"Celestial"
is a Hong Kong based collective who have produced a series
of albums, the first of which, "Spirit
House", was released in 1996, the second "Happy
Valley" in 2001, and the third album is "Hong
Kong Dub Station" which will be released in 2004.
Buy the CD's
"Celestial"
was conceived by Peter Millward, a co-founder
of Drum Music, Hong Kong's number one music production
house.
A year or two after arriving in Hong Kong in 1990, Peter
was asked to contribute some tracks for a compilation
album then being produced for one of Hong Kong's best-known
fashion boutiques.
Peter completed three tracks for that album, which came
out in 1992, and their unique fusion of Asian sounds with
the modern production techniques, that Peter brought from
London, was very well received -and, although it pre-dated
the concept of "chill-out music" by several
years, the idea for "Celestial" was born.
The first album from Celestial, "Spirit House",
resulted in a Gold Disc for sales in Singapore,
and tracks from that and from the second album "Happy
Valley, have been included on several well known compilations,
including Café Del Mar Volumen Ocho (S. E. Asian
Release). Buy
the CD
On "Spirit House" the music reflected an East-West
consciousness; an ethereal, trance-like soundtrack to
a hip urban Zen Garden. First released in 1996, the album
also reflects the pre-1997 cosmopolitan turmoil that was
Hong Kong, and has now been re-released with a new sleeve
design.
The second album from Celestial, "Happy Valley"
is all about love, life, death, madness, mixing up cultures
and time signatures, the passing of time, pollution, weather,
trains, planes and automatons.
It's not about a place - "Happy Valley" is a
state of mind. The album reflects the mix that is Celestial;
a song from 1930's Shanghai is backed by distorted drums
and scratching, a traditional Irish tune is translated
into Thai and backed by a Nepalese Trio, a Chinese melody
from Taiwan is played on Japanese traditional instruments
and given a laid back drum and bass backing. Interspersed
by the ever-present sounds of modern life - traffic, clocks,
and weather; the album is tied together by the ever-present
sounds of modern music; samples, synthesizers and breakbeats.
"Happy Valley" was recorded at the studios
of Drum Music Limited, the company which Peter founded
with Eddie Chung, and which is now Hong Kong's best-known
commercial music production company.
One of the tracks from the album, "Plum Crazy (Version)",
was selected to feature on "Café Del Mar:
Volumen Ocho", SE Asian Version. The track was loosely
inspired by a Chinese traditional tune called "Plum
Blossom", and features Shakuhachi over a reggae backing.
The album also features: LiYa (a GuangZhou TV presenter)
on mandarin vocals; Rita Tsang on English vocals; Shakuhachi
(Japanese flute) master Sunny Yeung; Koto (Japanese harp)
expert Emiko Hisada; Erhu (Chinese Violin) soloist Hsin
Hsiao Hung; Nepalese Trio Sur Sudha; internationally renowned
Jazz Guitarist Eugene Pao; DJ Bodhi on decks, Welsh Rapper
John Griffiths (of Llwybr Llaethog fame), Johnny Kember
(Drum's Architect) on Congas, to name but just a few.
Buy the CD
The third in the series of albums from Celestial, "Hong
Kong Dub Station" once again invokes a pan-Asian
dubscape of hypnotic rhythms and deep space textures.
Another tectonic phase shift from Celestial merges the
sounds of 70's Jamaican b-sides with top Asian instrumentalists
and digital tech-know-how. Rhythms and sounds from dub
plates, collide with melodies and textures through zen
temple gates... Trip the light dubtastic in the dancehall
of the mind...
Celestial T-shirt
With the completion of "Hong Kong Dub Station"
some of Hong Kong's outstanding video artistes have created
two new videos for tracks from the album - bringing to
four the number of Celestial videos now completed. These
can be seen at www.hongkongdubstation.com along with all
the sleeve artwork, with hi-res downloadable versions,
and some other images.
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