There's a lot to say about Christopher Tin's new album, Calling All Dawns. My Co-Moderator, Padma, has said a fair bit already. I shall endeavor to not repeat what he's said.
I'm not familiar with Christopher's work. Ironic, isn't it? It was a post by Thunderfall that introduced me to him. Oh, I had heard Baba Yetu before, when I played the demo for Civ4. And skipped right through it, being anxious to get into the game. Well, that experience with the demo didn't leave me wanting for more, so it was quickly deleted, and the brief bit I had heard of it was forgotten.
So Thunderfall posts and asked who'd like to do this? I jumped on YouTube and listened to the first part of Baba Yetu, and decided, yeah, I could listen to this. I like a wide range of music. On my iPod, I have a bit of everything, from Tim McGraw to Darren Denney to Stone Temple Pilots to Yanni to Fleetwood Mac and a bunch of stuff that most people say 'Who?' when I tell them what I'm listening to.
After downloading the album from Christopher's website, I was anxious to hear it. I sat down and really listened to Baba Yetu, which for those of you who don't already know it is The Lord's Prayer sung in Swahili. Pretty good. Before I knew it, I was listening to Rassemblons-Nous. This tune made me stop what I was doing and figure out where I was in the album. The technobeat appealed to me. When I saw I had lost three tracks before realizing I had listened to them, it occured to me that Christopher was excellent at blending the songs together. This was, I thought to myself, something special. I finished listening to Rassemblons and went back to Baba Yetu. This time I paid attention to the album, instead of letting it wash over me. I opened up the liner notes, and noticed that the songs went from Swahili to Japanese to Mandarin to Portuguese to the French Rassemblons-Nous I was listening too. I was blown away. The rest of the album did not disappoint me.
This music is not a small group playing in a studio. This is an orchestra of over two hundred musicians playing Christopher's music. This album has a larger-than-life depth to it. It gives a fullness, a richness, that I don't normally feel when listening to music. I'm hard pressed to put into words the feelings I get from this album. The album has a full, rich sound which gave me visions of wide open plains, sprawling mountains, and far horizons over the ocean.
It has been said that this album is about cycles. I will agree with that. There's very clearly three parts, representing Day/Birth, Night/Death, and Dawn/Rebirth. But there's a deeper meaning. He seamlessly moved from one language and culture to another, blending them perfectly. Going from Christianity's The Lord's Prayer to haikus, poetry from China, Rassemblon-Nous, and finishing with the Maori Kia Hora Te Marino, this album shows me that it knows how to go from culture to culture and make them work together. I suspect that Christopher is trying to show us how flawlessly our cultures fit together, and uses this album as a lesson that we can live together, and exist together in harmony. Because that's what this album is about: existing together, blending together, and living together.
I'm not familiar with Christopher's work. Ironic, isn't it? It was a post by Thunderfall that introduced me to him. Oh, I had heard Baba Yetu before, when I played the demo for Civ4. And skipped right through it, being anxious to get into the game. Well, that experience with the demo didn't leave me wanting for more, so it was quickly deleted, and the brief bit I had heard of it was forgotten.
So Thunderfall posts and asked who'd like to do this? I jumped on YouTube and listened to the first part of Baba Yetu, and decided, yeah, I could listen to this. I like a wide range of music. On my iPod, I have a bit of everything, from Tim McGraw to Darren Denney to Stone Temple Pilots to Yanni to Fleetwood Mac and a bunch of stuff that most people say 'Who?' when I tell them what I'm listening to.
After downloading the album from Christopher's website, I was anxious to hear it. I sat down and really listened to Baba Yetu, which for those of you who don't already know it is The Lord's Prayer sung in Swahili. Pretty good. Before I knew it, I was listening to Rassemblons-Nous. This tune made me stop what I was doing and figure out where I was in the album. The technobeat appealed to me. When I saw I had lost three tracks before realizing I had listened to them, it occured to me that Christopher was excellent at blending the songs together. This was, I thought to myself, something special. I finished listening to Rassemblons and went back to Baba Yetu. This time I paid attention to the album, instead of letting it wash over me. I opened up the liner notes, and noticed that the songs went from Swahili to Japanese to Mandarin to Portuguese to the French Rassemblons-Nous I was listening too. I was blown away. The rest of the album did not disappoint me.
This music is not a small group playing in a studio. This is an orchestra of over two hundred musicians playing Christopher's music. This album has a larger-than-life depth to it. It gives a fullness, a richness, that I don't normally feel when listening to music. I'm hard pressed to put into words the feelings I get from this album. The album has a full, rich sound which gave me visions of wide open plains, sprawling mountains, and far horizons over the ocean.
It has been said that this album is about cycles. I will agree with that. There's very clearly three parts, representing Day/Birth, Night/Death, and Dawn/Rebirth. But there's a deeper meaning. He seamlessly moved from one language and culture to another, blending them perfectly. Going from Christianity's The Lord's Prayer to haikus, poetry from China, Rassemblon-Nous, and finishing with the Maori Kia Hora Te Marino, this album shows me that it knows how to go from culture to culture and make them work together. I suspect that Christopher is trying to show us how flawlessly our cultures fit together, and uses this album as a lesson that we can live together, and exist together in harmony. Because that's what this album is about: existing together, blending together, and living together.
