Just got an interesting press release about Abigail Washburn’s new project. You may be familiar with Abigail Washburn from her work in Uncle Earl or her work with the Sparrow Quartet. Anyway, here is the press release, which says it better than I could:
Music created in the earthquake disaster zone: http://afterquake.net/
A little background:
Abigail Washburn has now thrown herself into a fascinating new project with friend, DJ, and producer Dave Liang (Shanghai Restoration Project). The pair ventured back to the Sichuan region of China, where the earthquake on May 12 of last year left 4.8 million people homeless or forced to relocate. Dave and Abigail took field recordings of post-earthquake soundscapes, paired them with traditional Chinese folk songs sung by relocated Chinese children and set their samples to electronic music.
Produced in cooperation with Sichuan Quake Relief, the EP, Afterquake, will be released one year from the date of the earthquake, with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit the earthquake relief efforts.
I’ve listened to the streaming songs on the page and they are indeed fascinating cross-cultural blends – technofolk, if you will.
Great music it is, too. An inspirational group of people who do great work. Many thanks to them. http://www.sichuan-quake-relief.org