Heartbroken...

Jus came back from yet another concert…long post ahead as usual haha.

THURSDAY

Bei yang (better known as byang haha) came to my haus to learn some simple stuffs abt pop music harmony. I’m so so sorry to say I was a lousy teacher and both of us got bored to death…

Well we went to sakae sushi at causeway point woodlands after tht…and had a great time there haha…filled our stomachs with the sweet raw fish and bitched abt lotsa ppl and abt ‘how we can’t get what we want in life’…mainly the person we like most la. Erm I’m not gonna go too much into it la…find out from me if u wan to know more abt my broken heart…

SATURDAY

Dr zechariah goh got lu heng and I complimentary tix for one of the biggest events in this year’s Singapore Arts Festival…got the best seat area where tix usually cost abt $120+ haha. Watched two fantastic pieces by Chinese composer Tan Dun…’Concerto for Paper and Orchestra’(2003) and ‘The Map: Concerto for Video, Cello and Orchestra’.(2002) The first one (nicknamed Paper Concerto) had a soloist backed up by two other guest players playing with all sorts of paper percussion instruments, like crumpling and un-crumpling a piece of paper, hitting an amplified paper tube, tearing paper, beating on a huge strip of waxed paper hanging from the ceiling with wooden mallets…and so on. The second one entitled ‘The Map’ for short is a ten part documentary-like piece of music that showcases the culture and music of the ethnic minorities of China. For example, one part deals with the tradition of leaf-blowing music as a form of courtship…the cellist actually managed to imitate the high pitched sweet sounds of leaf-blowing with high harmonics.

One part really touched me a lot…it was the part where Tan Dun said he met this ‘ba gua’ master who could make very good music with rocks and stones. 20 years later when he composed this piece, he went back to the village to find the master, but the villagers told him that ‘ren zou le, cha len le’ which literally means that the person has moved on, the tea is cold. The ‘ba gua’ master had died, bringing the entire tradition of rock playing to his grave and leaving no successors. So Tan Dun made it a point that ‘The Map’ would also act as a map to preserve the old ancient traditions of such music that is now or will be extinct. The clever usage of video field recordings and live orchestra working together was simply mesmerizing…there’s a dvd of the piece in the esplanade library. A MUST WATCH for all new music lovers…

Tan Dun himself was conducting…and there were so many important people around. Dr Goh told me to dress formally, and I went there looking like a CBD area office worker wahaha. How formal was it? There was a huge reception with prominent Singaporean artists and composers, and also people like Professor Tommy Koh and SM Goh and his wife. With all the bodyguards of course…and a nice buffet to fill up me stomach hee.

Here are two links to short video clips of the two pieces mentioned…

The Map:
http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/uploadmedia/music_mappaper1.wmv

Paper Concerto:
http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/uploadmedia/music_mappaper2.wmv

So tht’s tht for now…tired wahaha have to go sleep…its almost 1 o'clock…wait it IS 1 oclock. Tata…still feeling the pangs of a broken heart...