Malaysian compositions were showcased in Hong Kong and Wellington in last year's ACL festivals. We revisit the events through the experiences of CH Loh and Tazul Tajuddin respectively.

South Pacific

2007 saw two ACL Festivals, the Asia Pacific Festival 07 in Wellington in February, and the ISCM/ACL World Music Days 07 in Hong Kong in November.

CH Loh and Ahmad Muriz Che Rose attended the Wellington festival, which was a colourful kaleidescope of Asian music that covered pretty much the gamut of Asian expression, from the ancient echoes of the Korean opera form to the vibrant rhythms of Batak songs to the outer reaches of the avant garde.

Three Malaysian works were performed at the Wellington Festival. The programme was bookended by the Aroha Quartet's reading of CH Loh's string quartet Toccata from 3 KL Miniatures on the first day and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's closing concert featuring Adeline Wong's Synclastic Illuminations, while festival director Liesbeth Kok delivered another Malaysian viola sol work Temple Bell Still Ringing In My Heart during the week-long festivities.

The highlight of Wellington was surely the pivotal concert by Contemporary Music Ensemble Korea (CMEK) who displayed a true understanding of achieving the right balance between traditional and contemporary. Another important event was the Young Composers Competition which saw composers from Thailand, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Israel, showing their potential in a Festival otherwise dominated by heavyweights.

The competition, held at St Andrews Church, was a refreshing and exciting affair delivered by the Kiwi contemporary music ensemble STROMA. Tensions ran high as adjudicators from around the world struggeld with the difficult task of choosing a winner from among the overall fine entries. Hong Kong composer Tang Lok-Yin emerged the eventual winner with her charming song cycle The Giving Tree.

The conference focused on searching for the Asian voice, and heard keynote addresses from Prof Ramon Santos (Phi), Richard Nunns (NZ) and Evan Ziporyn (US). CH Loh presented the country report for Malaysia with a 15-minute video of the latest developments in Malaysian contemporary music, showcasing the recent works of Malaysian composers.

The festival also saw the hand over of the ACL committee to the new batch of officers led by the newly elected ACL President Dr Joshua Chen (HK).

China Dreams

Tazul Tajuddin attended the Hong Kong ISCM/ACL World Music Days 07 (22 to 30 Nov 07) to hear his orchestral work Tenunan II in concert. This year's ISCM World Music Days Hong Kong 2007 also featured the Asian Composers League (ACL). Total number of works submitted this year were 604 from 60 countries and 156 works were selected for performance.

In his message the current ISCM President Dr Richard Tsang said:

'…ISCM now is more open community. (The) scope and vision have grown beyond the relatively narrow paradigm of 'Euro-centric' aesthetic outlook…to embrace a broader view of respect and understanding of different aesthetic and cultural expressions in music. The ongoing reform and soul-searching exercises undertaken by our society also aim at highlighting the importance of diversity and plurality in our coming new mission statement, thus paving the way for the ISCM to evolve into a true global musical community where people with different cultural and aesthetic backgrounds can share and inspire each other.'

Says Tajuddin, "Attending the festival has provided opportunities to broaden compositional perspective. Almost in every concert in the festival, there was a demonstration of one or two Chinese traditional instruments. The demonstrations of these instruments provided the participants with information that would not be able to get elsewhere. The information was useful as a brief introduction to the traditional Chinese musical and historical culture and the demonstrations given on the playing and performance techniques gave new ideas in composing for these instruments."

In the festival, there are a lot of works that used both Western and Eastern instruments and using Chinese traditional instruments but composed in Western style. For example, the first opening concert given by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra is a showcase of the Chinese traditional instruments performing new works written especially for them. On the second night, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra played new works that used both Western and Chinese instruments. Listening to other concerts from performing ensembles such as Luxembourg Sinfonietta, Ensemble INSOMNIO, Fronteras del Silencio for example, with new works from Latin America, Europe and Asia has also enrich and broaden musical experiences. "

Some of the Chinese instruments featured during the festival were the Zhongruan, Gehu and Erhu, which were showcased with compositions from both Eastern and Western countries. Tajuddin's own work Tenunan II was performed in a concert at HK City Hall by Hong Kong Sinfonietta conducted by René Gulikers that began with a demonstration of two Chinese traditional wind instrument - the Sheng and Dizi. The programme also consisted of works by composers from UK, China, Korea and Hong Kong.

Feb 2008