about the cd
Unusual instruments and vocal techniques produce a theatrical music that evokes secret rituals. The eclectic instrumentation includes er-hu, euphonium, Irish flute, Noh voices, shakuhachi, string bass, tabla, taiko, trombone, Tibetan long horns, voices, and xun.
from producer herb levy
Stirring, meditative, but distinctively contemporary music by Byron Au Yong, drawing upon traditional Asian aesthetics and instruments. There is a highly ritualist 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.
press quote
There is the sense of field recordings and yet, compositionally, there is also an insistence of academic modernism. Jon Gierlich, International Examiner | musicians
Karen Akada - voice, taiko, gong, rattle
Byron Au Yong - voice, taiko, gong, er-hu (Chinese fiddle)
David Crandall and Yukie Iotomi - noh voice
David Goldman - clay flute, taiko, dhung chen Frank Minoru Phillips - tabla, trombone, clay flute, taiko
Greg Ohme - euphonium
Peter Joon Park - dhung chen (Tibetan long horn)
Dennis Staskowski - string bass
Aiko Shimada - voice
Hanz Araki - Irish flute, whistle, shakuhachi
Christopher Yohmei Blasdel - shakuhachi
Released by Periplum in 2001 |