Sonic Approach, Musical Styles & Film Genres in Toru Takemitsu's Film Music
Lena Pek Hung Lie, a faculty member of Universiti Sains Malaysia, explores the film music of one of Asia's pioneering composers.
"An understanding of the importance of a close correlation between the music and soundscape of a film and its images is essential in the making of a total cinematic art work, the Gesamtkunstwerk in films. ..."
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Small is beautiful: Young composer Jessica Cho
KL-based Cho is a new voice with a clear idea of where she wants her music to head, and in just a few years since graduating has honed her voice into a fascinating and original addition to the Malaysian new music tapestry.
"I like to explore different sounds that one instrument can produce and experiment. So when I started writing chamber works, I started to look into the colours that I could get with different combinations of instruments. And structure..."
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Taiwan contemporary music: Pan Hwang-long
Contemporary music in Taiwan comes into focus as ACL Taiwan plans this year's ACL Festival and Conference in Taipei and Taichung. Foremost is the pioneering work of Taiwanese veteran Pan Hwang-Long.
As ACL Taiwan prepares to host this year's Asian Composers League festival and conference in Taipei and Taichung, there is no better time to explore the music of one of Taiwan's leading senior Taiwanese composers, Pan Hwang-long, who heads the local ACL chapter.
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Hardesh Singh On Film Music
Who is this "composer and sometime jazz guitarist" whose film music has struck a new chord with movie-makers? Off The Edge in 2006 interviewed Hardesh Singh, composer, musician and record producer, and one of the co founders of the Malaysian Composers Collective.
Till recently, some knew that Hardesh is acknowledged as a talented composer involved in a number of notable Malaysian films like Gubra, Chemman Chaalai and Lelaki Komunis Terakhir (LKT), but little else.
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Young Malaysians - Interview with Adeline Wong
Adeline Wong stands with the vanguard of a new Malaysian music. She might also help classical music's image makeover. Off the Edge magazine speaks to Wong in the lead up to Merdeka Day.
Meet Adeline Wong, whose highly colourful musical language has found advocates from as far as Australia and Europe. The KL'ite who has taught at Akademi Seni Kebangsaan and Sedaya College, has written for theatre, film, orchestra and premiered her cello concerto Snapshots in Kuala Lumpur in 2005.
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Rebels Without A Pause - Interview with Kok Siew Wai from EMACM
Audio anarchy in Kuala Lumpur - Off The Edge interviews Kok Siew Wai, vocal artist from the Experimental Musicians and Artists Co-operative Malaysia (EMACM).
He lets his horn rip and bizarre squeaks and split notes rattle the foundations of what used to be liquid Disco, and like the call of the piper, the merry band of noisemakers joins in with their own instruments. Chaos. Out of the din, the demure figure of Kok Siew Wai, the lone rose among the musical thorns, starts to vocalise her bloodcurdling cries, building up to a vocal seizure of the highest decibels. They are the EMACM, plotting their heinous sonic activities to demolish every preconception of music KLites hold dear.
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On The Quiet - Interview with Ng Chong Lim
No vissi d'arte for pianist-composer Ng Chong Lim, who lives a life beyond art. Off The Edge magazine interviews a composer with HEART, published in 2007.
Malaysia has a fair share of notable concert pianists, but pianist-composers are a little harder to find, especially if you've been under the radar as Ng Chong Lim has been over the years. Quietly performing his remarkable piano works in festivals abroad, Ng showed that he was no mere dabbler as he produced one of the most powerful orchestral works heard at the Dewan Filharmonik, Xiang.
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An Enlightened Journey - Johan Othman's Conference of the Birds reviewed
Lena Lie reviews Penang's first ever contemporary Malaysian opera performance
Classical music enthusiasts in the Northern region were in luck in November 09 when Johan Othman boldly shared with the world his latest creative opus. This artistic product has evolved from his deep affinity for music drama and literature with a high level of spiritual and philosophical themes. Conference of the Bird, a Farid ud-Din Attar's poem, received a modern day interpretation in the form of a contemporary opera by Othman.
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Flaunt The Imperfection - Interview with Chinary Ung
Impeccable is overrated, says Cambodian-American composer Chinary Ung. Off The Edge magazine interviewed the veteran American-Cambodian composer in Bangkok in 2008
IN 1940s CAMBODIA, a young boy found himself entranced by the sounds of village folk music that echoed from the distance across the paddy fields. At the time it must have been hard to imagine that one day he would be at the forefront of the Asian contemporary music scene in a faraway land. Chinary Ung’s journey to his current position as Professor of Music at University of California, San Diego, has been a long one and he is ready to admit that it has been fraught with hardship.
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Of Prophets And Bandits - Off The Edge interviews Slamet A Sjukur
Father of Indonesian contemporary classical music Slamet Sjukur speaks candidly about Tari Pendet and life in general.
Slamet A Sjukur is generally considered the father of contemporary Indonesian music. Born in Surabaya in 1935, Sjukur studied music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with distinguished composers like Olivier Messiaen and Henri Dutilleux. A leading figure in the promotion of new music in Indonesia, Sjukur founded the Asosiasi Komponis Indonesia in 1994 and taught many of the important new generation composers like Tony Prabowo and Otto Siddharta.
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Young At Art - Young Composers Competition at the KLCMF 09
IThe KL Contemporary Music Festival brought together for the first time the cream of the crop of the region's young composers for a fascinating finals concert on 29 Nov 09. Johan Othman, Dieter Mack and competition finalists share their thoughts.
On 29 November 09 a landmark concert took place at the KL Contemporary Music Festival 09. The region's first concerted effort in bringing together young talent from the South East Asian countries yielded an exciting evening of diverse voices of astonishing quality, selected from an overwhelming 60 plus overall submissions to the call for scores from participants from all over the region, as far as Hanoi.
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Lab Report - Learning The Art Of Composing
In her report on the recent Manila Composers Lab 09 at University of Philippines young Malaysian composer Chong Huey Ching gives a candid account of her experiences, pitfalls and lessons learnt
The College of Music, University of the Philippines held its inaugural Manila Composers Lab from 4 to 11 June 2009, organised by the Department of Composition and Theory. This experimental workshop provided young composers with a chance to work directly with musicians and experiment with the practicality of woodwind instruments. Chong Huey Ching gives us the inside story.
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Birds Of A Feather: Johan Othman's upcoming opera premiere
A sneak peek at Johan Othman's upcoming opera Conference of the Birds
Opera fans will have a treat at the end of the year when Penang-based composer Johan Othman unveils his long-awaited opus Conference of the Birds, an electroacoustic opera which will be staged at Wawasan Open University, Penang, on 20 - 22 November 2009, produced by Five Arts and James Lochhead and directed by Chee Sek Thim.
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The Stoic Epicure
Award-winning young pianist Wong Shuen Da proves that having two personalities is better than one
Boldly going where no young pianist in Malaysia had gone before, HSBC Piano Competition 08 Finalist Wong Shuen Da stepped up to the challenge and not only delivered the most challenging work on offer, but blew the audience away with his confident and poetic account of the piece.
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Older articles

• Impressions Of A Crying Crocodile: Dr Jonas Baes Presents Patangis-Buwaya at University Malaya
  Jonas Baes' Patangis-Buwaya at University Malaya in October 08.
• Blood, Sweat and Tears - Reflections On The Yogyakarta Contemporary Music Fest 2008
  Summing up the significance of the recent contemporary music festival in Yogya in October 2008.
• Bird's Nest in the Spring
  New Zealand composer Ross Carey heads for the Beijing Congress of the International Association Of Women In Music.
• Rain Of Wisdom
  Chinary Ung discusses the dilemma facing the young Asian composer.
• Northern Exposure - Contemporary Music In Thailand
  The IV Thailand International Composition Festival brings together some of the finest Thai composers.
• Stranger Than Fiction
  Malaysian composer from Melaka takes choral music where no Malaysian choral group has ever gone before.
• Asian Threnodies
  South East Asian composers remember the victims of tragedy.
• Focus on Korea
  Korea's active new music scene keeps Yun Isang's memory alive.
• Liberating The Ramayana
  Sinta Wullur's new gamelan opera brings a fresh approach to the genre.

• South By South East
  Exploring the contemporary piano music of Indonesia.

> More Feature Articles

21 May 09, Reykjavik
Teh Tze Siew
Bamboo Forest
for chamber ensemble
international premiere by the Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra at the Women From The East concert

20 Apr 09, Edinburgh
Neo Nai Wen
From the Rainforest
for alto flute, trumpet and cello
at Noisy Nigts@Traverse, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland performed by the Red Note Ensemble

7 Jan 09, Bangkok
CH Loh
Maekhong
for Saxophone Quartet
at Mahidol University, Thailand, performed by Low Chee Meng and the Mahidol Saxophone Quartet