Monkey - Journey To The West

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4...according to our Phil on Thu 14 Aug, 2008.

Well I'm bored of the Olympics already. The only thing which keeps me watching are all the controversies caused by the Chinese government trying to pretend they're all nice for western world. CGI fireworks, injured gymnasts from the opening ceremony, tourists being killed, journalists being hounded, young girls miming to millions of people. The list goes on and on.... and on. Presumerably you'll have noticed the cute animation at the start of the programme? That's by Jamie Hewlett from the Gorillaz.... him and Albarn have got together and made a play based on the 70's telly programme Monkey. Live action, smart animation and music all shoved together in a fancy new performance of Monkey. I saw Monkey (a different one) at the Leeds playhouse the other week and it was shit.... This looks pretty cool though and the soundtrack to it which has just arrived sounds smart. Succinctly titled 'Monkey' it travels from genre to genre but it's flavoured with some oriental spices! It's not like someone has thrown some soy sauce on some chips. The music is carefully thought out, put together and brilliantly arranged I have to say. Damon Albarn knows his world music and he's put together a class album which is bother interesting and enthralling. Beautiful orchestration and electronics all dangling tentatively together.... A very compelling record which I can see will oddly appeal to those into experimental music but it's also very accessible!

Created by the team behind Gorillaz (Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn), ‘Journey To The West’
is performed by European and Chinese musicians and singers, and produced by Damon Albarn.
The album is based on ‘Monkey; Journey To The West’, the opera which premiered at Manchester International Festival in 2007 and opens at Royal Opera House in London in July, running for 3 nights before moving to a tented area at the O2 in October, where it will run for 6 weeks to over 100,000 people. With lyrics based on ancient Chinese text, the album has been recorded in London and Beijing over the last twelve months.
The album opens with ‘Monkey’s World’, and into a ‘Heavenly Peach Banquest’, escorted by ‘Monkey Bee’ and closes with the ‘Disappearing Volcano’. With a running time of 50 minutes, ‘Journey To The West’ consists of 22 tracks with vocals in Mandarin.
The BBC are using one of the tracks, along with animation by Jamie Hewlett for their coverage of the Chinese Olympics.

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