Byron Au Yong

songs of dislocation

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Walking CD
DESCRIPTION
Unusual instruments and vocal techniques produce a theatrical music that evokes secret rituals. The eclectic instrumentation includes er-hu [Chinese fiddle], euphonium, Irish flute, Noh voices, shakuhachi [Japanese bamboo flute], string bass, tabla, taiko, trombone, dhung chen [Tibetan long horns], voices and xun [clay flute].

FROM THE PRODUCER
Stirring, meditative, but distinctively contemporary music by Byron Au Yong, drawing upon traditional Asian aesthetics and instruments. There is a highly ritualistic quality to Au Yong's music, especially in Walking, which features Noh Theater vocal techniques and percussion. The compositions also include Stirring and Weaving. The latter is a shakuhachi solo composed at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.
Herb Levy, Periplum Records

PRESS QUOTE
"There is the sense of field recordings and yet, compositionally there is also an insistence of academic modernism."
Jon Gierlich, International Examiner




CREATIVE TEAM
voice, taiko, xun, gong, rattle Karen Akada
voice, taiko, gong, er-hu Byron Au Yong
noh voice David Crandall and Yukie Iotomi
xun, taiko, dhung chen David Goldman
tabla, trombone, xun, taiko Frank Minoru Phillips
euphonium Greg Ohme
dhung chen Peter Joon Park
string bass Dennis Staskowski
voice Aiko Shimada
Irish flute, whistle, shakuhachi Hanz Araki
shakuhachi Christopher Yohmei Blasdel
audio engineer Doug Haire

Released January 2001