"Verdant Luxuriance" - Connecting Heritage Concert

* DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT "VERDANT LUXURIANCE"

1. Time: 20:00 pm, 18th December 2018

2. Venue: L'Espace, 24-26 Trang Tien, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi City

3. Entrance ticket:

Register for our concert pass at: bit.ly/hnmf-register-concert-pass

4. Activities:

From the curatorial text:

"It seems like, despite political, economic and social differences and particularity, Southeast Asian countries also share many commonalities, one of which being the prolonged colonial history. Such particular circumstance has stretched out even until today, when each country is struggling to grow its contemporary cultural "tree" from its own "roots". The heritage is being lost (or being forgotten) or young generations are disrupting with their cultural roots - this is like a wound unhealed, like a wound no one has found an appropriate way to deal with. The whole cultural body of Southeast Asia is finding ways to digest other foreign cultures (which have in a way become their own blood, or part of themselves) while at the same time trying to reconnect, research, transform and adapt their own local culture - not just as an element in their work but also as a rooted identity. They are working on their own heritage for the sake of making it livable in the present day and also for the sake of finding their own voice in the world map of the arts.

With these 4 following works using elements from the heritage, can this act as a suggestion, a proposal to this scene, which is groping and experimenting with Vietnamese and regional heritage?

a, "The Leaves" for solo piano

+ Composed and performed by Ne Myo Aung (Myanmar)

+ Statement: There is a famous Burmese saying "Don’t let a leave cover the stalk". When it comes to traditional music or culture, Burmese people use this saying to remind not to destroy your own culture by new creativity which is not suited to the original one. However, most of Burmese people including me, have been trapped with that saying and do not dare to do anything. Being afraid to be called the one who destroy the traditional music has weakened our exploration of possibilities to create new ideas and musical atmosphere. Creating a new music might not be good as old one: it might not be smooth or neat; it might not sound similar or not even similar. However, it is one of the processes of arts. For those people who studied music rather late, they might not be great like others who were grew up with it. Still, we have to try to express ourselves on our own ways through the music we are close to. Let the leaves cover the stalk for the sake of exploring a new possibility. It might not be as good as the old one. Maybe it is better. But since the leaves cannot survive without the stalk, it will eventually get back to its root."

b, "White Chrysanthemum" for bamboo flute, tranh, đàn nhị, đàn nguyệt, and percussion

+ Composer: Tran Manh Hung

+ Statement: "White Chrysanthemum" is a composition written for 5 Vietnamese traditional instruments, with inspiration taken from the old tale of white chrysanthemum. The old tale tells about the piety of a girl for her parents. This work was first performed in 2013, Ho Chi Minh City.

c, "Transformations: The Six Tones and masters from the south play Vọng Cổ"

+ Musicians: Phạm Văn Môn/ đàn ghita phím lõm, Út Tỵ/đàn gáo, đàn cò, Huỳnh Tuấn/ đàn kìm, Stefan Östersjö/ đàn tỳ bà, Nguyễn Thanh Thủy/ đàn tranh, Ngo Tra My/ đàn bầu, Luong Hue Trinh/ điện tử

+ Statement: "The Six Tones are working on a double CD which explores the musical traditions of Nhạc Tài Tử and approaches this practice through a long-term collaboration and experimentation together with master performers from the south of Vietnam. The concert performance presents traditional Vietnamese music in states of transformation, driven by the conviction that the preservation of tradition can only be achieved through continuous change."

d, "Hurl and Curl" for sound tape, monochord and bamboo flute

+ Composer: Hoh Chung Shih, Alicia da Silvaa, Joyce Beetuan Koh (Singapore)

+ Musician: Nguyễn Thuỳ Linh/ monochord, Lê Vietnamese Jew's harp

+ Statement: "Hurl and Curl" is collaborative multimedia work by composers Alicia de Silva, Hoh Chung Shih and Joyce Beetuan Koh. It surveys the physical space by hurling and curling musical cells spatially in various speeds and diverse density zones. These musical cells are made up of sounds recorded and collected from the surroundings and environments of Singapore, and layered to create an immersive experience for the listener as s/he navigates through a body of pointillistic texture guided by the sonorities of the viola.

After our contemporary classical concert "Verdant Luxuriance", only a few blocks away on the same side of the street (absolutely within your walking distance), will be a completely different space and time and spirit packed in our Night Club Experimental!

* NIGHT CLUB EXPERIMENTAL: NOISE MUSIC

+ Featuring Indra Menus (Indonesia), Caliph8 Rigor Mortiz (Philippines), Otomo Yoshihide (Japan)

+ Venue: GU (34 Trang Tien)

+ Time: 22h30 - 00h00, Dec 18, 2018

Martinus Indra Hermawan a.k.a Indra Menus also known by his stage name, To Die. He sparked the project To Die in 1998 as an off-shoot band plays hardcore punk music in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. To Die later developed into a solo project where he is playing in a vocal composition with Drone and Ambient Noise. Indra is also active in the independent music gig organizers, Kongsi Jahat Syndicate; band tour booking agency, YK Booking; General Manager of independent records label, Doggy House Records; and engaged in zine archives and exhibition, Jogjakarta Zine Attak!. Indra also working as a director in Jogja Records Store Club, a collective of records store and records label based in Yogyakarta.

Arvin Nogueras aka Caliph8 is a composer, sound and visual artist.He explores the implication of merging, summing and hybridization, creating a new cultural syntax out of the debris of the already-given. For the past 20 years, he has been active in Manila and overseas, primarily involved with the local outsider culture. As a sound artist and vinyl archivist, his background spans from true school hip-hop, experimental, folk, no wave, sound art and ethnomusicology among others.

Otomo Yoshihide is a Musician and producer. He is a cross-genre music maker actively performing free improvisation, noise and pop, simultaneously and independently, on a global scale. As a film composer, he produced over 100 pieces of music for visual and film and TV works. In recent years, he has been making musical pieces and organizing a unique style of concert, mainly in collaboration with various artists and regular citizens under the name of "Ensembles."  Furthermore, he has been committed to music workshops with challenged children and participatory projects. He also attracts his activities beyond the borders of music, including "Project FUKUSHIMA!," which started after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.