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Kiko Shao

The Throwback

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Several inspirations and personal experiences, both musical and non-musical, led me to write this piece. It grew from the idea of a conversation between my memory of life in Hong Kong and the new era in the UK. In terms of the pitch materials, it is influenced by the pitch content of Cantonese music. For example, the first section uses the five-note Cantonese music traditional row as an original pitch form, and this row creates a serial rotation for the pitch development. The work also explores the movement of sound, blurred soundscape boundaries, and luminous resonances, expressing my thoughts and feelings about Hong Kong. I experiment with the use of the roborecorder, which acts as the monologue’s character in the beginning section with the Cantonese music tonality. The other three musicians perform in dialogue with one another and the surroundings, with sounds being passed between different instruments, circling, and echoing throughout the space alongside the roborecoder. The second section presents a developing traditional Cantonese folk tune, emphasising the energetic and rhythmic contrapuntal texture.

Sawl ysbrydoliaeth a phrofiad personol, cerddorol ac fel arall, a’m harweiniodd at gyfansoddi’r darn yma. Tyfodd o’r syniad o sgwrs rhwng y cof sydd gen i o fywyd yn Hong Kong a’r cyfnod newydd yn y DU. O ran deunyddiau’r traw, mae cynnwys traw Gantonaidd yn ddylanwad arno. Er enghraifft, mae’r adran gyntaf yn defnyddio traddodiad y rhes bumnod Gantonaidd fel ffurf wreiddiol ar draw ac mae’r rhes hon yn creu cylchdro cyfresol er mwyn datblygu’r traw. Mae’r gwaith hefyd yn ymdrin â symudiad sŵn, terfynau seinluniau aneglur ac atseiniau disglair sy’n mynegi fy meddyliau a’m teimladau am Hong Kong. Dw i’n arbrofi gyda defnydd o’r roborecorder, sy’n gweithredu fel cymeriad yr ymsonwr yn yr adran gychwynnol sydd â thonyddiaeth cerddoriaeth Gantonaidd. Mae’r tri cherddor arall yn perfformio deialog gyda’i gilydd a’r amgylchiadau, gyda synau’n cael eu pasio rhwng gwahanol offerynnau, gan gylchdroi ac adleisio drwy’r holl ofod ochr yn ochr â’r roborecorder. Mae’r ail adran yn cyflwyno alaw werin Gantonaidd draddodiadol ddatblygol sy’n pwysleisio’r gwead gwrthbwyntiol egnïol a rhythmig.

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