There Is No Sound Other Than My Heartbeat

A change of pace for today's selection, with the long overdue return of Chinese singer/songwriter Sa Dingding aka Zhou Peng (周鹏). Sa Dingding made her first appearance in part 5 of the 50@50 series which kick started the Dubhed blog back in December 2020 and popped up again in 2021 when I featured a remix of her song Capricorn.

 

This selection draws from five albums: Alive (2007), Harmony (2010), The Coming Ones (2012), remix collection Wonderland (2014) and The Butterfly Dream (2015). It's very hard to track a comprehensive discography, many albums seemingly not formally released outside of Asia. Sa Dingding's debut came out around 1997 and, as far as I can tell, she has not released an album since 2015.

 

Sa Dingding sings in a variety of languages, mostly Mandarin Chinese, Lhasa Tibetan, as well as a self-created language on several songs. Only one of the 13 songs in this selection is in English and provides today's post title.

I've inevitably been listening to a lot of summery, Balearic, upbeat or chilled out music in the past few weeks and Sa Dingding seems to fit right in with what's been on my playlist of late. No surprise then that Paul Oakenfold took an interest, remixing Ha Ha Li Li in 2010 and co-writing Walking Around The Mountain (with a very familiar bassline sample) in 2012.

 

As a late convert in 2019, I'm still dipping in and out of Sa Dingding's music and continually discovering and enjoying new aspects and elements of her music. The fact that I don't understand what she's specifically singing about is irrelevant, the emotional and musical energy is more than enough. I hope that in the next hour you feel the same.

 

1) 飛鳥和花 (Flickering With Blossoms) (Chinese Version) (Album Version By Sa Dingding) (2007) 

2) 天地记 (Ha Ha Li Li) (Remix By Paul Oakenfold ft. Spitfire) (2010)

3) 转山 (Walking Around The Mountain) (Album Version By Sa Dingding) (2012)

4) 绿衣女孩 (Girl In A Green Dress) (Mandarin Vocal) (Album Version By Marius De Vries & Sa Dingding) (2010)

5) 任乾坤 (Yin And Yang) (Album Version By Karsh Kale & Gaurav Raina) (2015)

6) 神香 (Holy Incense) (Tibet Version) (Album Version By Sa Dingding & He Xun-Tian) (2007)

7) 反弹琵琶 (Oriental Beauty) (Album Version By Karsh Kale & Gaurav Raina) (2015)

8) 雀神 (Sparrow God) (Album Version By ConRank) (2014)

9) 来者魔蝎 (The Coming Ones) (Album Version By Sa Dingding) (2012) 

10) 幸运日 (Lucky Day) (English Vocal) (Album Version By Marius De Vries & Sa Dingding) (2010)

11) 如影随形 (Something Like A Shadow Is Following You) (Album Version By Sa Dingding) (2012)

12) 致尚爱 (Dedicated With Love) (ConRank Remix) (2014)

13) 錫林河邊的老人 (Oldster By Xiin River) (Self-Created Language) (Album Version By Sa Dingding & Zhang Hongguang) (2007)

除了我的心跳没有声音 / No Sound Except My Heartbeart (59:08)

Let Us Get Closer To This Beautiful Kindness

Another random shuffle today, this time from Chinese singer/songwriter Sa Dingding, born Zhou Peng (周鹏). Not her first appearance here: 2015 track Ding Ding Sa featured in part 5 of the 50@50 series which launched this blog almost a year ago. Her first album was released in Europe in 2007; I wasn't introduced to her music until the summer of 2019, so I've had a bit of catching up to do. 

 

There have been five albums to date, in Europe at least, the last in 2015. They are an interesting and eclectic mix of traditional folk, electonica and widescreen cinematic soundscapes, with Sa Dingding singing in a number of different languages, rarely in English and including one she made up herself. I have seen her lazily referred to as "The Asian Björk" in some features and, along a similar line, she appeared on an alternate version of the song Thea by Goldfrapp in 2013. I missed the opportunity to discover Sa Dingding sooner because the track only appeared on the deluxe box set of album Tales Of Us, which was way out of my budget at the time (and now, judging by the asking prices on Discogs).

 

As far as I can tell, Capricorn (or 摩羯座) doesn't appear on any of the albums that I own. The comments on YouTube reference that it is a remix of a song that originally appeared on an album in 2001 and again in a "folk" version in 2007. 

 

Today's title is a line from the mid-section of the song, which I believe is translated from the Tibetan language.

 

Capricorn (Remix): Sa Dingding (2013)

50@50, Part Five: 2011-2020

Side One (25:35)

42) Pure Imagination Part 1: Darwin Deez (2011)

43) Picking Up The Pieces (Khayem's Lonely In Your Nightmare Remix): Paloma Faith (2012)

44) Golden Years (Luxxury Edit): David Bowie (2013)

45) GMF (Live In Concert): John Grant ft. The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (2014)

46) Ding Ding Sa: Sa Dingding (2015)

Side Two (25:54)

47) Lush Life (Dancehall Remix): Zara Larsson ft. Tinie Tempah (2016)

48) Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me) (Album Version): Sparks (2017)

49) Curse Of The Contemporary: LUMP (2018)

50) The Return: Sampa The Great ft. Alien, Jace XL, Thando Sikwila & Whosane (2019)

51) La Bande A Papa: Vanessa Contenay-Quiñones (2020)

 

Side One (25:35)

Side Two (25:54)