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Music, Food and Love

Guo Yue

Guo Yue has a growing reputation in the UK, his adopted homeland, as a writer and a specialist in authentic Chinese cooking. But his creative roots are in music. World-renowned as a virtuoso bamboo flutes soloist, composer and arranger, this CD captures the vivid, sensual experiences of his life as a boy, growing up in the Beijing alleys before and during the Cultural Revolution. It is a musical memoir. A journey towards freedom.

"My name is Guo Yue. I am a musician, a Chinese Bamboo Flutes player, a composer and a cook. This is the story of my childhood in a musical family in Beijing before and during the Cultural Revolution. We lived in fear and my family suffered. Music and cooking were my passion and my freedom. I remember the vivid sensual colours, the smells, tastes and sounds of a world that no longer exists."

  • imageAdd To Basketmore info£9.82Music, Food and Love - CD
    playThe HutongsGuo Yue5m 41s
    playDragonflyGuo Yue3m 36s
    playA Dark Red ViolinGuo Yue4m 47s
    playWhite SwansGuo Yue2m 35s
    playPaper BoatGuo Yue3m 4s
    playWhite KiteGuo Yue3m 40s
    playMy First FluteGuo Yue3m 15s
    playAi (Love)Guo Yue4m 10s
    playSu LinGuo Yue7m 24s
    playSwallowGuo Yue2m 35s
    playThe Little Bird Must FlyGuo Yue5m 49s
  • imageAdd To Basketmore info£16.91Music, Food and Love - A Memoir - book

    The Book

    Paralleling the CD, Music Food and Love (written by Guo Yue and Clare Farrow) tells the story of the Chinese Revolution through the eyes of a child growing up in the poor and overcrowded alleyways of Beijing. At the heart of musical family Guo Yue tells of how his passion for food gave him a means of self-expression when freedom was suppressed. In vivid, sensual detail he evokes the colours, tastes and sounds of a world that no longer exists. Traditional Chinese recipes complement the memoir and offer the read a taste of authentic Chinese home cooking. As well as his international status as a musician Guo Yue has a growing reputation as a food expert and he teaches regularly, including at the Divertimenti Cookery School in London.

    "There was a saying in my childhood that you could always tell when it was six o'clock in the evening, because at that moment the entire city would begin to vibrate with the force of everybody's chopping. And in the courtyards you could always tell what your neighbours were preparing, simply by listening to the speed and rhythm of their chopping' (Guo Yue/ Clare Farrow)

Music, Food and Love at realworldrecords.com