The khaen is a bamboo free-reed mouth organ prominent among people of Lao ethnicity in Laos and Northeast Thailand and is likely related to ancestors of other Asian free-reed instruments as well as to Western free-reed instruments. New Musical Geographies is an ongoing project by composer/performer Christopher Adler to promote the khaen as a concert instrument in the Western contemporary concert music tradition by encouraging the composition of new works for the instrument. To date, the project includes 17 solo and ensemble compositions by six composers. The diverse compositional strategies of these composers and their relationships to traditional performance techniques and musical structures will be discussed. The presentation will include the performance of selected compositions and examples of traditional-style improvisations.
The khaen is a bamboo free-reed mouth organ prominent among people of Lao ethnicity in Laos and Northeast Thailand. In Thailand, the khaen is considered emblematic of the rural Northeast, but has also enjoyed periods of broader popularity in Thailand, including within the Thai royal courts in the mid-19th century. After a period of modernization during which traditional music was in danger of disappearing, the khaen is once again celebrated as a symbol of Northeast identity, taught in public schools, and figures into regional popular music. The polyphonic music of the khaen is traditionally played solo and to accompany a solo singer, employing improvisation within five different melodic modes. Recent institutionalization has placed a greater emphasis on composition and playing in ensembles with contemporary folk and electrified popular instruments. The author has contributed to the khaen becoming an international concert instrument, by composing, commissioning and recording modern notated works by living composers for the instrument. The paper will survey the changing cultural and musical contexts for the khaen, with demonstrations of traditional and contemporary playing styles and techniques.
Zaum Box is a collection of compositions for solo speaking percussionist setting transrational Russian futurist sound poetry called zaum. Zaum arose among a small interdisciplinary group of artists, writers, musicians and thinkers who invented a beyond-rational language as part of the radical disruption of traditional artistic and expressive forms, necessary to bring about the accelerated experience of a technologically-driven future. The subgenre of contemporary concert music for solo speaking instrumentalist dates from the 1970’s and has grown into a significant branch of the solo percussion repertoire. The composition of Zaum Box was founded on an extended period of research into zaum, futurism and Russian language. The complete set of compositions was produced as a limited-edition box set of uniquely formatted scores, which were realised by percussionist Katelyn Rose King in a set of ten videos. This article by the composer reviews all the phases of this project, including research and production, and examines the relationships between text, sound, music and theatricality in selected scores.
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