Is the robot bird a robot or a bird. Welcome to the wilderness of the future, welcome to the forest of the spirit world. The shadows of all matter are here. We don’t need to listen to the power of electricity on a grid for the troglodytic drunk-step rave. Hear the sacred sound of energy not like a clock but like the wind, not like the measurement of time, but time itself.
李帶菓 Li Daiguo is a prominent figure in China’s experimental and new music communities. Focusing primarily on pipa and cello, he has worked as composer and performer extensively throughout mainland China.
Born in 1981 in Oklahoma, USA, to Chinese/Taiwanese parents, Li Daiguo received training in music from childhood on a variety of music systems and instruments, including western classical music and bluegrass (violin, upright bass, piano), Chinese classical music (erhu, pipa), Finnish folk music, Carnatic music, Shona Mbira, and contemporary classical composition and improvisation. After relocating to mainland China in 2004, Li began to develop his compositional style and blend of extended techniques for bowed and plucked instruments.
In recent years he has taken part in performances at such venues and events as Desert Daze (Joshua Tree, 2017), Festival/Tokyo (2017), Musicultura (Italy, 2016), Festival in Fes (Morocco, 2015), World Sacred Spirit (India, 2016), Cite De La Musique (Paris, 2014), Sonic Protest music festival (France, 2013), Culturescapes Arts Festival (Switzerland, 2010), Norway Flykescommune Educational music tour (Norway, 2012), Sally Can't Dance Avantgarde Music Festival (Beijing 2009, 2011) , as well as regular performances in China, Japan, Korea, and Europe.
As a composer and producer, Li Daiguo has been commissioned by Cloud Gate 2, Guangdong Modern Dance company, Guangzhou Ballet company, Nobu Khan Malaysian Butoh Dance festival, video artists Fang Lu, Tao Hui, Serge Onnen and released albums of original compositions on record labels in China, Japan, and Israel. He has performed in collaboration with Sainkho Namtchylak, Peter Scherr, FM3, Eyal Maoz, Kink Gong, Satoko Fujii, Sato Yuki, and Dickson Dee, and has ongoing projects with Rick Parker, Slim Rothaus, Wu Na, Yan Jun, Xiao He, Huan Qing, and Liang Yiyuan.
credits
released March 1, 2021
All tracks composed, performed & recorded by 李帶菓 Li Daiguo in 2015-2016 in Dali, Yunnan
Mixing & Mastering by Joseph Branciforte at Greyfade Studio, Brooklyn, NY
書法 Calligraphy by 陳杰 Chen Jie
Design & Layout by 若潭 Ruò Tán
There is this feeling of a breath that can stop at any moment without knowing when. Everything becomes fragile and uncertain. Very interesting symbiosis between the instruments which seem to be one. Beautifully recorded. sylvain-levier
Improviser and composer Lara Alarcón has created an experimental opus rife with moments of wildly free jazz and lovely melodic passages. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 28, 2021
This, friends, is my only reported “favorite album of 2021.” This album- granted, an anthology- has so many textures. I noted in a 3-track ‘spanse being reminded of Four Tet (albeit beatless), Trepaningritualen (plus harmonica), and Acid Mothers Temple (sans guitar). The Sonologyst is a curatorial genius. Creativity rules this world. cielocanth