KINK GONG has long been recording and archiving the music of Southeast Asia's ethnic minorities, but it turns out there was a recording partner named Shi Tanding — apparently most of the Asian recordings on Sublime Frequencies / Discrepant were collaborations with him (or her?).
When you think back on those labels' recording journeys from Yunnan all the way to Xinjiang... but this time, the first new recordings in a while come from Tibet! These were captured by Shi Tanding between 2013 and 2019. Santoorbuddhist 神话 (sample 1) documents Mahayana Buddhist rituals and prayer performances, while Les Nuages Du Tibet 穿越雪山的风 (sample 2) edits Tibetan folk songs with a touch of collage. It's packed with incantatory soundscapes, yet oddly there are stretches you can listen to in complete calm. Rather than frontier or world music, this might belong in the musique concrète category. The latest report from KINK GONG, who has been quietly continuing these journeys to record remote regions since before the term "field recording" was even in circulation. Fascinating as ever. (Original Japanese text by Shhhhh)