Twelve Girls Band
Miracle
Shangri-La (DVD-Live From Budokan)
Forbidden City (DVD-Live From Budokan)
Freedom (DVD-Live From Budokan)
Daniel J. Hamlow (5 out of 5 stars) OK, want something different and exotic? Disillusioned of Bond posing as classical but in fact drifting more into that oontsa-oontsa music? Tired of waiting for another Charlotte Church album? Look no further, and look also to the East, and of twelve women who play instruments that date back 1500 years, meaning the time when China was divided into the Northern and Southern Dynasties in the pre-Sui and pre-Tang era. They play the dizi (bamboo flutes), the yang qin (dulcimer), the gu zheng (zither with movable strings), the erhu (a two-stringed Chinese fiddle), and the pipa (a large four-stringed lute with a pear-shaped body). Put together, this delightful dozen, coming from different ensembles in the People s Republic of China, produce a unique and exotique sound.