THE BOOK OF SONGS (Shi-Jing)

Cheng Bi's new album <THE BOOK OF SONGS (Shi-Jing)>
Listening to the simplicity, innocence, and purity of ancient poetry

"THE BOOK OF SONGS (Shi-Jing)" is the earliest anthology of poems in China. It includes poems from the early years of the Western Zhou period to the middle of the Spring and Autumn period (11th century to 6th century BCE), and is divided into three parts: airs (feng), court hymns (ya), and eulogies (song). However, <THE BOOK OF SONGS (Shi-Jing)> is actually more of an anthology of odes, es-pecially the "Airs of the States (Guo Feng)" section, which is comprised of local folk songs of the fifteen states of the Zhou dynasty. With origins in antiquity, the musical scores have been lost, and only the text survives.

Why is <THE BOOK OF SONGS (Shi-Jing)> so moving? Confucius said, "In <THE BOOK OF SONGS (Shi-Jing)> are three hundred pieces, but the design of them all may be embraced in one sen-tence - 'Having no impure thoughts.'" It contains the most authentic and natural emotional expressions of individual, born from a moment of rest when working in the fields, or muttering to oneself in a single room, or a ray of thought in the cool night. Thus, it comprises expressions of the most primitive instincts of ancient ancestors: unconcealed, deeply moving, yet unruffled by emotion.

The lyrics that Cheng Bi selected for the album are all from the "Airs of the States" section of <THE BOOK OF SONGS (Shi-Jing)>, which contains the most vivid and moving lyrics. Therein is described the joy of a woman who is to be married, as found in "Young Peach (Tao Yao)" ("This young lady is going to her future home, and will order well her chamber and house"), constant lingering thoughts as found in "Grass Insect (Cao Chong)" ("While I do not see my lord, my sorrowful heart is agitated"), pure and beautiful friendship as found in "Chaenomeles Speciosa (Mu Gua)" ("There was presented to me a quince, and I returned for it a beautiful Ju-gem"), and wandering loneliness as in "Millet (Shu Li)" ("Those who knew me, said I was sad at heart; those who did not know me, said I was seeking for something").

As Cheng Bi's ninth independent album, it also marks the tenth year of musical creation by Cheng Bi. As always, she continues to express her own most natural melodies and reinterprets the simplicity, inno-cence, and purity of the ancient <THE BOOK OF SONGS (Shi-Jing)> with the lively emotional notes of modern folk music.