ISCM
Global Interplay
_ Report
_ Participants
_ Conferences
Sound Park
Short Cuts
N[you]
by Dietrich Heißenbüttel
Six cities, five countries, four continents coming together for an intercultural exchange. Begun in September, "Global Interplay" is a project in which 40 prospective composers from Accra, Beijing, Berlin, Cairo, New York and Shanghai discuss all significant aspects of their work via an Internet forum.
Parallel composer workshops are organised at each of these locations under the guidance of a mentor. The aim here is to move beyond local perspectives to a global dialogue that seeks to identify, not only the similarities and differences in musical orientation, but also the role of the composer and the function of music.
A closer inspection of the individual groups reveals that, behind what appears to be a homogenous, balanced consistency, a much more complex reality lies hidden. Indeed the participants in the workshops in Accra and Cairo come from all over Egypt and Ghana. But the example of the formation of the two Chinese groups show that, what appears from an external viewpoint to be a unified manifestation of one single country, is actually the representation of half a continent.
Jean Y. Foo [>1] who comes from Singapore and was raised in a western orientated multicultural environment, points out that in China there are 56 different ethnic groups each having its own musical tradition. She recalls the excitement that she felt when, on the mainland of China, she met fellow students from Tibet and was able to learn something of their musical origins.
Although 90 percent of the Chinese population belong to the Han ethnic group, their music varies greatly from region to region. The best method for Jean Y. Foo to describe these differences is by using terms like "flavour" and "inflexion".
Jia Yao [>2] on the other hand, comes from the Xinjiang province in the far north-west of China, almost 1000 kilometres from Singapore. She reveals that this region is known for the twelve Muqam, the traditional music of the Uyghur.
Sun Chang [>3] in turn comes from Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia. It would be wrong, however, to conclude from that he has grown up in an environment in which traditional music plays a dominant role. His father plays bassoon and his mother is a singer. Like the majority of the Chinese participants, he was already playing piano at pre-school age.
Like Jia Yao and Jean Y. Foo, Liu Kun [>4] also has a strong interest in the traditional music of her country. These three female Chinese participants have this in common with the participants from Accra and Cairo. The mutual interest is high, all the more given the apparent limited opportunities to access information and exchange knowledge.
Bassam Nour-Eddien [>5] from Cairo writes that Egyptians have a "melodic ear" and describes Egyptian music as "melodic animation music". He talks of the precious gem that is "tonal folk music melody", that needs to be preserved when new compositional techniques are employed with Egyptian music. In common with Maysara Omar, he does not favour the music of John Cage.
Maysara Omar [>6] is a particularly eloquent speaker within his group, and is well informed too about the history of European music. He acknowledges that he knows Egyptian folk musicians, who could not be persuaded by anything in the world that there is any music superior to their own. He emphasises the differences between the various music cultures throughout the world and the necessity to adequately study them. He resists preconceptions about Islam and the role of women in Egypt, and admits that alongside pure traditional Egyptian music, he likes most to listen to European Baroque music. He tends, perhaps a little too swiftly, to connect his reserved stance to the modern with his rejection of American politics.
At the same time, he refers to the multicultural history of the country and the parts played by the Greeks, Italians, Armenians, British and Germans in its musical history. Like Bassam Nour-Eddien and Maysara El-Zobir, the participants from Ghana move beyond the traditional music of their country in order to continue to involve themselves with the methods of modern contemporary composers. Just as with the Egyptian participants, they emphasise the diversity of the musical culture of their country, where the various ethnicities do indeed have their own traditions, but beyond this where different types of music are connected with certain population groups or occasions.
Frank Ferguson Laing [>7] categorises the music of his country into music for occasions, for recreation as well as for the incidental.
As explained by Senyo Adzei [>8], written music has existed in Ghana since the 1920s, mostly performed in churches. This does of course awaken unpleasant memories. It was indeed the Christian missionaries who attacked the traditional music of the country which led to the diminishing of the indigenous musical traditions up until recently.
In Ansah Torwomenye Kofi's [>9] opinion it is one of the special tasks of composed music to reverse these effects.
Folk Music vs. Art Music
Problems arise, not only however, where the issue is finding an audience for new music. Traditionally, rather, music takes place in a quite different context than in Europe. It is intricately connected with certain functions of the community, an ever-present accompaniment to births, marriages, particular celebrations and other social activities.
Performances normally involve the participation of the audience whereby the European concert style would not find great resonance here.
In a complex "Essay on New Music" David Egyaiku Awotwi [>10] expresses his fascination but also his confusion with the meaning of the term "new music". Conversely Benjamin Amakye-Boateng [>11], inquires in a manner similar to Jean Y. Foo [>12], about the folk songs of New York and Berlin.
In response Nils Günther [>13] from Berlin finds that there is no folk music there, not even a single type of traditional music with the exception of folksy German pop, which he terms an adulteration.
Todd Tarantino [>14] from New York, too, avouches that art music and folk music are two separate entities, between which there need not necessarily be a connection, and after all he does not incorporate American country music into his compositions.
Similarly Katharina Rosenberger [>15], originally from Switzerland but belonging to the New York group, declares not to have a particular relationship to the music of the country of her birth.
And also Yoav Pasovsky [>16] does not touch upon folk music in his compositions. In contrast to the students in Shanghai and Beijing, Accra and Cairo, the majority of the participants in the New York and Berlin groups come from various countries. In the first case the spectrum ranges from Iceland to Japan, and in Berlin there are representatives from Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey and Israel.
Out of this arises an interesting exchange between Yoav Pasovski from Israel and Maysara Omar [>17] about Oum Kalthoum and Abd El-Wahab, about the development of traditional and contemporary music in both countries and their attitude to political history. It is repeatedly the case that one of the participants wants to learn more about the music and history of another country.
Nils Günther [>18] attempts to answer Senyo Adzei's question about the current trends within European music. Jean Y. Foo [>19] asks of her mentor Qin Wenchen about the extent to which Chinese music can be correctly classified as pentatonic and refers to a statement from an expert, her 80 year old former teacher Li Yinghai. In response to a question from Frank Ferguson Laing, Todd Tarantino provides a detailed historical overview about the relationship that American composers have to the folk music of their country.
Expositions of this nature are not substitutes for books and Internet resources in which there is increasing interest. They do, however, have the charm of relaying the situation directly from the personal perspectives of the students. Some of the participants have wide-ranging musical and intercultural experiences.
Nils Günther [>20] has played free jazz and gamelan music and was interested in Japanese music and Mongolian throat singing, Zen Buddhism and yoga. What remains is a deep interest in Chinese philosophy and culture, from which he derives a harmonious system that refers to the fives elements of the Chinese tradition.
In Japan Jean Y. Foo [>21] became interested in the Noh theatre and learned Indian dance. Yoav Pasovsky [>22] is likewise interested in oriental culture and is undertaking Japanese studies in Berlin. Bassam Nour-Eddien [>23] also works as a jazz bass guitarist. Following her business studies, Katharina Rosenberger [>24] worked as a tour manager for a band from Kenya and Ghana before she moved on to composing music.
How do you compose?
There is a vibrant interest in mutual exchanges. The atmosphere is enthusiastic with only the occasional groan about the volume of mail to be answered or the chaotic nature of the discussion. Responding to the desire to focus more on self-composed works and questions about composing, Jean Y. Foo [>25] and Nahla Mattar [>26] give detailed descriptions of their own works.
Others, such as Katharina Rosenberger [>27] strive to describe the process of form definition, creative stimuli and the initial steps in the process towards the later work.
And then others such as Jing Xu [>28] who attempts to describe the essence of musical experiences in her own words, or Liu Huan [>29] who on the other hand poses a list of thought-provoking questions to which she herself swiftly finds her own answers.
The aim here is to find out to what extent the instruments, singing techniques and performance methods, the composer role, the notation and chromatic scales of the European tradition are seen as compulsory for the young composers from the various countries, if they are inclined towards alternative practices and methods from other parts of the world, or even towards new methods that go beyond conventional composing, notational and performance practices.
Even if it is not possible to derive representative statements from the responses made, some surprising comparisons have at times been made. Nils Günther und Yoav Pasovsky prefer classical notation, whereas Bassam Nour-Eddien and Liu Kun work with a graphical notation and occasionally with verbal explanations.
Nils Günther [>30] admits to having problems with the vibrato of classically trained singers, and Liu Kun [>31] with singing per se: In a new work, she is working with characteristic vocal accent from the Shanxi opera, but translates this for instruments. From all sides there is a lively interest in inter-disciplinary and inter-active projects, electronics and new technologies, microphone tonalities and just intonation as well as research on the principles of cognition and the conditions of the performance.
Cathy van Eck [>32] is interested in the relationship between instrumental and electronically produced sound and the role of microphones and loudspeakers.
Katharina Rosenberger [>33] is experimenting with the relationship between the performer and the audience and incorporates dancers, actors, video, electronics and interactive installations into her work. She has also explored Gnawa music from Morocco.
New Composing Techniques for a "healthily globalized world"
It is commonly understood that new technologies have opened new avenues for composers. This does not merely relate to the generation of sound itself, but also concerns the use of certain software as a generating as well as a structural aid to composing, as employed by David Brynjar Franzson [>34] in his work.
However for Huckleberry John Hodge [>35] the question arises about the relationship of intention, inherent in these forms of technical modelling, to the idea of intuition. This question leads directly back to the idea of non-intention within the Taoist tradition, as previously spoken about by Jean Y. Foo [>36].
Yoav Pasovsky [>37] asks further about the initial "push" that triggers the compositional process. Senyo Adzei [>38] also exhibits a great interest in the use of new technologies. In this context, just as in others, the question is posed if music per se is the ultimate purpose, or if music does indeed have a social function to fulfil.
Jean Y. Foo [>39] believes in a healing power which she strives for in her music. For Liu Kun [>40], on the other hand, composing is something that is quite personal. But rather than abstract answers, the question is possibly better resolved by specific works. For Bassam Nour-Eddien [>41] music must be based on a story.
Nahla Mattar [>42] works directly within terms of intercultural interactions. In her composition "Eyes of the I's" the performance involves her together with an American and a Russian colleague. The use of dance and movement, of Arabic and Russian song, electronic and video media were required in order to represent the theme of homelessness of modern man within a musical piece.
The exchange between cultures, which Nahla Mattar has chosen as a theme within
a musical work, is described by Maysara Omar [>43] as the aim of this exchange of ideas, which most would agree should extent beyond the actual Global Interplay project to form the basis of a "healthily globalized world".
Within this exchange, traditional music is not characterised as merely localised and backwards-looking. On the contrary, Jean Y. Foo [>44] arrives at a very surprising insight: Folk is global.
_____
1]
In China, there are 56 ethnic groups and every group has its unique musical features.
Jean Y. Foo, 23.9.05
Even though I'm Chinese by race, but growing up in a Western influenced and multi-cultural country like Singapore, has made me (and many other Singaporeans) lose touch or become unaware (worse still, ignorant) of the social and cultural activities my Mainland Chinese counterparts have experienced. You can imagine my feelings when I first met my Tibetan classmates and learned about their music!
27.9.05
I think this is truly an interesting question: What criteria does one apply to distinguish folk music from other kinds of music? I think it would be a sad thing if people categorize music into 'higher" and "lower" orders. For me, having studied both Western and Chinese music simultaneously since young (I played instruments in both Western and Chinese ensembles/ orchestra), I feel that folk music has attracted me a lot because of its flavor (not to be confused with style) and inflexion characteristics. I have observed that folk music, whether Chinese, Indian, Javanese, Irish, Turkish etc., has in common strong flavors and strong degrees of inflexion. Contrary to that, I would think, is Western music (i.e Vienna schools etc). Maybe I'm wrong? "Flavor", defined by dictionary.com: a distinctive yet intangible quality felt to be characteristic of a given thing. Inflexion, as a musical term, the altering of a sound through it's resonance (not it's struck note). As far as I know, there isn't really an international way to notate flavor and inflexion in a work. In China, folk songs are passed down aurally, because only through human interaction, one can hear/ feel the flavor. Reading scores is quite useless, unless you just want to know the notes.
26.9.05
2]
I come from the Xinjiang province, one of the minority regions in China where the Twelve Muqam, the traditional folk music of Xinjiang's Uygur people, is very famous. I hope I will have the chance to introduce it to you.
I always like to use folk materials in my pieces. I do not just copy the folk materials, but absorb some elements such as rhythm, tone, tone color etc. into my composition, and take them as a main clue. So, you can hear this folk tone from time to time. Moreover, I also add some modern materials and combine the folk and modern.
In my opinion, it doesn't matter whether one uses folk material or not. The most important thing is that there have to be some spark spots in the composition so as to move the audience and let it be remembered for long.
Jia Yao, 5.11.05
3]
Born in Hohhot, the Capital of the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, I'll be twenty in 7 days, I began learning composition at the age of 5, and now i'm stydying both composition and orchestral conducting in the Shanghai conservatory.
Sun Chang, 7.11.05
4]
I have a big interest in Chinese traditional music and African folk music, though I know so little about it. Within my own course of music composition, I start looking for a way to combine the Chinese traditional music and Western reasoning and logic, in order to create my own musical language.
Liu Kun, 23.9.05
5]
In general, you can say about Egyptian music, it is melodic animation music. Any music here was accompanied by animation even if you did not see it and just listened, and all of our Citizens have a melodic ear, so that if you give them some non-tonal music or normal symphonic music with no melody to to give them an inside animation, they will refuse it.
Bassam Nour-Eddien, 23.9.05
All folk music is tonal music, whereas the new direction in Europe is non-tonal music or depending on sound; I think the important question is: How we can use the new techniques of composition with new sound, while keeping our Gem "TONAL FOLK MUSIC MELODY".
27.9.05
6]
I have seen many musicians in my life who thought that nothing is more potent than folk-music. It was impossible for me to convince them otherwise. ... I would like to urge you to listen more to the riches of our "national" folk-musics, of China, Ghana, even Germany, and Egypt. They will, at lease, cause no harm to your ears! ... Through GLOBAL INTERPLAY, the ISCM World New Music Festival will be extensively confronted with numerous musical cultures that have no direct relation to European aesthetics. In this way, a balanced interplay of cultures can be considered in the sense of a 'healthily' globalised world.
Maysara Omar, 25.9.05
I also want to make a point about how 'studying' that folk-music is important before we express any absolute judgments and decisions. Indeed the more I study, the more I find many potentialities for my own art-music composition. 6.10.05
For the time being, I can only say that I hardly find anything that can take me even near the state of excitement and thrill I always experience when I'm listening to plain, or "pure" Egyptian folk-music. For me, listening to Egyptian folk music is much like listening to Bach or Mozart.
6.10.05
I personally make strong distinction between art and intellectual notions and ideas. It is a long debate, wether the artist should go *beyond* his art, or even totally sacrifice that art for the sake of a literary or philosophic, abstract notion. This is of course a recent development in the history of art, in the West, to be more precise. An example, an extreme one, of that way of thinking may be very found in aleatoric or chance music, where John Cage, for example, sacrifices music, the art itself, that is supposedly the organization of sound, by means of declaring an empty piece of music which contains nothing but silence. Here, the destruction of the nature and general characteristics or the art itself, for the sake of a 'modernistic' literary idea, that was developing strongly in his time in art, that is, "nihilism", to go beyond abstraction itself, to nothing. (The same happened in fine-art). This I personally do not appreciate, and in fact, I think it is closely related to some "political" circumstances in world politics around mid 20th century that helped in the developing of that attitude, not only towards art but towards many other affairs in economy and social life. ... Preaching economic liberty, anti-communist, freedom and free-speech, the school of modern art in America was very well nourished by the state. It was the need for a distinct American identity in art. ... I am not quite sure if chance music was particularly one such art in America, but I believe that the environment of nihilistic art was quite epidemic in America at that time only for political reasons.
22.9.05
Up to the 50s of the past century, ... a portion of the population in Egypt was constituted of European foreigners, most of which were Greeks, Italians, Armenians and to a lesser extent, British and Germans, who all lived in Egypt for all their lives, in total harmony with the Egyptians. They had great influence on cultural, social and economic life in Egypt. In fact, they took the lead in the field of music, and my piano professor, today, is Italian. From Germany there was "Hans Hickman" who accomplished one of the most important research studies in the field of ancient Egyptian music and attained his Ph.D from Germany on the topic. His study is one of the rather few scientific writings on the issue and it is a necessary reference today.
25.9.05
7]
In Ghana, we have different ethnic groups with diverse cultures, music, etc. But we can group the music into the following categories: Occsional, recreational and incidental. Performance of traditional music in general was with group participation where the audience partakes in the performance. We are yet to adapt the the European style. There is the problem that people don't like instrumental music like the orchestra performing. So this makes it difficult to compose or arrange for the orchestra to perform. Because the patronage will not be encouraging. Another problem is that, the organization of music, dance and drumming is centered around the culture, i.e. in context, so when you compose using 20th century compositional techniques, no one will listen to the music. It is a challenge, I think, to break this myth for the people to appreciate art music. I am trying to recreate some of our folk songs using Western tecniques like atonal, and so on. I know that this will not sound normal in our cultural sense.
Frank Ferguson Laing, 30.10.05
8]
In fact, composed Music in Ghana dated as far back as 1920s, when the pathfinder of Ghanaian art music of blessed memory, Dr Ephraim Amu, begun to write music for his school choir. People like prof. Nketia, a Ghanaian renowned composer who was also at our last workshop as a mentor, followed Amu, and many others. The question, where is their Music performed is quite a difficult one.
Unfortunately their Music is mostly performed in Churches. To go a little bit into history, the missionaries, when they first arrived in Ghana, they brain washed the people even against their own music saying it was evil, for this reason a lot of rich musical cultures in Ghana have been abandoned until recently when we have decided to go back to our roots.
Ghanaian composers have always been writing for Western instruments and unfortunately the unavailability of the instruments has kept some of the works still in boxes. We are now thinking of new possibilities to make do with what we have at our disposal.
Senyo Adzei, 10.11.05
9]
The idea, I think, among other things, is to revitalise the traditional institution which, if care is not taken, will lose its significant.
Ansah Torwomenye Kofi, 20.9.05
10]
When the Global Interplay began a couple of months ago, what fascinated me was the aim or objective of writing new music. Why it fascinated me was simple.
On the one hand, my interest in composing was challenged and incited; moreover, the chance to bring out something new was even more challenging. But just when the musical part of me was about to take up the opportunity to bring something new, the philosophical side of me asked me a big question: What is new music?
Anytime I started to compose, I thought to myself: Is the piece I'm writing new enough? Would it be called new music? ...and many other questions related to the question of new music.
I used the opportunity then to just sit and probe into the question of what music is and for that matter New Music - thus the essay on new music.
An Essay on New Music
From the early days of music theory, composers have strived to create music that sounds different from our everyday repertoire. As music continues to evolve, composers still look for new ways of writing music; furthermore, with the advent of Globalization, exposure to other cultures reveals many more ways and possibilities in which music can be composed. But the question still remains: what is New Music? What is fit to be called new music? An insight to these questions will pave the way to probe further into the conceptualization of new music. By simple definition, new is anything that has not been used before, or is being introduced for the first time. In this vein, New Music will be music not played before or music being introduced for the first time. Obviously, this definition of music is too shallow to encompass the entire implication what new music is; furthermore, it might be misleading. Nevertheless, it is not wrong. One thing which would affect how music is defined lies in the context of its definition. For instance, what is called new music in one culture would certainly vary from another culture - even the definition of music is expressly different from culture to culture. Our cultural background would influence our view of what new music should sound like. A culture of predominantly percussive instruments would be fascinated, at least to some extent, by other kinds of instruments. Also, in western cultures, musicians would be fascinated by predominantly percussive music and so on. In this context, both cultures would describe each other's music as new music. If we are to consider the history of western music from the Middle Ages through to the Twentieth Century, the evolution of style and theory defined what new music is. Each era of music presented a different idea of music, or at least different theories of music which affected the way music was composed. But the question is: was the music new or different as it evolved through the ages - or what adjective tagged that kind of music?
David Egyaiku Awotwi, 30.10.05
11]
I am very much interested in using traditional and folk material as my source to experiment with various techniques. For a start, i would like to learn some folk songs from New York, Berlin, Cairo and Beijing.
Benjamin Amakye-Boateng, 20.9.05
12]
(Vgl. Fußnote 1) In China, there are 56 ethnic groups and every group has its unique musical features. What about folk music in Europe? What is it like?
Jean Y. Foo, 23.9.05
13]
You are right, we don't have any folk-music here. I have the feeling that we don't have any traditional music at all. At least nothing you could compare to the music of one of the other countries. What we have very much is a kind of perverted folk-music. It is called "volkstümlicher Schlager" (sorry, that is not translateable, but Schlager means "Hit"). That's complete nonsense, because it tries to sound like folk-music but is purely commercial. Maybe it is just my opinion, but I believe we don't have a living tradition.
Nils Günther, 26.9.05
14]
I think one of the goals of this experiment is for us to move beyond any stereotypical understandings of the music of the various lands. There are national styles of folk music surely, but our art music and our folk music are two different things and may not necessarily be related - you'll find very little American Country music in my own music.
Todd Tarantino, 24.9.05
15]
I am not too inclined to Swiss traditional music... the only experiment I did was with a sort of drone we have... a big coin, that we rotate in a ceramic bowl.
Katharina Rosenberger, 5.11.05
16]
So far I haven't used (at least not consciously) folk/ traditional material in my music.
Yoav Pasovsky, 6.11.05
17]
I'm also very interested to hear about contemporary music in Egypt. Although being neighboring states, one cannot acquire in Israel much information about what's going on musically in Egypt. I guess it's pretty much the same from the other side of the border (correct me if I'm wrong).
Yoav Pasovsky, 15.10.05
No, of course you are not wrong. It is the: Status Quo!
Maysara Omar, 17.10.05
I grew up to the music of Bach, Mozart, etc. as well as to the music of Um Kalthum and Abd El-Wahab (both were Egyptian musicians. I might as well ask my Egyptian colleagues if such music is to be regarded as popular, traditional or both?), Let alone popular music.
Yoav Pasovsky, 15.10.05
Their music was both traditional and popular at the same time, although without being actually truly popular and traditional. That is, at their beginnings, those two particular musicians (Kalthoum as only a singer, while Wahab both singer and song-composer), were certainly considered as POP; much like what many today consider "pop music of the VAIN young generation!". Though they co-existed with some other form of, one could say, more RURAL pop-music which was in fact more traditional, more popular in the non-urban places. Both sorts of music are, however, not really traditional or FOLK.
The Kalthoum and Wahab, and co., started to have more space sometime late in the 30s with certain fortunate political events in Egypt that brought them to Cinema and brought Cinema itself to a great state which immediately became popular all around the country and consequently, those artists became popular as well; the "national heroes of our Cinema" one would feel, and even say so, at that time. But SOMETHING will happen afterwards, that will bring those formerly POP artist of the good old days to the fore, as the "artists of FINE taste", and also as the NATIONAL EMBLEMS of art, in Egypt (and the ARAB world), also due to certain, sudden! political events as well, early on in the 50s. Now they are no more popular, they are "refined" or, I'd say, refined-ed - refinedized! So they started to disintegrate from the populace, or maybe the populace started to disintegrate from them, as is the case today.
Maysara Omar, 17.10.05
But I guess Israel is a special case, where the overwhelming majority of the current Jewish inhabitants had immigrated 60-80 years ago from all over the globe (even from Shangai) and imported the indigenous culture with them to Israel. Unfortunately some cultures were suppressed in favor of others, but now I'm really going astray.
Yoav Pasovsky, 15.10.05
Astray but interestingly enough - as you said we too know little about your place. Could you go on in that, AstrayNESS?
Maysara Omar, 17.10.05
As a quick and very partial glimpse at the nascent Israeli art music scene I can offer you the following link: http://www.kith.org/jimmosk/israel.html more elaborate is the book: Twenty Israeli Composers - Voices of a Culture by Robert Fleisher The remaining resources I know of are mostly in Hebrew, and some in German. However, I can further explain what happened culturally in the new-born Israel, which had far-reaching consequences.. ultimately also on the music scene. As in the late 30's and 40's many Jews came from Europe and the Arab states, there was an urgent need to define a cultural common denominator, which would then be propagated as the national culture - an Israeli culture. Yet in order for such national being to develop its identity it must define itself also as differing from its surroundings - in this case the Arab countries.
Thus, the rich culture brought by hundreds of thousands of Jews who came from countries like Iran, Iraq, Syria, Tunisia, Egypt and many others was deemed "Indigenous" and therefore unwanted. As a consequence, there was a one-sided cultural suppression.. and the western culture was taken as a basis. Of course this is a generalisation.. and there are many particular examples undermining my proposed view.. but it is still more than evident.. a good example is the European provenance of Israel's high echelons between 48 and the late 70's or even 80's.. Ironically enough, the first European Jewish composers who came to Israel.. tried to distinguish themselves from Europe by adapting what they called the "Mediterranean" style..
In this style they tried to incorporate Jewish folk songs from both east Europe and Arab countries in otherwise post-romantic/impressionistic music. There is in the last decade an ongoing dispute regarding the validity of the Mediterranean style as an independent musical style. A common critical view is that at the end of the day, this style has nothing innovative to offer. So much for cultural muddle in Israel..
Yoav Pasovsky, 19.10.05
18]
As you know, after serialism and aleatoric music, we came to the point where many composers had the feeling that we reached an end of innovation. Everything was done. An important thing was to allow consonances again (I think we would have to discuss what consonance really means, but that's another topic...).
Now we are in a situation where we can do almost everything. Some composers follow the historic line and have much influence of the great composers of the 20th century like Boulez, Lachenmann, Ligeti, Stockhausen etc. So they try to "go on" by using some techniques that are often called "advanced". That means for example they use many instrumental techniques and try to get rich colors. Other composers are influenced by foreign music, Asiatic, African etc. Very often they use these influences in an idiomatic way. So the music shall sound like African music, maybe because of use of percussion or special rhythms. Other composers go "back to the roots" and try to use influences of medieval music or romantic music. If the influence is romantic, the music is very often extremely expressive. They "paint with a big brush" and want to write very spontaneously.
Of course there are also those who are close to the New York School, Cage, Feldman, Browne and Wolff. But they don't use chance operations. They try to write in a more simple way. We have the situation that an artist often does not really know what he could do, what he could not do. Some composers try to include almost everything in their music, jazz, techno, Strawinsky, medieval music etc. And of course electronic music is very important. Some composres are completely specialized in working with electronics.
But I think the time of the great experiments is over. Avantgarde seems to be a historical thing. What would be a further progress? I realize that composers are not much influenced by other cultures. If they are, they write idiomatic music. I think we could "import" much more than this. Because every culture has it's own philosophies, religions, it's own character. In music it has it's own forms, it's own functions of music, it's own rituals etc.
Nils Günther, 23.9.05
19]
I have spoken to our Beijing mentor, Professor Qin Wenchen, and have asked him about his views with regard to the current conversations of "folk music vs art music" and "the one-sided fact about Chinese music". ... During my stay in China, I studied with Professor Li Yinghai, a 80year-old man, who is specialised in Han Chinese Scales, Tonality and Music. The Chinese community is very large, geographically and culturally. The Han group is the largest ethnic group (90%) in China, yet the Han music can sound very different in the North and South. Professor Li educated me about one very important thing of Chinese Pentatonism: the difference between a 5-note-scale pentatonism and a 6/7/8/12-note-scale pentatonism. In other words, the ear may hear a 5-tone pentatonic backbone, but it could be made from 5,6,7,8 or 12 notes. If using 7 notes, the 7 notes are treated in special manners where not all 7 notes are given equal importance. Some are "guests" , "ornamented" or "modulatory" notes. The concept of 12 tone is hence viewed differently in Western and Chinese music, and I'm sure 'pentatonic" will have different meanings in these 2 kinds of music. It is indeed misleading to think that Chinese pentatonism is pentatonic because of the pentatonic scale. The "sounds and expressions" have elements of the direction of the notes' progression, inflexions created by instruments and certain accented notes to create augmented sounds. It is also amazing to know that so many geographical flavors can be created across the ethnic groups, yet be able to hear pentatonism as a backbone sound of China. According to our mentor, Professor Qin, he said China's music evolved to exhibit the 5-tone scale largely also due to political reasons. Indeed, the earliest bell chimes did have chromatic notes, but the Chinese aesthical perception of 'harmony" of the 5-tone pentatonic led her music to become more "conservative". Political reasons not as in recent 100 or 500 years, but back to the period of the Warring States and Han Dynasty (centuries before Christ). ...The truth is, as much as lots of music have a pentatonic backbone, there are lots of music in China that are not at pentatonic. And to hear them, one might need to explore mountains and caves to find the indigenious people. ... (Ab hier s. Fußnote 1) I think this is truly an interesting question: Which criteria does one apply to distinguish folk music from other kinds of music? I think it would be a sad thing if people categorize music into 'higher" and "lower" orders. For me, having studied both Western and Chinese music simultaneously since young (I played instruments in both Western and Chinese ensembles/ orchestra), I feel that folk music has attracted me a lot because of its flavor (not to be confused with style) and inflexion characteristics. I have observed that folk music, whether Chinese, Indian, Javanese, Irish, Turkish etc., has in common strong flavors and strong degrees of inflexion. Contrary to that, I would think, is Western music (i.e Vienna schools etc). Maybe I'm wrong? "Flavor", defined by dictionary.com: a distinctive yet intangible quality felt to be characteristic of a given thing. Inflexion, as a musical term, the altering of a sound through it's resonance (not it's struck note). As far as I know, there isn't really an international way to notate flavor and inflexion in a work. In China, folk songs are passed down aurally, because only through human interaction, one can hear/ feel the flavor. Reading scores is quite useless, unless you just want to know the notes.
Jean Y. Foo, 26.9.05
20]
The truth is (and that's in fact the reason why I am participating here) that I want to get the "big picture". I want to find out how we are connected. I was a very active musician. I was on tour at the "new jazz festival" in Switzerland years ago, I improvised very much and also played jazz in several bands (mostly free jazz, whatever that means). I also played in a gamelan-ensemble for two weeks, which gave me a real experience of learning by doing. It is one of the best examples for non written music. The workshop was like falling in very cold water, but I had to swim all the time. I also tried to learn the Mongolian technique of throat-singing, but I didn't get it. I was interested in Japanese music for many years ( I wanted to be a zen-monk years some years ago), I also visited Tibetan monks in a monastery in Switzerland. And I really love Tibetan music and have some very good recordings of it too. I also participated at workshops on Indian music (vocal music) and I still love Indian music very much. Indian music is like Indian food, I think. We really can talk about flavor here... When I was interested in Indian music, I also was a yogi at that time and practiced hatha-yoga every day at 5 a.m. When I was interested in Japanese music and art I was a zen-scholar too, sitting for hours, clearing my mind.
Nils Günther, 27.9.05
My special interest is Chinese philosophy and culture. That's my most important influence. 20.9.05 I am interested in the model of the five elements wood, fire, earth, metal and water. I have built a harmonic system based on these principles. Not in a mechanistic way but in a way that allows me to compose empirically but "guided". I also believe that sound has a direct influence on the listener and I try to compose music that puts the listener into "balance". The reason why I am so interested in Chinese philosophy is that I found everything in it that I felt somehow before.
20.9.05
21]
I studied for 2 months in Kyoto, Japan and watched the Noh theatre, I learned steps of Indian dance, did fusion improvisation etc.
Jean Y. Foo, 27.9.05
22]
I too have an interest in East Asian culture. As a composer I am intrigued by the notion of time and space in its traditional art (be it music, performing/visual art or poetry) and although (or perhaps because) my current focus lies on Japanese culture, I'm definitely also interested in its Chinese roots (or main source of influence until late 18th Century). However, until now I have obstinately deprived myself from any thorough study of texts about that music, fearing that it might shatter some (romantic) aesthetic ideal that I've been holding up to. Perhaps it's time to let go.
Yoav Pasovsky, 15.10.05
23]
It's nice to find a friend from Ghana who wants to know about our Egyptian music, so I'm happy for that and look forward to know more also about your music. It's very interesting for me as a composer and also as a Jazz bass guitar player (you know jazz comes from African roots and still depends on your interesting rhythms). It is very difficult to explain our traditional music, because every period has had an effect on our music, so we have a rich musical inheritance, that's how I would explain it. We still have a pentatonic scale in our southern music, in Nubian Valley, Luxor and Aswan and the history goes it comes from time of the Pharaohs and is still used. When we come to upper Egyptian music, we find a different kind of music that depends on some Arabic Island moods like Bayati and Sabha and such.
Bassam Nour-Eddien, 23.9.05
24]
My musical journey started sort of late, I have been studying economics and business affairs and worked in music management for quite some years. My favourite encounter was with a band from Kenya/ Ghana, their name "Ashantis", with whom I toured all over Europe and produced several cd's. So... so far about my old life...
Katharina Rosenberger, 23.9.05
25]
For now, I am composing a string quartet and an a "music performance theatre" work. The "music performance theatre" work will be about 10-15 minutes long for my final project to be submitted for the interplay project. My string quartet does not really have very strong folk subjects, but like previous works, a hidden pentatonic scale will be used together with a harmonic system.
For the interplay project, it is a combination of music, dance and narrative play (unaccompanied 5 voices SATBB, 1 bamboo flute, 2 percussionists and 1 dancer). The highlight of this work will be using 2 long bamboo poles as a link for percussion and dance. The dancer will dance between bamboo poles according to the rhythm and placements generated by the hitting the poles together and on the grounds (done by 2 percussionists). Yet the rhythms are not freely hit because the rhythms have to go together with vocal and flute part, which is also the basic music part for the piece. So everything is sort of integrated. The idea of bamboo is derived from folk bamboo dance which can be found in the Philippines, Hawaii, India and Hainan Island of China. So my basic work material is bamboo, hence the bamboo poles, the bamboo flute and small bamboo boards (traditional Chinese percussion instruments). The theme of my work is "inter-religious peace" and there will be a dance of the "wine god", a metorphorical expression of "our human and religious spirits drunken with the wine of mysticism". According to the Philippine bamboo dance, the tradition dance was a narrative tale of how their deities punished people for bad deeds by clamping their legs between the bamboo poles and people would jump about trying to avoid to get hit. A similar concept is used here where god tries to wake our drunken beliefs by sending his angels to clamp our feets as punishment. The traditional dance is primitive (as in simple movements and forms as used). So as a composer, I try to maximise the potential of expression by incorporating rhythmic elements into the dance based on my music, and to move the poles in as many different directions and displays as possible to see if new sounds can be created from them. I try to create a balance of globalness and traditionality with hopefully a social message. The bamboo dance comes from many cultures, yet bamboo itself is a representative image of the Chinese culture. The vocalists are humans, yet provide a good complement/ contrast to the religious and mystical theme. The work seeks to show a distinction between right and wrong/ good and evil, yet the "drunken spirit" is a key element of the piece. Because this work is experimental for me (and also for my dancer, voice and percussionist friends, to whom I'm grateful for their help), I've created a plan to accomplish different stages of the work. I have just finished my "research stage" which was video-taped by another good producer friend of mine. Edits of the film will be shown together with my presentation when I attend our next workshop in Shanghai (that's like in 2 days). After that, I will move on to the "composing stage" and then the "rehearsal stage".
I am still thinking about my sound for this work. I intend to use the Hainannese language (partly because my ancestors are from Hainan Island!) and see what I can do with the tones. I think I will be further enlightened after our mentors have seen my presentation and have a better idea of my thoughts. I intend to also view DVDs of folk dances and shamenistic music.
Jean Y. Foo, 27.10.05
26]
I do not really have a clear plan how I compose, as I consider that difficult to answer because I depend on my intuition and the circumstances of the work. Let me give you a recent work of mine that I think could explain my process or at least one of my interests. The work is entitled "Eyes of the I's", and it is an interactive multi-media installation for Dance, Video, and Music. There is some ideas about the project (not the music on this address:
http://artslide.fa.asu.edu/mfaslide/melkoz/melkostatement.htm and pictures
at http://artslide.fa.asu.edu/mfaslide/melkoz/index_mel.html
The collaborators of the project were three females from diverse backgrounds: American, Russian, and Egyptian. We choose the global theme "Homelessnes of the Modern Man", and the work was a mix of our feelings as women and our cross-culture experience. As the dance was linear, and video was non-linear, I decided that music connect between the four sections of the work, and I decided to express my point of view through the usage of Arabic music maqamat and rhythms, mixed with electronic processes, to deal with the changes happened to the main character in the story. I used melodic connections similar to "Fixed Idea", that were recalled with certain modifications, to remind the audience with the narration. I scored the first movement (cocoon) for flute, clarinet, accordion, and percussion, and in Arabic rhythmic cycle 10/8 called "samai teqiel". The 2nd(revocation) and last movements (Eyes of the I's) were for electronic processing to my Russian friend singing a lullabye, and me singing a composed Arabic song of mine that followed the traditional singing methods of using a lot of ornaments and microtones. The processes were adding some reverberation units to express the inscape (imagined space, of memory), with different panning to the sound projected through four speakers. The third movement (dispersion) was scored for solo amplified flute and electronics. It is the climax of the piece where the real-time processing of the flute (mostly structured improvisation) of using the reverberation units is expressing the idea of a hunted space of memories and recalling roots as a magician, so we hear different levels of wind (flute modified).
Nahla Mattar, 29.10.05
27]
What happens usually in my case is that, in a very unexpected moment, I suddenly hear the music I am supposed to write. That means, let's say, I write for a particular combination of instruments. I spend some time of thinking of their sonic properties and combinations, I think of what it is I want to express, what are my concerns, which issues have crossed my mind and the more I think about it, the more the music is concret. Then I spend time with a piece of paper and pencil and describe in words or in drawings what I hear. I have a stop watch so I know how long certain processes need. Once this is done, I start to think more logically, how to structure and to develop these ideas. How I could generate the harmonies, pitch material, rhythms and only then, after I know already how long all the section last and what is happening within, pitches, rhythm, I start to notate...
Since I experience the music first evolving in time and not to a particular beat or meter, I always feel strange to fit the music into a system. There is a lot of corruption happening from the moment of hearing to the exact notation. I wish, it could be more immediate. I have to work on that.
For a moment, when I lived in London, I did work with improvisers. I enjoyed it. Interesting to notice the differences in perception of time and the amount of musical information that happens within. I have to say that free improvisation is a tricky business, so much can go wrong. In fact, of about 90% of the concerts, I was not happy. Yet, from some players I could learn a lot. It would take too much to describe in detail, but particularly I was impressed by their unconventional approach to form (evidently) and the sense of "breath" inbetween the musical events.. the so called "no music moments".
Since two years, I work more and more with electo-acoustic music. Here in new york, I got involved with dancers, video artists and theatre. I am quite fascinated to see, how this rather spontaneous approach to work with sound has also influenced the way I work in an acoustic setting.
Katharina Rosenberger, 5.11.05
28]
I feel that music creation has a kind of micro beautiful feeling in inside, which one cannot really ponder over. Because it would be a great pity if the human nature, the essence of a human, which is also part of human makings, would be absent from music itself. Yet this is so difficult to capture.
Jing Xu, 6.11.05
29]
I have a question: If there is no musical structure, there will be no musical spirit.
I wonder what are your opinions regarding the above statement. I look forward to hear your views!
Beginning with myself, I would like to share some thoughts after having the chance to rehearse with musicians. I feel that the linear quality in music is very important! And also sudden changes and sustained effects to create a wholesome quality made up of fragments. How do the rest of you feel about your works. What are the most difficult things you encouter when you compose?
Liu Huan, 8.11.05
30]
I really hate the vibrato and try to explain the singers that it is extremely important for my pieces to avoid it.
Nils Günther, 31.10.05
31]
My inspiration for this music is by using a special vocal accent from Shanxi opera. But I do not want to express this kind of music with voice in my works; I want to sing it with musical instrument that I chose and to display the characteristic of this kind of music. In addition, my subconscious keeps repelling the writing of the vocal music, but I do not know either why there is such an idea, a bit strange. Liu Kun, 3.11.05
32]
I'm especially interested in the relationship between instrumentalists and electronics, in an interactive way. I also investigate quite some time in the research of the role of microphones and loudspeakers in music, and in what kind of different ways they have been used by composers and how composers and also artists from other disciplines experiment with them nowadays.
Cathy van Eck, 23.9.05
33]
In my work, I love to experiment and reconfigure the relationship between the performer and the audience, between how music/ sounds can be heard/ understood and how this could have an impact on a different performance practice. I have done so with all sorts of different formats: solo, ensemble music, with dancers, actors, electronics, video and interactive installations, where the audience would have the chance to change what they hear in real time. What interests me particular in this regard and our group, is, to know better the relationship and different meanings of the interaction of performers and the audience in your traditional music. For a while I looked into Gnawa Music from Morocco and I was fascinated. So in a way, instead of looking only into new technology, I'd like to understand better the very basic, or let's say, natural and direct approach to music.. the meanings of the rituals connected to it.
Katharina Rosenberger, 23.9.05
34]
As a big user of all sorts of computer tools for compositional aid, I have spent a lot of time and energy trying to understand many of the problems that are associated with computer-aided work methods, and in particular simply trying to phrase my concerns rather than necessarily answer them.
For the last 10 years, I have used computers as a compositional aid in one way or the other. At first it was mostly as an aleatoric generator and as a sounds analyzer. This use has grown over time, until today, where large part of the structuring, form and certain aspects of materials are worked out or evaluate by the use of computers. Currently, I use a mixture of some of the household names in computer-aided composition. Just to be sure that we are all aware of their use, I give a short description of each, so sorry if you all are more aware about these programs than I would expect, I am sure all of you have at least heard of any two of the list.
1. OpenMusic. A visual LISP based programming language from IRCAM. It comes with a number of established solutions to common compositional problems, but I mostly use it for its extendable architecture, where I can rapidly implement and experiment with all sorts of algorithmic techniques, and manipulate data analyzed in the other software I use. I have developed a library for my most common compositional techniques, allowing me more time to focus on poetics rather than simply technique in my music.
2. Spear / Audiosculpt. Audiosculpt is the main spectral analysis software that IRCAM has been putting out for the last decade and a half. It analyzes the spectral components of a soundfile, and can track independent partials within a sound, and export that information for use by other software, such as OpenMusic. Spear is a little bit more focused (and better) approach, created by Michael Klingbeil at Columbia University.
3. Pure Data. A free program, by the original creator of Max/MSP. It is a visual programing language for audio, interactive events, and analysis. For my music, I use it to both implement the electronic parts of my pieces, as well as to analyze rhythmic parameters, that I then import into OpenMusic.
Currently I use computers on a few separate compositional levels. After I have chosen the sonic objects I am interested in using, I model its behavior, or analyze it in various ways, to see what it is made out of. This is done to better familiarize myself with what is related and unrelated between the objects. Next I will generate a grid, or a set of constraints, that limit how these objects interact, and how they react when in interaction one with another. The strength of using a computer to do this is that I can try out 2000 different types of models, constraints, forms or whatever it is that I am using to hold things structurally together, in the same time as I could make one by just using a pencil on paper. Hodge brings up a question relating to this, which is how this effects the idea of work (as in job, not piece), and I must admit that while working out a single construct by hand, I used to have a faith in the final construct. It was as if the effort spent on it was enough to animate the product in my eyes as I was working on it. In some ways, the choice and quality of material doesn't seem to matter all that much as long as a composer believes in it. Now that I experiment and automate large parts of this process, there is no longer the qualitative hierarchy of effort embedded in the objects based on the work that goes in to them. It took me a long time to come to figure out how to continue from that point on, because once ones naivety is lost, it never returns in the same way. What I have discovered is the above mentioned faith in the material. It doesn't matter if I generate, manipulate or destroy the materials using my mind, my hands, algorithms, or intelligent machines, as long as I am doing that with materials I believe in, and I am consistent about my decisions and their consequences. To put it more simply, as long as I believe in the materials, any dishonesty or violation of them is a violation of me. This make me equally responsible within the whole decision making process, whether I use computers or not. After solving this problem for myself, I have feel like I have gained an incredibly powerful partner in the computer, where the interaction is not master / slave in either direction.
A little side note on structure. One could argue against my use of structure altogether, but for me, an eclectic collection of sonic materials, no matter how good or ugly they are can never make an interesting piece of music alone, unless they are forced to confront each other, and a common environment within a piece. Otherwise the only possible communication in the piece is simply what the composer likes and dislikes. I believe it says more about a person how he/she reacts to situations, than simply what he "thinks" he likes. I am not advocating structuralism as a solution, only that something more, a concept, a form, a silly idea in someways constraints the composers choise, and forces him out of his comfort zone within each given piece.
But back to composition. Once I have generated a construct, and chosen objects and how they are placed in relation to the construct, I start making decisions upon the interaction of objects. Each decision has consequences, and I am forced to face up to all further appearances where the same decision could be made. The end result of this is an accumulation of a logic of my subjective choice. There is no overall narrative, only localized fiction, globally interrelating through the complex network that my subjective choices generate. These choices are in no way arbitrary, because as soon as one is made, the other ones become more logical. I guess paradoxically it makes me a subjective empiricist. It feels as if I have a carcass or an inanimate body in front of me, and I embroider around the breaks and the decay in this body, and in that way re-animating it locally, allowing small worlds to emerge. In this step, I use a number of small calculators, rhythmic generators and manipulation machines in the computer, just like a painter uses different widths of pencils and different colors to paint out his objects and constructs.
David Brynjar Franzson, 9.11.05
35]
As for me, I have a somewhat ambivalent relationship with the computer. When I was studying in Stuttgart (composition and computer music), I did alot of work both with sonification of data structures and algorithmic modelling of compositional processes. But over time I have become much less interested in that way of structuring music in favor or poetic, symbolic, expressive, read: intuitive principles of organization (these may not be mutually exclusive...). In short I have gradually become wary of "intention" and no longer see it as an a priori truth as regards the compositional act. This frees me up to use the computer as a tool instead of serving it as a jealous and unremitting master.
Huckleberry John Hodge, 8.11.05
36]
Maybe you can elaborate on the structuring concepts of your work? I think my teammate Liu Huan has an interesting post on musical structure and musical spirit. I know some composers plan everything from head to tail whilst some just write whatever comes to their minds. For me, I start have a general outline but I try to leave enough space for instant changes instead of locking myself into a fixed mode.
Jean Y. Foo, 9.11.05
In the book of Laozi and Taoism in general, the main idea is 'non-intention'. Some books tranlate as 'non-action' but many people think it means to 'do nothing'. But the real meaning is that all things should flow naturally and not be forced or intended in a specific way.
21.9.05
37]
I was wondering what is the initial phase or initial "push" that begins your compositional process. ... I ask myself if it is possible to have an initial auditory mental image/musical idea that one can follow even if the results of computer manipulation (especially algorithmic) could be somewhat unpredictable.
Yoav Pasovsky, 10.11.05
38]
Really, it is not bad at all to introduce music and technology into the discussion. In fact I am particularly greatful because considering the way some of us in this part of the world is lacking in terms of technological developments.
Senyo Adzei, 10.11.05
39]
Social meanings are gradually integrated into my work, like the "inter-religious peace" theme in my "bamboo work-in-progress", my piano suite "music for the masses" where i believe that music has a strong healing power etc. So to feel "responsible to society" in my craft means to use it "to heal people/ spirits." In many of my works, I pursue sounds that are "pleasant yet forceful" (these are very subjective terms) to the ears. So my social belief and responsiblity do affect the sounds in my works.
Jean Y. Foo, 1.11.05
I feel that that composer should not give up the idea of social responsibility just because we are afraid the audience can't understand or if we ourselves can't understand our work. The reason for my strong belief in the "society factor" is not unjustified. In comparison with science or business or politics, art has a much higher degree of aesthetics (even to some extent we can say art is aesthetics). "Aesthetics" is the line that separates humans and animals. Animal aesthetics is limited to mating, but the human aesthetics is beyond that and further. Our aesthetics has led to the existence of art. And so art is from mankind. Nature is thought to be beauty because of man's aesthetics, not in itself. So I feel that art is very closely related to man, and where there is man, there is society. So our art, directly or indirectly has a social factor.
4.11.05
40]
I and one of my friends can't agree that composing should come along with the social responsibility after we discussed. And, composing is a very personal stuff, is something from the composer's spirit, maybe not perfect, maybe ugly, but they are the real thing. They have nothing to do with being a person. Against that, being a person, sometimes you need to control your emotion, sometimes you need to pretend, so to be a person you need to perform to others, but composing is performing to yourself, and sometimes only the composer knows what it is, others maybe know about half, maybe 0.
Liu Kun, 3.11.05
41]
I have my own way of composing, in so far as I can't compose for the sake of composition alone. I must have a story first to built on, and I must believe in it in order to compose. It's like in romantic music ( program music), but including the new material we have, and all works must have a short story and you must create a balance between sound and fancy (imagining the events with music), so the story is necessary for me to compose. But although this is my way of composing, I find myself sometimes composing the music first and the story comes after. This happens rarely, but I alsohave some pure music with no story.
Bassam Nour-Eddien, 31.10.05
42]
(=26) I do not have really a clear plan how I compose, as I consider that difficult to answer because I depend on my intuition and the circumstances of the work. Let me give you a recent work of mine that I think could explain my process or at least one of my interests. The work is entitled "Eyes of the I's", and it is an interactive multi-media installation for Dance, Video, and Music. There is some ideas about the project (not the music on this address:
http://artslide.fa.asu.edu/mfaslide/melkoz/melkostatement.htm
and pictures at
http://artslide.fa.asu.edu/mfaslide/melkoz/index_mel.html)
The collaborators of the project were three females from diverse backgrounds: American, Russian, and Egyptian. We choose the global theme "Homelessnes of the Modern Man", and the work was a mix of our feelings as women and our cross-culture experience. As the dance was linear, and video was non-linear, I decided that music connect between the four sections of the work, and I decided to express my point of view through the usage of Arabic music maqamat and rhythms, mixed with electronic processes, to deal with the changes happened to the main character in the story. I used melodic connections similar to "Fixed Idea", that were recalled with certain modifications, to remind the audience with the narration. I scored the first movement (cocoon) for flute, clarinet, accordion, and percussion, and in arabic rhythmic cycle 10/8 called "samai teqiel". The 2nd(revocation) and last movements (Eyes of the I's) were for electronic processing to my Russian friend singing a lullabye, and me singing a composed Arabic song of mine that followed the traditional singing methods of using a lot of ornaments and microtones. The processes were adding some reverberation units to express the inscape (imagined space, of memory), with different panning to the sound projected through four speakers. The third movement (dispersion) was scored for solo amplified flute and electronics. It is the climax of the piece where the real-time processing of the flute (mostly structured improvisation) of using the reverberation units is expressing the idea of a hunted space of memories and recalling roots as a magician, so we hear different level of winds (flute modified).
Nahla Mattar, 29.10.05
43]
(s. Fußnote 6) I think this, too, is one of the ideas of Global Interplay. But also another idea of Global Interplay is that "Through GLOBAL INTERPLAY, the ISCM World New Music Festival will be extensively confronted with numerous musical cultures that have no direct relation to European aesthetics. In this way, a balanced interplay of cultures can be considered in the sense of a 'healthily' globalised world."
Maysara Omar, 25.9.05
44]
As for the definition of "worldly", actually I translated it from Chinese. The original phrase "All that is Folk is Worldly" is actually a Chinese one which we (the Chinese team) debated and discussed during our 1st workshop. I did check the online English dictionary and the word "worldly" has elements of temporal and secular aspects, but also meanings of "human affairs". From my understanding of the phrase, the best explanation for "worldly" would be "global". "Global" means "comprehensive, all-inclusive, involving the entire earth, not limited or provincial in scope". So for this statement, it can be interpreted as "folk, since coming from humans and communities, we can automatically presume that folk can be comprehended (understood) and accepted by the world. Therefore, folk is global". I think this is the best explanation of the original phrase I can give for now.
So to make things simpler, the topic for debate would be "folk is global". Following my previous post, I am wondering if folk has also slowly becoming globalized through "culture mix". Maybe we are so keen on culture mix because we subconciously/conciously realize that folk on its own is actually not all that global after all. But a greater concern for me as a composer is that if a "globalized folk" culture is actually a trap generated by globalization and not a concious movement by artist to really show the spirit of mankind. As mentioned before, what will come after cultural and folk intergration? How much further or deeper can we push the boundaries of mixed music? How can we move on to the next stage of culture mix?
Jean Y. Foo, 27.10.05
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