I was in high school. I played in a rock band in high school, composed music for theatrical productions in college, and even conducted a choral group. My first foray into commercial music was with Bad Boy Records (P Diddy’s hip hop label in the US).

Where were you when the earthquake happened? What was going through your mind when you found out? Did you have any friends personally affected by the quake?

A: I first found out when I was surfing Chinese news that morning. I didn’t realize the magnitude of the event until I picked up the NY Times later that day and subsequent days. It was similar to finding out about 911 here in the US. I felt paralyzed and heavy in my heart. I didn’t know what I could do to help. The good friends that I made in ’97 either had passed away by then or emigrated to Canada. I no longer had a close connection to any one person in particular although I knew that many of the people I had cared about were likely deeply affected by the quake.

When and how did you get the idea to do this project? What was it like performing and visiting the schools in Sichuan after the quake last year?

A: I went back to Sichuan last winter to do a residency at the music department of the Art School of Sichuan University. I was teaching traditional American music to the Chinese-style singing majors in the department and preparing a joint concert for the school. While there I hooked up with a friend, Peter Goff who owns and runs the Bookworm in Chengdu and is also the president of Sichuan Quake Relief. He asked if I would volunteer to perform at some of the Sichuan relocation schools that received their donations. We spent a day and a half visiting six schools – it was a whirlwind of performing and interacting with kids. After the performances many of the kids wanted to sing their songs for me and share stories of missing their parents and other emotional scars of the earthquake … often ending in tears. I had no idea how far millions of people still were from rebuilding their homes, much less recovering their lives. I went back to the states in late December trying to figure out what more I could do to help.

When Dave and I met up in December in NYC we had the idea that we should do some kind of musical project together in China. It wasn’t until my touring with The Sparrow Quartet was done in February that I thought of going into the relocation schools and the disaster zone to make music with the kids and parents themselves. Dave immediately agreed, and with crunched timing (given the release date of May 12, the one-year anniversary) we set out buying plane tickets for only three weeks later. We contacted Sichuan Quake Relief, documentary photographer Amanda Kowalski and videographer Luke Mines – they all became part of the team that is releasing Afterquake.

Afterquake: Music with Sichuan earthquake survivors from Sexy Beijing TV on Vimeo.

What is the basic musical idea behind the songs on the album?

A: The songs are a combination of what both Dave and I bring to the table: electronica and folk. The approach to capturing field recordings was threefold – voices and stories of the children in relocations schools, voices of the parents back in the disaster zone, soundscapes of post-earthquake Sichuan. Ultimately the song compositions exist to enhance the inherent virtue of the field recordings. The organic sounds of the people, their stories and the accompanying soundscapes. The song compositions also exist in a way that we hope appeals to a broad range of listeners who may not even be aware of the upcoming anniversary and the continuing needs for attention and money in the relocation schools and the disaster zone. We hope this will increase awareness, and hopefully contributions to the work of Sichuan Quake Relief.
How will the proceeds be donated? Who will benefit?
A: A portion of the proceeds related to the sales of the record will be directly wired to Sichuan Quake Relief. Both Dave and I have seen how every penny (mao) goes directly to those in need, based on what they personally request- students and schools. This is where the money needs to go.
What upcoming plans do you have?

A: I have very unspecific plans at the moment to make a new record in the next few months. I have a few songs already written in Chinese. I’m hoping to spend an extended period of time in Beijing this fall writing new music and possible doing some low-key shows experimenting with the new material while doing a residency at Chinese conservatory teaching US traditional music and learning more traditional Chinese music, and possibly writing and recording with local musicians. In the near future I’ll be playing at the Pete Seeger 90th Birthday Party at Madison Square Garden. So far I’m lined up to sing with members of Sweet Honey and the Rock and Ben Harper on Oh Freedom, also lined up to sing Turn, Turn, Turn with Roger McGuinn and Guy Davis, and a duet with Steve Earle backed by Sparrow Quartet. It will be taped and released as a DVD after the fact. Otherwise I’m getting ready for the next record. Meeting with some producers … trying to figure it out.

D: I’m currently in Tokyo working with a Universal Japan artist named MEG (terrific pop singer/performer). This summer I plan on starting a new Shanghai Restoration Project record to be released around the time of the Shanghai Expo.
Will there be any performances of songs from Afterquake in Beijing?

D: We haven’t planned any at the moment but we’d love to do one around the fall.

Afterquake will be available May 12 on Amazon.com and other digital download sites, including iTunes and Rhapsody. In China, it will be distributed by High Note Records, and will be available on China Mobile and Sina.net, among other services. For more information about the project, visit www.afterquake.net. Hear the NPR interview here. The Afterquake documentary will be screened at The Bookworm tonight at 7pm, with the CD available for sale.