Left Foot Dance of the Yi

Chinese rock musicians have long sought inspiration in the earthy sounds of folk music, often derived from the ethnic minorities. Shanren are a group of four alternative musicians from the south-west province of Yunnan who have teamed up with ex-pat British club owner and musician Sam Debell for this album.

There are some oddities here, like ‘The Crab’, a children's song set to a synthesized reggae track that sounds straight from a provincial 90s karaoke night. There's also a bizarre rap interlude on ‘Song of the Wa’. But there's also plenty to enjoy. While the most interesting tracks are the two tracks composed by Qu Zihan, a player of the xianzi lute, there are also crowd pleasers like the ‘Drinking Song’ and ‘Left Foot Dance of the Yi’, which fuse traditional tunes and instruments such as the mouth harp and qinqin lute with bass guitar and rock percussion.