Asiatisch (German for "Asian")Sandhu, Sukhdev (5 May 2014). "Fatima Al Qadiri: 'Me and my sister played video games as Saddam invaded'" . The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 22 September 2017. is the debut full-length studio album of Kuwaiti musician Fatima Al Qadiri, released by the label Hyperdub on 5 May 2014. The record is about what Qadiri called "Imagined China," an environment of stereotypes about East Asian nations and respective cultures formed in media of the Western world. Thus, it musically derives from sinogrime, a style of grime music that utilizes elements of East Asian music. In representing Asian stereotypes, the album includes digital traditional Chinese and Japanese-styled drum kits and synth presets alongside "scrambled" ancient Chinese poems. One of the main inspirations for Qadiri producing Asiatisch was the making of a "nonsense Mandarin" a cappella version of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U" that would later be the record's opening track.
Critical reviews of Asiatisch were generally positive, and the album was on numerous year-end lists by publications, such as being number ten on The Wire's list of the best releases of 2014. However, the LP's use of a concept about stereotypes was a frequent criticism; some reviewers felt the concept had little depth or clarity and the record was much more enjoyable to listen when only focusing on its musical aspect, and some writers felt the concept was better executed than the actual quality of the tracks.
History
Fatima Al Qadiri was inspired to produce Asiatisch by her experience in a Chinese Literature college classCliff, Aimee (2 May 2014). "Fatima Al Qadiri's Chinese fantasy" . Dazed. Retrieved 25 September 2017. and the making of what would later become the LP's opening track "Shanzhai (For Shanzhai Biennial)." In regards to her time studying in the Chinese college class, Qadiri explained, "Even though it was in translation, even though it was taught in an American university by an American professor... I was fascinated by his method, because he really inserted you in Ancient China. It was like virtual reality poetry or something. I think that was the first (time I was) conscious of something other than the West creating."
In regards to making the album's opener, she was asked by a group of friends in the art trio Shanzhai Biennial to make, in their words, a "cheap, Chinese instrumental" under a "nonsense Mandarin" a capella recording of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinéad O'Connor. Recorded by Chinese punk vocalist Helen Feng, the rendition was to be played in a show at MoMA PS1. An instrumental was produced in a manner that did not follow the instructions of the trio, and was not included in the show, but made an appearance as the album's first song; "Shanzhai (For Shanzhai Biennial)." Overall, it took Qadiri around a month and a half to finish Asiatisch. The lead single of the LP, "Szechuan," was issued on 19 March 2014,"Fatima Al Qadiri – Szechuan" . Dummy. 19 March 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2017. and its second single, "Shanghai Freeway," premiered on 30 April 2014 via Rookie magazine.Escobedo Shepherd, Julianne (30 April 2014). "Fatima Al Qadiri: Shanghai Freeway" . Rookie. Retrieved 30 September 2017. The album was released on Hyperdub on 5 May 2014."Hyperdub release full details of Fatima Al Qadiri’s Asiatisch. It features a cover of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’" . Fact. The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
Concept
As Dusted magazine stated, Asiatisch is an "abstract collage of faux Chinese imagery" that executes a "mixture of caricature, dream and stereotype, with very little of anything actually Chinese filtering through." Asiatisch is about what The Guardian journalist Sukhdev Sandhu described as a "themepark simulation" or a "sci-fi wonderland" of China, which Qadiri named "Imagined China." "Imagined China" is an environment of stereotypes about Asian nations and culture that were formed by the Western world, both in education and media formats such as films, literature, animation, comic books, and magazines like The Economist. Qadiri said that "The Asia in Asiatisch is a nexus of stereotypes that have been perpetrated, elaborated, embellished and weaved, each time further and further dislocated from the original misrepresentation." Qadiri also stated that the environment of the album's Chinese setting consists of brutalist architecture: "There's something very dainty and delicate about my melodic compositions, but they are made by digital tools, which also render them clunky, cold."
Some parts of Asiatisch do represent actual Chinese places. "Shenzhen" and "Shanghai Freeway" have sounds that replicate the fast architectural modernization and population growth of China, "Wudang" includes what Andrew Ryce described as "disembodied" voices and synthesizers suggesting myths about the Wudang Mountains, and "Forbidden City" "reconciles its namesake's imperial history with its current status as a glitzy tourist destination," wrote Ryce. The track "Szechuan" is titled after the "colonial" name of the Chinese provence Sichuan, which is used in several Chinese restaurants across the globe. As she described what the song is about, "There’s this idea that Chinese food in China is different than the Chinese food that you find in the West. There’s an illusion—you know what Chinese food tastes like, but then when you go to China, you’re shocked. You come to terms with reality." "Dragon Tattoo" includes a modulated voice saying "speak Chinese, if you please," a response to the line "we are Siamese, if you please" from "The Siamese Cat Song" of Lady and the Tramp (1955).Kretowicz, Steph (6 May 2014). "Album of the Week: Fatima Al Qadiri – ‘Asiatisch’" . Dummy. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
Writer Elena Harvey Collins labeled Asiatisch's concept as a "reverse[d]" idea of the Chinese slang term "shanzhai," which refers to counterfeit consumer goods produced in China.Harvey Collins, Elena. "Fatima al Qadiri: Chinas of the mind" . Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland Official Website. Retrieved 23 September 2017. He explained that the record is about "the ways in which vague notions of China as a cultural monolith and an economic superpower are disseminated through media and how the country acts as the subject of projected of hopes, fears, and dreams in Western culture." Comparing the concept of the album to Edward Said's theories of orientalism, Sandhu stated that Asiatisch is about "nations as mythologies, as fantasies, as erratic aggregations of commerce, junk-media, fabricated fictions." Writer Steph Kretowicz stated the message on Asiatisch is nonsensical in a similar manner to most propaganda.
Composition The album presents Asian melodies through the lens of a western musical genre, that being grime. Primarily, Asiatisch is a sinogrime album; Hyperdub's Kode9 coined the phrase "sino grime" to describe a style of grime that heavily contained elements of Asian music. The album commentates on the use of Asian melodies in Western music that originated in the era of Looney Tunes shorts and similar media, where leitmotifs were composed to mimic Asian people, most prominently the Oriental riff. The stereotypes of Asian culture are presented via electronically produced voices and drums, and "scrambled" readings of ancient Chinese-language poems on the songs "Loading Beijing," "Wudang," and "Jade Stairs,""Asiatisch: .about" . Fatima Al Qadiri Official Website. Retrieved 23 September 2017. and the changes in mood "between cheesy, eerie and darkly erotic," wrote Sandhu. Sounds on the album include the "Asian Kit" from Logic Pro and the Asian flute sounds on a Korg M1. As Qadiri explained the scrambled poetry, "Imagined China is a scrambled idea. It's not something that you can easily even encompass in a sentence or two - or three, or four. It's an undertaking."
As Nick Neyland of Pitchfork analyzed, the structures of the instrumentals are "so bare it feels like someone scooped out most of the contents and dumped them out, providing an intriguing counterpoint to the dense flood of thought the record carries on its back": while a fair amount of the record includes "glassy" synth pads, there are also some moments that consist of only little more than bass or trap-style snares. As Neyland wrote, "Journalist Dan Hancox described sinogrime as a subgenre "that barely ever existed", which is fitting because Al Qadiri also makes music that barely exists, to the point where the gaps between notes almost become the songs themselves." A review published in Dusted magazine, give a more specific description of the arrangement of the songs: "Most of the tracks have a sort of lopsided gait, neither propulsive nor minimal but somewhere in-between. The abortive lurches are used as counterpoints to the other sounds, as opposed to building blocks for a foundation. When this is not the case, as on the moody "Shenzhen," the pace is always somewhat sedate, as opposed to the hyperactivity of "regular" grime, as if Al Qadiri is trying to channel a sort of Eastern mysticism."
Reception
According to Crack magazine, Asiatisch was "one of underground electronic music’s most intriguing stories of 2014.""Albums of the Year 2014" . Crack. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2017. It received generally positive reviews from professional writers upon its release and was on numerous publication year-end lists, such as landing at number ten on The Wire's list of the best releases of 2014."The Wire: Top 50 Releases of 2014" . Year-end Lists. 9 December 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2017. In terms of dance and electronic album year-end lists, Asiatisch ranked number nine on Rolling Stone's article,"Fatima Al Qadiri, 'Asiatisch'" . Rolling Stone. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2017. while a list piece by Exclaim!, where the LP came in at number ten, stated, "Asiatisch is also an excellently produced album that cleverly mines Hyperdub's short-lived sinogrime subgenre, but its real coup is to remind us how much music, in the right hands, can inspire us to tap into and deconstruct preconceived notions of nationality and culture, all while moving us to tap our fingers.""Exclaim!'s Best of 2014: Top 10 Dance & Electronic" . Exclaim!. 9 December 2014. p. 2. Retrieved 25 September 2017. Another piece for Exclaim! written by Vincent Pollard stated, "the most striking aspect of Asiatisch is the confidence of Al Qadiri's sound, demonstrating that the quality of her music has finally caught up with her artistic ambitions."Pollard, Vincent (5 May 2014). "Fatima Al Qadiri Asiatisch" . Exclaim!. Retrieved 29 September 2017.