Six Years of New Age Music History

The school finally understood the importance of the internet in life and gave each student an extra 10GB of data. Coincidentally, last month was National Day, and by the end of the month I still had over ten GB left. So I took the opportunity to frantically download a lot of lossless music. Although I don’t really understand the tricks of music—even now I only recognize do re mi fa—I have a drug-like love for them. If they weren’t surrounding me, my life would definitely be very empty and boring.

My love for music started in junior high, but not the stuff in music textbooks. Even now, I still think that’s a kind of torture—its ideology is greater than the knowledge itself. The knowledge conveyed by textbooks wants students to broadly understand them, not fall in love with them. However, real love for music should be to fall in love with them first, then understand them.

The first music style I liked was New Age. Back then, I didn’t even know the name of this style. I just really appreciated these melodies that were comfortable to the bone—they integrated my emotions, my soul, my body, everything into them. It was a weekend evening. I was bored flipping through channels when I landed on CCTV-3 and saw an orchestra performing in the Forbidden City. An uncle was simultaneously controlling several electronic keyboards. His fingertips moved slowly, and clear, soothing sounds slowly flowed out from the electronic keyboards. Then he started conducting a large orchestra—I don’t know how many people there were—everyone blowing or playing along with the uncle’s conducting. The momentum was grand, and the entire Forbidden City was enveloped in this mysterious, heavy atmosphere. I don’t know how much time passed before I finally found this uncle’s photo in a music textbook. It was a scene of him performing at the Acropolis of Athens. It turned out he was Yanni.

I came into contact with Yanni more and more. I even specially bought his album from the Acropolis and recommended this person to my classmates. To this day, I still occasionally see some high school classmates listening to “With an Orchid” or “Nightingale” through QQ Music—these are his two most famous works, often appearing as background music on TV stations.

Bandari, as the background music prince, although also in the New Age music category, the tracks I like are only “Childhood” and “Annie’s Wonderland.” He’s not as captivating to me as Joe Hisaishi. The first time I encountered Joe Hisaishi was while watching Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film Castle in the Sky. His scoring was filled with endless ethereal quality. The melodious tunes seemed to take me to a distant sky. The more Japanese films and TV I watched, the more Joe Hisaishi I heard—every single one was a classic. In daily life, Joe Hisaishi always enters our lives intentionally or unintentionally. It’s regrettable that many people don’t know this and claim to be insulated from Japan. For example, our college radio station would play Joe Hisaishi’s score “Summer” from * Kikujiro no Natsu* as the opening for a certain program at noon. With this kind of influence, Joe Hisaishi is undoubtedly Japan’s undisputed music master, on par with Tanaka Ikko’s status in the Japanese design world—unmatched. When taking stock of Japanese New Age representatives, another band that must be mentioned is “Peaceful Moon.” The New Age music led by their company is also very famous. Even some Chinese films have had to imitate their style.

In the East, New Age music mostly exists as film background music, but in the West, New Age is a specialized music style that appears in music stores.

Besides Yanni, famous New Age music masters in Western countries include Bandari, Enya, Mike Oldfield, Secret Garden, and so on. I quite like Mike Oldfield, but he doesn’t have many good-sounding pieces of music—perhaps related to the fact that he does too many music styles. Enya’s music is more expressed through her heavenly voice. If I go a bit overboard, I’d say Enya’s voice is much better than her arrangements. Her lyrics accompanied by her voice linger in the ears like poetry, making one unable to extricate themselves. Secret Garden’s melodies are true to their name. When I listen to their music, it feels like religious music, conveying an atmosphere like some choirs in European and American films—solemn and reverent. There’s also someone who must be mentioned. She became known to the nation at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. She’s the Moonlight Goddess Sarah Brightman. She gives me a feeling a bit close to Secret Garden. I once found her shadow in the movie The Fifth Element—that blue alien singing once made me think she was Sarah Brightman.

Of course, foreign New Age music isn’t limited to these. Among the twenty-something GB of lossless music I downloaded, there are also some I don’t like in the New Age style, like the Pope’s Choir—its seriousness seems a bit excessive.

Music has no borders. Whether it’s the easternmost Japan or the westernmost Ireland, New Age has given me more personal spiritual enjoyment and emotional experience than any other music. I’m very grateful that there’s still such a style belonging to all humanity in the world, and I hope China can produce a New Age music master, because Chinese film scoring is too weak.

————This is my music appreciation class paper, but it’s not a paper.