Tan dun :the Map saving chinas disappearing ethnic traditions

i bought 2 musical CDs of Tan Dun and am blown away by his versatility as a composer.he is avant garde to experiment with sound like his rendition of the composition Tea,left me awed by his bold innovations with using water as a source of music.the second CD called the Map preserves ethnic musical instruments n style of singing .he went back to his roots in Feng huang in Hunan n recorded the dying traditional ethnic music of the tujia n miao tribes.ritualistic music played at wedding n funeral n the style of singing fei ge or flying songs was just soo exciting to watch.its like music is the bridge connecting the past to the present. what he said about playing music is so inspirational.it brought me back to past childhood when our primary school taught us to play the bamboo angklung.i badly wanted to learn the piano but my parents couldnt afford the piano nor costly lessons bringing up 6 kids. i felt bad when jun wanted to learn to play saxophone but i couldnt afford the lessons.i asked him to learn the harmonica n luckily he enjoyed the lessons by good music teachers n was into bluegrass n blues music. when i had the neans,i started learning the guzheng in my late twenties but had no time bringing up a kid n working.now i have more time but my fingers are stiff and aging.but tan dun inspired me when he says its not merely technique alone that makes music but the expressions of the heart to find a voice for your soul.so i may get a bamboo angklung or bronze gamelan set or a percusdion instrument like tank drum to express myself.its just a medium like painting for self expression.no need to compate myself to professional musiciand.take it as music therapy.im so excited to restart the musical jpurney. i think i will drive my neighbours crazy soon with musical noises comimg.