New Ambience: Shanghai 1930s (Patreon)

Greetings Patrons,

I was looking for interesting locations for Cthulhu stories when I stumbled upon a few articles about the magnificence that was Shanghai in the 1930s, a multicultural crossroads of style, music, theater, crime and nightlife. I spent a few days down the rabbit hole on this one.

Shanghai's international areas (concessions) were a haven for the disenfranchised populations of the world and in the late 30s it became a battleground of Japanese, Communist Chinese and organized crime forces. Add jazz and booze and you had a city that rivaled any in the world in terms of danger and excitement.

Shanghai was the opium capital of the world back then and much of it was under the control of the notorious gangster, Huang Jinrong, who also happened to be a high ranking detective in the French Concession. 

This track is an attempt to create the bustling street life of this period, where east met west and people moved fluidly between opium dens, jazz clubs, mahjong parlors and lavish hotels. Traditional Chinese instruments waft from street corners and blend with Jazz and the whole mix becomes truly surreal. British novelist J.G. Ballard who grew up there during this time said: "I sometimes wonder if everyday reality was the one element missing from the city"

I've included an alternate, ambience only version of this track for patrons (although the traditional Chinese street music bits are left in).

(If you're interested, the movie "The White Countess"(2005) with Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson has some wonderful scenes of this era)

Thank you all for your continuing support.

Best,

Tim