| UM
music student and young composer Chong Huey Ching shares her impressions
of Dr Jonas Baes' Patangis-Buwaya at University Malaya
in October 08.
 Renowned
Philippine composer Dr Jonas Baes composed Patangis-Buwaya
(….and the crocodile weeps...), a work for four wind
instruments, from January to March 2003 during the period of
his fieldwork among the indigenous "internal refugees"
of the Philippines, where he saw the suffering especially of
the Iraya-Mangyan people with whom he was closely connected
since the 1980's. This meaningful composition has since been
performed in Japan, Indonesia, Hungary, Vietnam, Australia,
and recently in October 08 it was performed in Malaysia.
The performance in Kuala Lumpur took place as part of an Asian
Public Intellectuals Forum hosted by the Cultural Centre of
University Malaya on 24 October. Because Patangis-Buwaya
uses a concept that welcomes different kinds of instrumental
combinations depending on the cultural environment where it
will be rendered, the musical instruments used in each performance
differs from country to country depending on the location and
cultural context.
In Japan, for example, it was premiered by the Malle Symen
Quartet on 2 bass recorders, 1 contra bass recorder, and 1 sub-contra
bass recorder; in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, it was performed on
four large Balinese bamboo flutes [suling]; while in Hungary,
it utilized a combination of 2 C-Flutes, 1 alto Flute, and 1
Bass Flute. Last year, it was performed in Vietnam on four traditional
bamboo flutes called the 'tiew.' And this year, it was performed
at the National Gallery in Australia with a more diverse combination
of 1 trombone, 1 didjeridoo [Australian aboriginal instrument],
1 bass recorder, and 1 bass clarinet. The performance in University
Malaya, used 1 Serunai [a trditional Malay double-reed wind
instrument], a Soprano and an Alto Saxophone, and the composer
went out of his way to experiment using a vocalist..
The performers included traditional serunai player Asrul,
saxophonists Moo Kai Ling (Soprano) and Goh Hao Tian (Alto)
and vocalist Doris Chua. Asrul is a professional serunai player
in a Wayang Kulit group in Kuala Lumpur, while all the other
performers are currently pursuing their Bachelor's in Performing
Arts (Music) degree at the University of Malaya.
According to the composer, this was also an experimental performance
for him to test-run some ideas for his next composition N/Repa
to be premiered in Japan in March 2009. This is because in this
Malaysian performance, he incorporates his other composition
Daluy 4 where towards the end of Patangis-Buwaya,
pairs of pebbles are distributed for the audience to play along
with the musicians.
Before the performance began, members of the audience were
asked to close their eyes and listen to the music, which comprised
of seven cycles. Within these seven cycles, sounds of hissing,
coughing, crumpling of plastic bottles, dropping cans, even
the sound of the flowing air can be heard along with the sounds
of the instruments.
The beauty of this performance was that it allowed the audience
to have a different perspective on sounds that they might have
had encountered in everyday life. For example, the sound of
people coughing could be irritating if we only take it as it
is, but in this performance, the sound of people coughing became
part of the music itself; all the sounds perceived also allowed
the audience to internalize on their personal experiences and
imaginations. The bottom line is that what we usually perceive
as disturbing noise has become sounds that relate to a musical
structure; "noise music.!"
Towards the end of the performance, members of the audience
were given pairs of peddles and asked to join in as performer
by lightly striking their pebbles together continuously to create
a soft bell-like sound, continuing to do so as the music faded.
There is a little funny anecdote as to where the pebbles used
in this performance came from. During the days of preparation
leading up to the presentation, a music student from University
Malaya, whom henceforth will be referred to as K, was fortunate
enough to be allowed to attend a rehearsal of the performance
of Dr. Baes's composition. A day before the actual performance,
Dr. Baes suddenly thought of a great idea that will enhanced
the performance, and asked K and her friend, whom we shall call
M, to search for approximately fifty pairs of pebbles. They
did not know what was to happen, and did not know exactly where
to get the pebbles!
With this mission on hand, K and M first thought of "borrowing"
the beautiful white and clean pebbles from the small little
indoor garden located underneath the office of the International
Student Affairs, which was close to the music department. Since
M had planned to stay up at the music department to practice
till night, she volunteered to "borrow" some of the
pebbles when nobody was watching, while K went back to her apartment
to find the remaining pebbles fresh from the earth.
Everything went smoothly until K got a phone call from M an
hour before the performance. M told K that she could not get
the pebbles from the garden because they were all cemented to
the floor!!! With twenty pebbles short of the target, K drove
to the back of the building of the Linguistic Faculty to try
out her luck. After she parked her car, she spotted a stack
of pebbles through the side mirror of her car. But at that very
moment, a motorcyclist parked beside the targeted spot, so K
had to wait for him to leave before walking towards the stack
of pebbles with a plastic bag on hand. But before she managed
to bend down to get the pebbles, the motorcyclist returned with
a chair and sat directly next to the stack of pebbles!!!
So as to avoid appearing suspicious, K pretended that she was
just passing by, and walked to the deeper end of the building
to get the remaining peddles fresh from the earth. Even though
no one was watching when she was picking up pebbles, she was
worried that she would be caught and questioned, so she decided
on an alibi: if anyone were to question her she would simply
say that she was a geology student and she needed those pebbles
for her research.
After the little adventure, K brought those pebbles she just
collected fresh from the earth to the music department and cleaned
them. Mission accomplished! Here are the pebbles needed for
Jonas Baes' experimental performance of Patangis-Buwaya in Malaysia!!!
For the benefit of those who are curious about what happened
to the pebbles after the performance, K returned them where
they rightfully belonged: to nature.
In conclusion, the performance of Patangis-Buwaya brought a
lot of fresh ideas and experiences to the audience. Thanks to
the dedicated performers and an open-minded audience, the performance
turned out to be a great success, and a memorable occasion especially
for K and M.
- Chong Huey Ching
Chong Huey Ching is a music student at University Malaya
and a young composer who has recently had her composition for
flute successfully performed in Manila in Nov 08.
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