Attain Some Zen With Buddhist Folk Fusion Band Ying Shui Di Jiang, Nov 24 at DDC
Like a lone monk ascending enlightened summits to reckon with the modern depths below, Zhao Yuan has embraced many compelling contradictions. The Nanjing-hailing founder of Ying Shui Di Jiang (英水帝江), a truly unique ten-piece ensemble, was raised in the Buddhist faith and started the act as a solo artist a decade ago as a pseudonym to experiment under. Since then, he and his Ying Shui Di Jiang bandmates have recorded two full-length albums, 2013's 了不可得安心法 (liǎo bùkě dé ānxīn fǎ) and last year‘s 24-track opus 须弥 (xū mí).
Despite the years they've spent recording together, the band has only taken to the stage once, making their debut in Nanjing last year with half of its lineup. But Zhao has managed to wrangle six of his bandmates together to accompany him to Beijing for Nov 24, when they will perform at DDC. Below, Zhao tells us more about fronting this unique experimental band.
Ten members is a lot for one band. How does the songwriting process work?
As the founder, I start a rough "sketch" of each song, usually a piece of electronica fused with various traditional instruments like 萧 (xiāo) flute.
Think of it as painting. What I finish is the underpainting. Then I send that digital demo to the rest of the band, and they paint their own musical layers on top of that, for me to later mix and edit. So the key here is just being free. There are no set requirements. One song could have the entire band participating, or maybe just feature four or five bandmates. The fusion of Ying Shui Di Jiang shows through its music, it's all about being free, improvising and loving music.
What are the challenges and benefits of that unique process?
As mentioned before, the members participate with free will, and interestingly everyone seems to be cool about this. So there aren’t really any challenges. We don’t really aim to achieve or be anything. We share common interests, and no one is really worried if songs are made at a slow pace. In terms of benefits, I guess we really have a lot of elements to work with here, people playing various instruments and with different vocal styles.
How would you describe the differences between your albums 了不可得安心法 and 须弥?
Both are deeply inspired by the tenets of Buddhism. This has been my master plan. The first album attempts to depict “this lifetime” or “being alive on this earth” according to the Buddist belief. The second LP is about the journey after “this life," in a manner of speaking, and tries to convey the feeling of what happens after death, in the Buddhist view. In terms of sonics, the second album has more instruments involved, because several more members joined us by then to make our band what it is today.
What songs best exemplify what Ying Shui Di Jiang is all about?
There are many, but one of our best songs is "山鬼," from our last album. Its title roughly translates to “The ‘Ghost’ of the Mountains," though it is actually about a god of the mountains. He possesses the power of a god, at least, though he is also bound by the Buddhist "samsara" cycle of death and rebirth. This song aims to capture the stage during which a god is living in among those summits.
What will make this week's gig at DDC special, in your eyes?
Though we have recorded two albums, our DDC performance will only be our second gig. Before that, we only had one show, our debut performance in Nanjing earlier this year. Not all of us showed up, due to the scale of the band and some of our members' other commitments. But I'm happy to say that seven of us will make it to DDC on Nov 24. We're especially excited to have our Japanese bassist Shigeta join us for a rare face-to-face performance.
Again, we don’t expect to pull off anything fancy. We just to perform with full hearts, while having fun.
Ying Shui Di Jiang will perform at DDC on Nov 24. For more information, click here or see the poster above.
Photos courtesy of DDC, courtesy of the band
