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HANOI Masters are a revelation, on a par with that other bunch of old-timers the Buena Vista Social Club.
All 11 songs here haunt with their utterly different and yet beguiling voices and sounds, which appear to have been distilled down to their most potent purity.
Yet they are as ancient and dazzling as the two-string lute, the rice drum, the mono-chord dan bau or the dan tranh zither they are played on.
Producer Ian Brennan’s point that “dismissing Asian music as lacking edge is missing out on its intricacy” is borne out with every note that’s played.
The lament For the Fallen, the short but sweet I Long to Return to My Hometown or the lavish Gratitude are mesmerising and elevate the spirit.
A sound antidote for times of accelerating and imposed cultural homogenisation.
Buy it.
