Audio CD review:
Gipsy Kings - 2000 Today: A World Symphony for the Millennium

Gipsy Kings - 2000 Today: A World Symphony for the Millennium

Band: Gipsy Kings Title: 2000 Today: A World Symphony for the Millennium Rating: Release Date: 1999-12-14 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: One Love - Marley, Bob 2: One Love 3: Beyond Light 4: Reflection 5: At Sunrise 6: Africa, Africa 7: Crossings 8: East 9: Antartica 10: Dreams 11: Stones 12: Celebration

Completely banal and empty 2000 TODAY is a one-hour piece based on this soundtrack. In 1999 the BBC commissioned Chinese composer Tan Dun to write music for the television special tracking the New Year 2000 through all twenty-four time zones. It's the most vacuous and inane music this uneven composer has ever written. 2000 TODAY is called a "world symphony for the millennium". The music has two contrasting orchestras. One consists of Western classical instruments (BBC Concert Orchestra), a chorus (London Voices), and a soprano solo. The other (Tan Dun's own NChiCa group) uses traditional instruments from various indigenous cultures, such as the Australian didgeridoo, the Japanese ohdaiko drum and the Middle Eastern tar drum. And as is common in Tan Dun's music, stones and water as well serve to make music. The concept may seem interesting, but the result is ridiculous. The colourful local musical cultures of the world, each beautiful on their own, are mixed together into a bland stew that's as dull and lifeless as New Age music. There's not even much new material here, it's generally the same chant-like melodies as in his "Symphony 1997", which is even outright quoted here and there. The disc is filled out with The Gipsy King, Ziggy Marley, and Tsidii Le Loka performing Bob Marley's "One Love". It's utterly inessential. If you don't know Tan Dun's work but want to check it out, avoiding world-music crossover gimmickry can be difficult, since so much of his music is written for popular consumption. If you are looking for uncompromising art music, the WATER PASSION (on Sony) and the highly entertaining and thought-provoking THE MAP (a DVD on Deutsche Grammophon) are worth seeking out. This disc is only for those who want to collect everything he's written, though I doubt you'll actually want to listen to this more than once. Promises more than it ever delivers-and a year too early Ditto for a mighty piece of music, where "theme" has a double meaning. Melville advised that to write a mighty book, you need a mighty theme. Although the new millennium will not start until January 1, 2001 (since 2000 is the 100th year of this century and not the first of the next), a lot of Impatient Ones could not wait, and we are stuck with an incorrectly timed Big Event. As it turns out, the BBC is planning a monumental 27 hour telecast so greet the "new" millennium as it appears around the world's time zones; and Tan Dun was commissioned to compose the music. Now even Richard Rodgers, a far better composer, was stressed to the limit for all those hours of "Victory at Sea. " So when I received the new Sony release, <2000 Today: a World Symphony for the Millennium> (SK 61529), I had no idea what to expect. The whole disc (it runs just short of an hour) starts with a sophomoric vocal called "One Love," that is supposed to be the "official anthem" of the broadcast" and that instantly had me wondering about how "monumental" this effort was going to be. What followed was a series of short pieces designed to "introduce continents and countries anticipating and preparing for the moment of the millennium's arrival" (to quote the press release). What I heard was a good deal of banging and twanging on "instruments ranging from banjo, electric guitar and penny whistles to erhu, koto, djembe, paiku and stones. " At first the sound was different enough (though not too different for this composer) to catch one's attention; but the novelty quickly palled and I almost yearned for the soporific twiddle of Philip Glass. I did, however, find on my poetry shelf Mac Leish's "You Andrew Marvel" in which he masterfully traces the progress of the spinning earth in a few punctuationless stanzas--and does a far better job than this music does. No, I do not doubt Dun's sincerity or his talent. In fact, this music might go very well with the visuals of that telecast. Who can tell? But I am reviewing a CD and I am sorry to say I find it of little more than passing historical interest and of little musical interest. Others may love it. Again, who can tell?. You can see a complete list of all Gipsy Kings discography, or go back to the Gipsy Kings tabs