Echoes of Ancestral Voices
Traditional Music of Vietnam

"No flashy displays, just a fragile, uncompromising intensity. [Dang Kim] Hien's unearthly lullabies and elegant nhac tai tu duos [with Le Tuan Hung] using delicious microtones make this one of the most worthwhile discs of the traditional repertoire."
Rough Guides>Music
www.roughguides.com

"Dang Kim Hien's Vietnamese lullabies are astonishingly beautiful and haunting"
Warren Burt, Experimental Musical Instruments

Echoes of Ancestral Voices presents a collection of Vietnamese traditional music. Authentic versions of pieces from various classical and folk traditions are carefully realised with musical and linguistic aspects relevant to each tradition. Many of the pieces were inspired by the landscape, rivers and torrid history of Vietnam.
The collection also features lullabies from the North, Centre and South of the country.
The beauty of the music is also enhanced by the performers mastery of performance practices of various Vietnamese musical genres and their personal touch in performance.

Dang Kim Hien: voice, dan tranh (zither), dan nguyet (lute), dan bau (monochord), and percussion
Le Tuan Hung: voice, dan tranh, and percussion

Disc Contents:

1. Luu Thuy Truong [Flowing Water]
South Vietnamese Classical Chamber Music
Le Tuan Hung (dan tranh) & Dang Kim Hien (dan nguyet)

2-7. Vietnamese Lullabies
Dang Kim Hien (Voice)

8. Ho Mai Nhi [Central Vietnamese River Chant]
Dang Kim Hien (voice & dan nguyet)
Le Tuan Hung (dan tranh)

9. Da Co Hoai Lang
[On Hearing the Night Drum, Missing My Husband]
South Vietnamese Classical Chamber Music
Dang Kim Hien (dan bau)

10. Vong Co [Nostalgia]
Music of South Vietnamese Cai Luong Theatre
Dang Kim Hien (dan tranh)

11. Kieu at the Ngung Bich Tower
Chanted Poetry
Dang Kim Hien (voice and dan nguyet)
Le Tuan Hung (dan tranh)

12. Tu Dai Canh [Four Grand Landscapes]
Classical Chamber Music of Hue
Dang Kim Hien (voice, dan nguyet, phach)
Le Tuan Hung (dan tranh)

13. Hat Trong Quan [Earth Drum Song]
North Vietnamese Folksong
Dang Kim Hien & Le Tuan Hung
(voices and percussion)

"An enchanted journey across the soundscapes of Vietnam"
(ABC Radio National)

"Shamanistic... contemplative and impressionistic music... A distinctive Eastern ambient"
(Soundscapes)

"Their compositions combine elements of Vietnamese tradition with an absolutely contemporary compositional sensitivity... showing how elements of tradition and contemporary exploration can be successfully combined into works that speak to both past and present"
(Warren Burt, Experimental Musical Instruments)

Evocative images and haunting effects, creating a totally unforgettable listening experience. Explore new directions in contemporary sound art with a touch of Vietnamese colour, inspired by Vietnamese poems, ideas and spirituality.

Dang Kim Hien: voice, dan tranh (zither), dan nguyet (lute), dan bau (monochord), and percussion
Le Tuan Hung: harmonic voice, dan tranh (zither), dan nguyet (lute), suling (Balinese flute), Helix wind roarer, percussion, rain sticks and electronics

Disc Contents:

1. Calm Water
for 2 dan tranh, suling (Balinese flute), and electronic crickets
Music by Le Tuan Hung

2. Longing for the Wind
for harmonic voice, dan tranh, dan nguyet, and percussion
Music by Le Tuan Hung

3. Improvisation on Sa Mac Mode
Music composed and performed by Dang Kim Hien (dan bau) and Le Tuan Hung (dan tranh)

4. Inspiration on a South Vietnamese Folk Melody
for dan tranh
Music composed and performed by Dang Kim Hien

5. Silent Tears
Music by Dang Kim Hien
Performed by Dang Kim Hien (voice and percussion) and Le Tuan Hung (suling (Balinese flute))

6. Webs of Life
Music for a multimedia work by Dang Kim Hien and Le Tuan Hung
Dang Kim Hien (dan tranh, dan nguyet, dan bau and percussion)
Le Tuan Hung (ocarina, suling, Helix wind roarer, whirlies, bells and tape)

"Le Thi Kim's soaring voice and the delicate, enchanting rhythms of the music create a memorable atmosphere, and a wonderful introduction to the lovely music of Vietnam"
(Sophie Masson, The New Englander)

An acoustic journey across Vietnamese soundscapes. From the majestic sounds of court music to the subtle flow of lullabies, from the haunting voices of chanted poetry and classical chamber music to the lively rhythms of the village festival songs. The Vietnamese zither, skin drum, bronze bells, coin clappers, wooden sticks and voice evocatively conjure up the Vietnamese soundscapes.

Disc Contents:

Six Royal Pieces, Crossing Mountain Pass, Four Grand Landscapes, Lullaby, Black Horse Song, Chant of a Soldier's Wife, Reflection, Welcoming Spring Song, Love Song, At the City of Ascending Dragon, Recollecting the Past, Paper and Strings

Scent of Time
Australian compositions for Asian instruments and voices

"An adventurous and fascinating exploration that produces uniquely beguiling soundscapes"
(New Classics UK)

"Cross-cultural music at its best"
(Ron Payne, Music Teacher Magazine)

"Exceptionally interesting and attractive ... recommended"
(Peter Larsen, 3MBS FM Libretto)

In the last two decades, the number of Australian composers who created new works for Asian instruments has been growing steadily. The availability of competent performers of Asian instruments in Australia, and positive developments in cultural, social, political and economic engagements between Australia and Asia are the main stimuli for this new trend in Australian composition. The varieties of tone colours, musical gestures and technical possibilities of Asian instruments have enriched the palette of Australian contemporary music. From the Asian perspectives, Australian works have contributed fresh winds of ideas, styles and forms for a number of East and Southeast Asian traditional instruments. While the works for traditional instruments by many contemporary composers in Vietnam, China and Japan tended to be confined or restricted within their own traditional concepts or borrowed concepts from the West, Australian works appear to be extremely diversified in compositional approaches. Perhaps, the lack of an old age musical heritage in Australia has given composers the freedom to explore ideas and break down artificial boundaries of East and West.

This compact disc brings together the works of two groups of Australian composers: (1) those who have reached out to actively engage with Asian music and arts, and (2) Asian artists who have settled in Australia and have continued to preserve their own musical heritage as well as creating new cross-cultural works. Their works exemplify the diversifying compositional approaches of Australian compositions for Asian instruments and voices. Ros Bandt and Dang Kim Hien have collaborated in both improvisatory setting and conceptual development to generate a beautiful meeting of acoustical realms of East and West. Warren Burt used technology to control, craft and construct powerful musical images from Asian raw materials. Anne Norman drew her inspirations from Balinese gamelan music, Japanese shakuhachi tradition and her own experience in improvisation to create a highly original piece for shakuhachi, double bass and found objects. Dang Kim Hien's and Wang Zheng-Ting's solo compositions demonstrate conscious efforts to expand the playing techniques and expressive capability of Asian instruments. Le Tuan Hung's works are poetry-based and show a combination of musical concepts from Vietnam, China and Europe and a careful application of idiomatic gestures of various instruments.

The works of these composers have taken Asian instruments and voices beyond the boundaries of their own traditions to take part in a journey that may result in more and more adventurous sounds in the future.

Disc Contents:

1. We Lose Things
Music by Anne Norman
Performed by Anne Norman (Shakuhachi), Nick Tsiavos (Double bass), and Peter Neville (power pole bells)

2. Inside/Outside
Music composed and performed by Dang Kim Hien and Ros Bandt
Dang Kim Hien: voice, dan tranh (Vietnamese zither), and Vietnamese percussion
Ros Bandt: viola da gamba and renaissance tenor recorder

Inside/Outside is a collaborative journey of the outer and inner worlds of the voice in relation to the instruments (viola da gamba, tenor recorder, dan tranh and Vietnamese percussion). The piece traverses states of calm, agitation, happiness and sadness, and culminates in the symbiosis and reconciliation through the breath of both voice and recorder (Ros Bandt).

Life is nurtured and maintained by cycles of breaths. Each breath conveys and/or conceals various feelings and emotional states. At a certain moment, a breath may carry contradictory feelings such as love and hatre, anger and calm, sadness and happiness. These feelings are flowing within the inner and outer voices. Inside/Outside is a musical exploration of the inner and outer emotional gestures of the voice in an instrumental landscape that transcends the boundaries of East and West (Dang Kim Hien).

3. Shadows of the War Horse
for dan tranh (Vietnamese zither), with wooden sticks and bells
Music composed and performed by Dang Kim Hien

4. Lotus Pond
for dizi (Chinese flute), sheng (Chinese mouth organ), 2 erhu (Chinese 2-stringed fiddles) and woodblock
Music by Le Tuan Hung
Performed by The Australian Chinese Music Ensemble

5. Scent of Time
Music by Le Tuan Hung
Performed by Anne Norman (shakuhachi) and Peter Hagen (harpsichord)

6. Echoes of an Old Festive Song
for dizi (Chinese flute), sheng (Chinese mouth organ), erhu (Chinese 2-stringed fiddle), drum and woodblock
Music by Le Tuan Hung
Performed by The Australian Chinese Music Ensemble

7. Spectre
for sheng (Chinese mouth organ) and tape
Music composed and performed by Wang Zheng-Ting

8. Ethnic Static from Easy Round and Folk Dances
Fake gamelan (Fairlight Computer Music Instrument)
Music by Warren Burt

9. Chinese Whispers
Music by Warren Burt
Voices: Julian Yu and Marian Grey

Quivering String

Music by The Back to Back Zithers

Disc Contents:

Reflections, Cicadas, Pond, Stones, Bell,
Intisari, Cobwebs,
tikar plastik tikar pandan, Prayer for Land

Back to Back Zithers are four distinguished solo composer-performers who enjoy sharing each other's traditions and skills in the process of making a new Australian music. Since 1988 they have combines their original ideas with musical thoughts from Vietnam, West Java, mediaeval France and Italy in new compositions which transcend the boundaries of East and West.

Back to Back Zithers are Ros Bandt (psaltery and renaissance flute), Kari (kacapi), Le Thi Kim (dan tranh) and Le Tuan Hung (dan tranh)

On the Wings of a Butterfly
Cross-cultural Music by Australian Composers

Featuring works by Ros Bandt, Brigid Burke, Warren Burt, Le Tuan Hung, Anne Norman, Ria Soemardjo, Deborah Kayser and Dindy Vaughan.

1. Unde (Deborah Kayser and Anne Norman) 6:44
for soprano and shakuhachi

2. On the Wings of a Butterfly (Ros Bandt and Le Tuan Hung) 11:17
for medieval psaltery, dan tranh (Vietnamese zither) and suling (Balinese end-blown flutes)

3. Adrift (Ria Soemardjo and Anne Norman) 6:05
for voice and shakuhachi

4. A Song for Sky Bells (Le Tuan Hung) 9:59
for power pole bells, dan tranh (Vietnamese zither), suling (Balinese end-blown flute), and Oceanian panpipes

5. Pound Bend - Yarra River (Dindy Vaughan) 3:10
for shakuhachi and harpsichord

6. Wimmera River - Lake Hindmarsh (Dindy Vaughan) 5:54
for shakuhachi and harpsichord

7. Grit (Brigid Burke) 8:23
for clarinet vibraphone and Indian drum

Poems of Rewi Alley (Warren Burt)
for voice and computer

8. Dedication 3:11
9. The Family Supper 2:26
10. The Way Ahead for Youth 2:57
11. The First Eighty Years 2:34