On this album the pieces are apparently instrumental treatments of songs, whose topics are described in the English section of the notes. The tunes are either solo or duets with a hammer dulcimer-like instrument called a chaoer. The album features two matouqin soloists, identified only as Darima and Qinggele. Chinese influences are obvious. Much of the music is pentatonic and often alternates between semi-rubato and up tempo passages.
Techniques are sometimes fiddle-istic with drones and rhythmic, pulsing bow strokes.
There are also plenty of slow, Indian-like slides. The Far East has not had significant impact on the world music circuit. The music on Matouquin is easily accesible to Euro-American tastes. The players are obviously virtuosi on the matouquin and I occasionally detect a bit of Western approach to bravura technique. No reproduction of any part of this page or its associated files is permitted without express written permission.