The Violin Player Burlington VT

The Violin Player

Vanessa-Mae

Angel Records, 1995

REVIEW BY: JB

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 02/18/1997

There are too many Asians playing violins.

And don't bother contradicting me because I should know; playinga brass instrument in an ocean of strings at my city's youthsymphony orchestra, I've noticed that not only Koreans like me butAsians of all nations gravitate towards string instruments, inparticular the violin. Though very few artists like Sarah Chang orthe incomparable Midori actually catch the public's eye, it isstill quite noticeable that the Julliard School of Music is cloggedwith Asians playing string intruments.

But amid this cacophany of feline vocal cord material (thoughsheep has become a more affordable substitute), there is one artistwhom everyone refers to as "Different." I first saw her on MTV,wearing a sexy tanktop and playing an even sexier electricviolin.

She was an Asian and she played violin, but convention stoppedthere. Her violin had to be plugged in, she wore a pair ofnot-tacky huge sunglasses, and the music video was classically MTV(meaning anything but classic). But the music was what took myattention (after wondering how those sunglasses would look on me,of course).