It’s not just birthdays we’re excited about here at Benn loxo.

I’m getting married.

A few weeks ago while on the hike on a muddy path overlooking Tiger Leaping Gorge, below Jade Dragon Mountain, I proposed to the lovely Marie Louise Congo .. and she said yes.

It’s so wonderful to share these travels – this music – with someone so amazing. My international search for the Good Sound is no longer a solo affair.

After hiking the rest of the high trail, still a little stunned by it all, we spent the next few days in the Shaxi valley with Wu Yunxin and his wife. There we hung out at markets, taught at a primary school and hiked around ancient, Buddhist rock carvings in the surrounding mountains.

If you ever make it to a Shaxi valley Friday market – and you should – you’ll see many colourfully-dressed Yi women selling their wares. Though the Bai people dominate the population of the Shaxi valley towns, the Yi come down on market days from their secluded mountain villages.

I picked-up some Yi music recorded by Laurent Jeanneau of Kink Gong while in Dali a few days later. Although the people of the Yi sub-group who he recorded aren’t the same as those we met in the Shaxi valley, they’re part of the same ethnic minority. Plus, appropriately, they sing several songs about marriage.

Louise, think of this as a musical toast to our future. I love you.

Laluo Yi singers – I want to marry you

Yeah, that’s me. And why am I posting a picture of myself dancing, or possibly conceiving some great idea, in early 2004 during a curry-cook/dance-off on a friend’s rooftop in Dakar? Because four years ago yesterday Benn loxo du taccu was born. Happy birthday, Benn loxo.

It all started in Dakar after a good trip to Nigeria as an excuse to collect more music while living in West Africa. It quickly turned into something much greater.

Four years, 460 posts, 2500 comments and lots of life later, we’re here.

More than all the music I’ve collected, the most rewarding bit has been all the people I’ve met through the site. Benn loxo has led me to good friends in Paris, Dakar, London, Beijing, San Francisco, New York, Lagos and elsewhere. These days I keep this site going mainly because it continues to bring me great people wherever I go.

A big thanks to all of you who have contributed music, advice, posts, concerts and much more over the years. I’ll try my best to keep it going for another four.. for better or for worse!

So I figure we’ll celebrate the birthday with one last Beijing music post.

Today’s track was recorded at the last live show I attended in Beijing, Wu Ningyue’s acoustic set at the Jiangjinjiu pub. It was another one of those great MicroMu gigs. The crowd knew all the words and the atmosphere was fun.. (yes, Ed, despite all the La La Las.)

I don’t know much about Wu Ningyue except that he is the lead singer for a popular Chinese rock band. I leave you to brush up on your Chinese and check out the MicroMu site to learn more.

You can download the whole live album here.

I’m back in Paris now but soon off to London, Ankara and Istanbul. I’ll try to throw together a long-overdue Paris post this weekend, then more to come from England, Turkey and who knows where else in the coming weeks.

Wu Ningyue – 性格