Monday 6 June 2011

Chu Yuan - Great Summons

I just learnt about dragon festival day on the 5th day of the 5th Chinese lunar month, which is today! 
http://www.weingartdesign.com/TMaS/Stories/tmas2-Dragon.html

So in honour of the poet Chu Yuan whom this festival celebrates, here is his "Great Summons".

9 comments:

  1. This was a remarkable reading, dear Jamintoo.

    Now, I feel good.

    Thank you and take care.

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  2. Such a long piece without a stumble but an even tone. It was an interesting piece, I had notheard it before and shall reflect upon its meaning. I wished it had been just a little louder. I wonder do you honor requests?

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  3. Thanks Catherine!

    I did actually stumble over the words a few times when recording, but I paused then started again when I'd composed myself and edited out the stumbles. The thing is I can only do the editing and uploading to video at my parents' where I have internet, file space and "mp3 encoding" whatever that means, but then I do the actual recording at my own place, so it's quite a complicated process and part of the incentive is just to experiment and learn. So, yes I could do requests, but only for something you really wanted. One idea I had is we could do a joint recording of something among all our contacts here at Multiply. If you have any ideas, let me know. And if you've got a Mac I can also tell you how to use Audaicity to edit and iMovie to put it together if you want to do your own projects.

    Good point about the volume. Better soft than loud though, in the spirit of the Dao (which was my real purpose in learning this...)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJUqSfqLKsw

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  4. Enjoyed that a lot, thanks! I prefer the beginning when you read a bit slower but its a minor detail. Much metta!

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  5. You're right! In real life, I talk too fast and indistinctly. But I wanted to inspire the Soul from its Melancholia. And all these varieties of food and women and Chinese names I couldn't pronounce, subconsciously it seemed impolite to linger over them! Interesting the string of attachments with which he tries to seduce the Soul: time and flowering, security of home against fear, food, wine, song, women, riding, beauty of nature, goodness, honour, heritage and the ancestors...

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  6. Thank you Nancy! Thanks for listening!

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  7. It was rather limiting in offering women for a prize. That seems to be a theme that runs through some belief systems, but I excused it for it's beauty. It does paint a pretty picture, after all.

    I enjoyed it more the second time than the first.

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