'Forgotten Voices' Project, TimeArt Academy

A composition project to rethink contemporary music by exploring different traditions and building up international collaboration.

This is a composition project organised by TimeArt Studio (Taiwan). I was one of the 6 selected composers. The composition created during this process — under the Sun... (2022) — was premiered at Tunghai University in September, 2022.

Programme Note:

under the Sun…

All my memories of the village where my grandparents live are cast with bright golden sunshine. The day seems to be always sunny, which works perfectly with the village's quietness. Under the sun, there is no sound. And when the silence has to be broken, the village turns to its old, muffled instrument: the struggling farm trucks, hungry dogs in the backyards, the birds, firecrackers, and the Minnanese operatic music from an elder’s radio… Under the Sun, there is no new sound.

艷陽之下

在我的記憶中，祖父母所居住的村莊總是披著亮金色的陽光。在那個靜謐的小村子裡，每一天都是恰到好處的晴天。艷陽之下，悄然無聲。而那些偶爾打破寂靜的聲音則好似出自一個年代久遠、嘶啞低沉的樂器：田地裡筋疲力盡的拖拉機馬達，鄰家後院裡餓昏了頭的土狗，鳥兒，鞭炮，又或是老阿伯的收音機中的閩南戲……艷陽之下，皆是熟悉的聲響。