China Doll

Last weekend, we went to a screening of an Israeli movie, Noodle. You may have seen it, since the movie is a few years old, but it was new to me. The film involves an El-Al flight attendant who ends up unexpectedly taking care of the undocumented 6 year old son of her Chinese housekeeper who is abandoned when the housekeeper suddenly disappears.

Without giving too much of the story away, late in the film the action shifts from Israel to Beijing. The movie already had me thinking of Abigail Washburn, as it sought common ground and understanding between Chinese and Western cultures. But then, the flight attendant gets on a bus, and a traditional version of Kangding Qingge was playing on the radio. As my wife - who still doesn't quite understand that "Chinese square dance" - and friends looked at me quizzically, I grinned and said "I know this song," and quietly sang along. OK, I'm sure I rendered the words incomprehensible, but I had the tune right.


The Hebrew in the movie is subtitled, but in an interesting choice by the filmmaker, the Chinese is not. We’re to watch from the perspective of the Israeli characters, not quite being able to understand everything that a Chinese-speaking audience would. They would understand what the boy is saying as he struggles to communicate, and they would understand that cute little folk love song about a boy and a girl that would have been simply background noise to me if it wasn’t for Abigail. While I couldn’t translate the song literally as I sat there, Washburn gave me a connection that made the Chinese something other than “other,” and added to the film another layer of meaning for me. Her music routinely does that for me - makes my world both bigger and smaller.

And now, City of Refuge. Wow. My musical interests gravitate toward musicians who invite me to grow and explore with them. I’m always a bit apprehensive - where are we going now? But I learned a number of years ago to embrace the ride - from following the many directions of Bruce Hornsby, to his collaborations with Bela Fleck (luck guy) and Ricky Skaggs, to exploring bluegrass on a path that led me to Uncle Earl and Abby (and then Bela, again), and with each turn wondering if the next step on the journey will abandon those things that worked so well (no more Red and Blazings?), only to discover so much more.

I've tried to think of comparisons for this CD. Bring Me My Queen evokes a bit of Allison Moorer's Mockingbird disk, for instance, but that doesn't capture enough. At the end, City of Refuge is City of Refuge. I can tend toward wordiness, and this post is too long already, but I will just add one more comment. I am completely blown away by Burn Thru.

Abby was originally supposed to be in Asheville tonight, but since a 10-hour road trip to Asheville today wasn't a terribly sane idea anyway, I'll be spending tonight in Lake Wobegon (WMFE 90.7, at 6pm), where this weekend the kids will be that much more above average.