This video for the song 'Kotoia ta loa' was filmed in China at Mr and Mrs Pan's cotton workshop 潘永泰棉花店 located on Hangzhou's famous He Fang Street.The cotton work shop has been part of Hangzhou's cultural history for over 100 years but due to Mr Pan's advancing age its future as a functioning studio remains uncertain.
Mr Pan inherited the workshop from his uncle and together with his wife have been making cotton quilts and lining for over 60 years. Mr and Mrs Pan are extremely passionate and proud of their studio and are two of the happiest and the most content people China Field Recordings have had the pleasure of meeting.
The song's lyrics express how seemingly ordinary or even trivial work can become an artform in itself when it is pursued with passion and dedication. The words in the song describe how the sounds of a workshop and cadence of machinery can become like comforting rhythms that soothe a weary workman to sleep after a hard long day of satisfying work.
Sometimes beauty belongs to the sphere of the simple, the ordinary which can only be made visible through truth and time.
每件事都有它的美但不是每个人都能看到
Special thanks to Rui Yan.
KOTOIA TA LOA
Gaurkoan, garoa,
Atzokoaren antzekoa da
Denborak daroa,
Bihar ekarriko duena
Aldatu da aroa, baina
Atzokoaren antzekoa da
Hotza zein beroa,
Atzokoaren antzekoa.
Kanta hau herrietako
Beharginentzako da
Ez ditu ta loak hartuko
Ez badago zer eroanik ahora
Hori bizi ez badut izan,
Hori ez badakit, nora noa?
Akaso,
Egunaren erritmoak
Eragingo die loa?
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Ta aspaldien galdukoa.
