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Books:
Dan Tranh Music of Vietnam: Traditions and Innovations
Australia & Asia: $90.00 (Australian dollars) (hard back) ; $65.00 (paper back)
On the Wings of a Butterfly : Cross-cultural Music by Australian Composers (CD)
Scent of Time : Australian Compositions for Asian Instruments and Voices
Landscapes of Time : Contemporary Sound Art of Viet Nam
Echoes of Ancestral Voices : Traditional Music of Vietnam
Quivering String
Musical Transfiguration : a Journey across Vietnamese Soundscapes
CD PRICES: How to order these books and CDs:
To order these books and CDs, send your name, address, titles of the items and cheque or
money order (payable to AUSTRALIA ASIA FOUNDATION) to:
Australia Asia Foundation
All prices include airmail postage and packing
"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."
"Dang Kim Hien's Vietnamese lullabies are astonishingly beautiful and haunting"
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.
Dang Kim Hien: voice, dan tranh (zither), dan nguyet (lute), dan bau (monochord), and percussion
Disc Contents:
1. Luu Thuy Truong [Flowing Water]
2-7. Vietnamese Lullabies
8. Ho Mai Nhi [Central Vietnamese River Chant]
9. Da Co Hoai Lang
10. Vong Co [Nostalgia]
11. Kieu at the Ngung Bich Tower
12. Tu Dai Canh [Four Grand Landscapes]
13. Hat Trong Quan [Earth Drum Song]
"An enchanted journey across the soundscapes of Vietnam"
"Shamanistic... contemplative and impressionistic music... A distinctive Eastern ambient"
"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"
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
Disc Contents:
1. Calm Water
2. Longing for the Wind
3. Improvisation on Sa Mac Mode
4. Inspiration on a South Vietnamese Folk Melody
5. Silent Tears
6. Webs of Life
"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"
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
"An adventurous and fascinating exploration that produces uniquely beguiling soundscapes"
"Cross-cultural music at its best"
"Exceptionally interesting and attractive ... recommended"
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
2. Inside/Outside
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
4. Lotus Pond
5. Scent of Time
6. Echoes of an Old Festive Song
7. Spectre
8. Ethnic Static from Easy Round and Folk Dances
9. Chinese Whispers
Disc Contents:
Reflections, Cicadas, Pond, Stones, Bell,
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)
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
2. On the Wings of a Butterfly (Ros Bandt and Le Tuan Hung) 11:17
3. Adrift (Ria Soemardjo and Anne Norman) 6:05
4. A Song for Sky Bells (Le Tuan Hung) 9:59
5. Pound Bend - Yarra River (Dindy Vaughan) 3:10
6. Wimmera River - Lake Hindmarsh (Dindy Vaughan) 5:54
7. Grit (Brigid Burke) 8:23
Poems of Rewi Alley (Warren Burt)
8. Dedication 3:11 |
