Timeless Earth is the project name used to present these concept albums that use ancient Chinese poetry as its initial stimulus and inspiration.

The Book of Songs

Also known as Classics of Poetry, also Shijing and Book of Odes, The Book of Songs contains 305 poetic works dating from between the 7th and 11th Century BCE. It is the oldest collection of Chinese poetry existing today. Traditionally the Book of Songs is thought to have been compiled by Confucius from an initial 3000 works collected from around the States that would eventually become China. This is now disputed as there is evidence that the collection existed in a similar form when Confucius was a child. It has been memorised and studied in China and neighbouring countries for over two millennia.

In total there are 160 'Airs', 105 'Hymns' and 40 'Eulogies'. Subject matter across the Songs varies but common themes emerge when read as a whole. For example, the 'Airs' are usually shorter on average written in simple language that have a 'folk song' feel about them. The voice of the common people, perhaps. They talk of courtship, the passing of time: a day or several days waiting for the return of an absent partner, making journeys to new lands and commenting on and being at one with the natural world including the Sun, the Moon and the Stars, which make numerous appearances!

It is thought the Songs were performed with the musical accompaniment of bells, flute, zither and drum. They were either sung to an improvised melody or spoken over a minimal improvised backing, or possibly there were traditional vocal melodies and rhythms passed from performer to performer. No written information has survived, if it was even written down at all. All the music has been lost. The authorship of all of the Songs has also been lost and again was perhaps was never written down in the first place. The fact that we have any poetry dating from up to 3000 years ago is remarkable.

The Book of Songs has inspired these concept albums. Also, several aspects of the way they were thought to be performed have suggested starting points and guidelines for the project as a whole. For example:

--Many of the Songs are written from the female persona or point of view. I therefore chose a female voice for this project, and then a male voice as a contrast for any spoken word.

--No additional performers are ever mentioned in historical documents, therefore no backing vocals are used except the occasional harmony vocal.

--There are no rhymes in the various translations of the Book of Songs so no rhymes are used throughout this album. (Some rhymes are found in the original Chinese text.)

--The traditional minimal musical backing suggested a 'less is more' approach, so only four modern day instruments were used throughout making the first album. This list grew with each subsequent album although all instruments purchased are there to build and expand the Timeless Earth sound. 

How was the Book of Songs used?

Historical scholars and musicians specialising in ancient Chinese music have been using complete poems from the Book of Songs to create new works for hundreds of years, imagining what the poems could have sounded like in performance. No doubt this will continue into the future.

Due to the difficulty in translating the Chinese language into English, every line and even every word is open to a degree of interpretation. I have seen several versions of the first poem -The Osprey’s Cry- each with differences in word use and meaning. I felt that most of the translated poems used language and references that work well as a spoken word piece but as a sung lyric would come across as odd, sometimes comical and out of place to western ears. Seeing as it was the creation of the song that was the heart of the concept I decided to approach the interpretation of the poems in a different way.

It was therefore not my intention to take a translated poem word-for-word directly from the page and set it to music. Instead, I took the sentiment of a poem that I found interesting and noted down individual lines or words that helped express that sentiment or emotion. I would then use these as an initial stimulus for my own poem, keeping in mind they were eventually going to be song* lyrics and sung in a meaningful and emotional way.

 This project was not about bringing The Book of Songs up-to-date but more about using it as a stimulus and inspiration for new writing and production ideas.  Mixing Eastern cultural heritage with a Western modern mind-set to create new atmospheric and melodic music while respecting the past. 

 *Perhaps 'musical poem' may be a better name for the final pieces as most of the albums songs don't follow any traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure and are more verse-verse-verse!

 Recording philosophy

When creating music, the first tracks to be recorded are usually the rhythm section  -drums and bass-  or anything to keep time and create a 'bed' for the rest of the instruments and sounds. Finally, vocals and any solos are recorded. If there isn't a definite rhythm section then perhaps vocals will be recorded simultaneously with other instruments.

For this project I decided to reverse this standard order of recording and use the vocal track as the starting point. This way of working created new ways of thinking about production, timing and atmosphere. The final feel, sound and direction for most of the songs did not follow the path I initially expected. Instead of the vocalist’s performance responding to the backing track, the backing track performances responded to the vocalist.

All the songs on this concept album have the lyrics, music and atmosphere inspired by the same source material - The Book of Songs, Ancient Chinese book of poetry. The overriding mantra when creating this slow tempo atmospheric music was 'less is more' which I fell back on when there was too much 'sonic clutter'.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Art of War was used as an initial stimulus for a ‘Suite’ on the third album.

The Art of War is a military treatise from the 'Waring states', the land that would later become China. It dates from about the 5th century BCE, the same time as the origin of the 'Book of Songs. The Art of War contains thirteen chapters each discussing possible  'Arts' (strategies, tactics and methods) required for warfare and all military concerns.

Even today it continues to offer guidance on East Asian warfare and has had an influence on both East and West Militaristic theories and strategies.

Non military competitive arenas have also found methods and tactics from The Art of War can be applied to their endeavours. These include modern day sports, politics and business. Such is its influence, its use is often found in Film and TV as an information reference point for any sort of conflict.

MW Gloucestershire/Lancashire July 2022, January 2024 and November 2024