Exploring extremes
By Maikel Liem
Photos by Yao Fan and Maikel Liem

你知道吗, noise居然也是music, 当然它不等同于一般意义上的噪音, 而是新潮实验音乐的一个种类. 近日, 来自比利时的三位现代艺术家, 首次在厦门演绎了这种全新的艺术形式.

On Friday June 17 a very unique and interesting event took place in Xiamen. As far as live bands and performances go, Xiamen has had its fair share. But the three Belgium performance artists, Nico Docks, Kris Delacourt and Peter Verwimp, who were invited to present their work at Kenny Rogers' Roasters, did something never experienced before in this coastal city.

The concept seems simple enough-a movie accompanied by a "musical score." This movie, however, was shot three years ago by the artists in their home base, Antwerp, and while it was being played to the audience, the trio, who consider themselves a band, used their Minidisk players, containing pre-recorded sounds (i.e. "samples"), to create the "musical score."

I use quotation marks when I refer to their music, because most people would not identify it as such. The "music" belongs to a genre called "noise" which enjoys some popularity in the underground music scene of the West. It is basically a mixture of various loud and soft noises that sound similar to the hiss you get when you turn your speakers up loud without playing any actual music through them.

I've heard this type of "music" before, so I was not shocked by it, but it is quite understandable that people who are not used to it might have some different feelings about the genre.



One of the statements the artists made when the time came for Q&&A was that, with classical music, many different instruments are played at the same time, creating a lot of sound waves. In their music, these waves are brought down to a minimum. I guess minimalist is the key word when describing this genre of music, as very few sounds are being produced.

There is no melody and no harmony, just a collection of hisses, pops, and clicks, and yet we can still call the three performers a band in the sense that they consist of a group where each member fulfills his own role and together create a musical effect. Their minidisks are connected to a mixer, which they use to mix-in their samples. Each artist individually adjusts the volume of low (bass), middle, and high (treble) sounds by twisting knobs on the mixer.

For many Westerners, this sort of music is most definitely unusual, so I can well imagine how most Chinese would receive it. However, if you don't accept something simply because you find it strange, you are being close-minded about it, right? The goal of this music project, according to Nico, is to see how far you can go with music and still identify it as such.

The group has now returned to Belgium, but their experience in Asia was a fruitful one, said Kris. Before coming to China they performed in Thailand, where they had a somewhat similar experience to the one here. Though audiences everywhere in South East Asia found their work unusual, many people were eager to approach the artists and question them about it. Whatever people may think about their project, their search will continue in the pursuit of extremes in music.

For more information on the artists and their works, please visit www.buildingtransmissions.com.

A night of Spanish Expression
By Vivian Zhang
Photos by Yao Fan



应郑小瑛的邀请, 西班牙指挥家安海尔教授首度与厦门爱乐乐团合作, 于上周五晚向厦门观众献上一台原汁原味的西班牙音乐作品. 

The Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra successfully added something new to their ever-expanding repertoire last Friday evening. Under the baton of the conductor, Angel Gil-Ordóez, the orchestra played several pieces of Spanish music at their weekly concert, bestowing upon local audiences an exotic and beautiful musical selection entitled, "Spanish Expression."

Gil-Ordóez has achieved an outstanding reputation among Spain's new generation of conductors, as he carries on the tradition of his teacher and mentor, Sergiu Celibadache. The Washington Post has highly praised his work, calling it "mesmerizing" and "as colorfully textured as a fauvist painting." A specialist in the Spanish repertoire, Gil-Ordóez has recorded four CDs devoted to Spanish composers.

Included in the Friday evening program were "Fantastic Dances Op. 20," "The Three Cornered Hat, Suite No. 2," and some movie music entitled "The River". Said Gil-Ordóez, "I know it was the first time for Xiamen musicians to perform Spanish music of this very unique sort, and yet the coordination between us turned out to be very smooth. I am quite satisfied with their performance, especially given the fact that the orchestra has existed for only six years."



Gil-Ordóez said he held special esteem for Ms Zheng upon learning that her orchestra was holding weekly concerts with a different programme nearly every week. "I believe it must be the busiest orchestra in China. Even in the USA, I don't think there is an orchestra with a fuller schedule. However, it is the only way for a new orchestra to gain experience."

In addition to being an internationally recognized conductor, Angel Gil-Ordóez also holds the position of Director of Orchestral Studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, as well as that of Music Director of the Wesleyan Ensemble of the Americas. "In 2002, when Ms Zheng Xiaoying was the guest conductor of Wesleyan University Orchestra," said Professor Gil-Ordóez, "she invited me to visit Xiamen, and I am very glad that I came."

In an exchange with young members of the Xiamen orchestra, Angel Gil-Ordóez was pleased to learn that they loved George Gershwin as much as he did, especially works such as "Rhapsody in Blue" and "An American in Paris." "Next time I come, I hope we can work on a concert devoted to the great composer," he said with a hearty smile.



Vocabulary
trio 三人组
genre 类别
minimalist 极简主义
treble 尖声的
mentor 导师
mesmerizing 让人入迷的
fauvist 野兽派的