HAJI MAJI

I’m always amazed at how cacophonous these Chinese records can be and here’s a perfect example. A  Cantonese instrumental played on the suona. The suona is a type of shawm that originated in Northern China and eventually spread across China for use in military, wedding, folk and opera music. It’s similar to the Turkish zurna and the Indian shennai, among  others.

After World War II, local entrepreneurs around the world started setting up their own record companies. Tsing Ping is one of the many Chinese-owned labels that emerged in this period, many of which were based in Chinese immigrant communities throughout Southeast Asia. Tsing Ping and Num Sing (see below) were based in San Francisco.

>TSING PING 33a