For decades I have known a technique of Western overtone singing that I heard perform only one time. Many singers use the technique on which it is based, which I call the L-technique, as their standard for singing overtones. But I suspect that this particular technique is unknown to most overtone singers. Since hearing the shimmering, glistening sound of this unique method, I practise it occasionally. Recently I notice it does not sound as clear as it used to, and so it is high time to share it with others, who then can also use it. I am now getting it back in shape again and will present this technique in a live performance as part of a longer piece, next month in my solo show In|nbalance in Potsdam. In this video I tell a bit more about it and show the technique.

I will give three workshops especially for Designing Voices in Potsdam about overtones and resonance stuffed with information and exercises about many overtone singing techniques, from various forms of Tibetan chant through Western techniques to Tuvan/Mongolian techniques.

So the technique has one clear characteristic that makes it stand out: it highlights two overtones while not sounding the overtone that is between them. This goes against the common wisdom of every practising overtone singer, which holds that you try to concentrate the sound energy in one clear, central overtone. With this little-known technique, it seems you sort of split this energy out again in two directions around one central overtone that you cannot hear. When normally you try to focus all energy on, say, overtone number 9, you now adjust your tongue so that the energy flows out to numbers 8 and 10, making both of them loud enough to be heard. A rather unusual procedure. Very characteristic is the combination of the seventh and the ninth overtones, leaving out number eight; and also nine combined with eleven (with number ten being inaudible). (For the microtonality / Just Intonation freaks and serious singers: more details about the overtone range at the bottom of this post)

For reasons I cannot fully fathom myself, I have never spoken to anybody about this technique: not with Michael Vetter, not with Borg Diem Groeneveld or with other overtone singers. Somehow it remained this special treasure all this time. It is possible others have heard it and know more: please drop me a line if you do. Since I do not know if Michael Vetter ever gave this technique a name, I need to come up with one. I usually think of it as the ‘parallel third technique’ but there can be a fourth in the low range and possibly seconds in the higher range. I find the parallel thirds the most striking element, however, so I prefer that name: the “parallel-third technique.”

Interesting detail: the storm created a special atmosphere in the church in Utrecht: this was also clearly palpable in the live broadcast itself. It was amplified by the storm we, listeners, heard at home, raging outside. This situation and the name Töne im Sturm is also very fitting for the theme of the In|nbalance program I am working on. Is it a coincidence that unusually strong winds are blowing around my place in Amsterdam for several days now, in September 2025, while I am working on this piece and this video? Every now and then the rain flies past my window almost horizontally. The wind produces ominous, low rumbles day and night; rustling sounds produced by thousands of leaves come and go in waves; and then there are the ‘ordinary’ sounds of wind, mid-range, between these high and low frequencies. Three stacked layers of sound. Just as in the parallel-third technique itself.

Michael Vetter with brezel (pretzel). Photo by Mark van Tongeren

The radio programme that featured Michael Vetter’s concert, baptised Töne im Sturm (‘Tones in the Storm’) by the singer, was De Wandelende Tak, which mostly featured traditional music from around the world, often original recordings by musicians, ethnomusicologists and other people with special knowledge of that tradition. I was a frequent guest myself in this program with recordings from Siberia, Mongolia, Kalmykia and other places. The overtone singing concert from Vetter was characteristic of the ambiguous status of overtone singing, because it is not traditional music, like the content of nearly all other episodes of De Wandelende Tak. The concert was organised by Diem Groeneveld, a long-time Dutch student of Michael Vetter and a fine overtone singer himself. Walter Slosse was the host who interviewed Groeneveld about Vetter before and after the concert, and it was broadcast by the VPRO.

This is my recording of the radio programme, made on a cassette and later transfered to the computer. There is a  silence towards the end for a short while, of which I am not sure at which stage it happened – probably during the A/D conversion.

After listening again, I conclude that Vetter’s technique was in an absolutely superb state at this point,

as can be heard  in all the ‘ordinary styles’of overtone singing. The parallel technique becomes clear particularly at around 12:45, and comes back several times later. 

Töne im Sturm.

Live radio broadcast for VPRO radio’s

De Wandelende Tak, mid-1990s.

Details about the range of overtones and their distances

For the overtone cogniscenti: the extremes on the recording of my own version are overtones ten and twelve, but I can go as high as twelve and fourteen, and as low as six and eight. Every time, the overtone in between them is not audible. Nearly all these combinations are variations of the interval of a third. The interesting thing is of course that every third is different, as the distance between the two tones grows smaller with every higher step on the harmonic scale. The H6 + H8 combination, my lowest combination, is a near-perfect fourth apart (497 cents, in case you were wondering), then next is the largest third H7 + H9 (a very large major third of 435 cents). The thirds progressively decrease their distance: the smallest and highest interval I could still sing clearly with this technique is a very small minor third of the overtones H12 + H14 (266 cents).

To hear this technique in its full splendour, come to Potsdam next month! And to learn more, I will give three workshops especially for Designing Voices in Potsdam about overtones and resonance stuffed with information and exercises about many overtone singing techniques, from various forms of Tibetan chant through Western techniques to Tuvan/Mongolian techniques. Check out all the details here.

For all workshop dates in Amsterdam/Potsdam/

Zürich/Vilnius/Ljubljana/Helsinki:

check my upcoming events page.

The post Töne im Sturm: Singing Parallel Overtones appeared first on Fusica.

The post World première In|nbalance at Designing Voices appeared first on Fusica.

Concerts, workshops and other upcoming events.

Details below

近期音樂會、工作坊與活動

聲音的共鳴 年度團體 ｜R E S O N A N C E   YEARGROUP 2026

The finest and most complete in-person introduction to overtone singing and

overall resonance of voice, mind and body, running for over ten years.

R E S O N A N C E  2026: February – May 2026

– 4 weeks online

– 2 x 4 days group practise in Hualien

Go to the event page:

R E S O N A N C E   X (10) – 2026

Early Bird Registration started!

Bilingual course (English/ Mandarin)

Not found what you are looking for?

Tell us so we can help you.

The post Spring 2026 Program appeared first on Fusica.

Nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter à célébrer la naissance de l’œuvre multi-instrument “Le Rêve” lors de cette “Listening Party”.

“Le Rêve” est une création dirigée par Arnaud Lechat (貓阿諾), qui y joue de la flûte, Daf et Bendir, avec la participation de Mark van Tongeren (voix, guimbardes, shruti box) et Zhan Yachun (詹雅淳) à la danse. Arnaud et Mark ont enregistré une version purement musicale en avril 2024, sortie en novembre de la même année. L’enregistrement et le mastering ont été réalisés par Yannick Dauby (澎葉生), qui assurera pour l’occasion une expérience d’écoute de haute qualité grâce à son matériel professionnel. L’équipe de création de “Le Rêve” ainsi que la percussionniste Mona Kaveh Ahangari présenteront les origines de ce projet. En plus de l’album et de contenus audio-visuels, la soirée comprendra une performance improvisée ainsi qu’une version inédite d’un des morceaux.

夢境｝Listening Party : Le Rêve

信鴿法國書店很高興邀請各位讀者透過這場Listening Party，一起來慶祝《夢境 Le Rêve》這部多樂器作品的誕生。

《夢境 Le Rêve》由負責蕭與打擊樂的貓阿諾領銜創作，加上Mark van Tongeren的人聲、口簧、Shruti box演出以及詹雅淳的舞蹈表演。貓阿諾與 Mark 於2024年4月錄製了純音樂版，於同年11月發行。聲音錄製與母帶處理由澎葉生負責，本場Listening Party將由他以專業設備帶來高品質聆聽體驗。《夢境 Le Rêve》的創作團隊，以及打擊樂手 Mona Kaveh Ahangari，將為大家介紹計畫起源。除了專輯本身及相關影音作品外，現場也將呈現即興演出以及一首尚未發表的曲目版本。

Listening Party – Le Rêve
時間 Date / 地點 Lieu

2025.04.25 ven. 19:30 Librairie Le Pigeonnier 信鴿法國書店

報名 | Inscription | reservations compulsory

* 本活動已額滿 *
* Complet *
* sold out *

* 本活動將以法中雙語語進行，英語輔助。 Cette rencontre se déroulera en bilingue français-chinois. This event is bilingual French/Mandarin.

The physical album is now available in stores across Taiwan and will be available around the world on all the major streaming services by the time of the Listening Party.

on APPLE MUSIC

on SPOTIFY

Or watch the compilation video of the performances that Yachun

showed during the evening.

With/avec

Arnaud Lechat est un musicien et compositeur français installé à Taiwan. Il travaille pour de nombreuses pièces de danse, d’improvisation moderne, de cirque, de littérature et de poésie, ainsi que pour le dessin et le cinéma. Arnaud est co-réalisateur du film documentaire “Doumadiao” sur l’opéra taïwanais et l’auteur de nombreux documentaires pour Radio Taiwan Internationale sur les musiques de Taiwan dans son émission “Désorientales”. Il a récemment publié trois albums : “Delivrænce 9”, “Transhuman / Subhuman” et “Sur les ailes de l’heure bleue”. Un quatrième album, “Le Rêve”, réalisé en duo avec Mark van Tongeren, vient également de sortir.

貓阿諾 Arnaud Lechat
法國音樂家貓阿諾 Arnaud Lechat 是一位居住在台灣的法國音樂家和作曲家。在長達 25 年的創作生涯中，他參與了許多現代舞、即興音樂、馬戲、文學與詩歌、雜技、繪畫和電影的作品。貓阿諾是探討台灣歌仔戲的紀錄片《Doumadiao》的共同導演，同時也是台灣廣播電台節目《Désorientales》的多部台灣音樂紀錄片的製作人。他曾發行：《Delivrænce 9》、《Transhuman / Subhuman》以及《Sur les ailes de l’heure bleue》等三張專輯，並與 Mark van Tongeren 合作，在2024年推出了第四張專輯《Le Rêve》。

Zhan Yachun
Born in Taichung, Taiwan. She is a freelance performer, dance art creator and performance art teacher. She likes to explore her own possibilities through experimentation and improvisation in dance art. By chance, she began to collaborate with different musicians as a dancer in improvisation concerts in these few years. Current works include 2018 « Ridiculous », « Neverland », 2020 « The », 2021 « An Imagination About the Soul » video version, 2022 « Fairy Tale Life Accident », « Untitled »,2023 in D-Lab which is a platform of create to published «Caterpillar» ,2024 «Lady W & Lady M».

Zhan Yachun, née à Taichung, Taïwan, est une artiste indépendante et enseignante en arts de la performance. Elle explore les possibilités de la danse à travers l’expérimentation et l’improvisation. Ces dernières années, elle a commencé à collaborer avec des musiciens en tant que danseuse lors de concerts d’improvisation. Elle continue également de créer des œuvres de danse. Parmi ses récents travaux figurent Ridiculous (2018), Neverland et The (2020), An Imagination About the Soul (version vidéo, 2021), Fairy Tale Life Accident et Untitled (2022), ainsi que Caterpillar en 2023 sur la plateforme D-Lab. En 2024, elle a créé Lady W & Lady M.

詹雅淳 Zhan Yachun

來自於台中的詹雅淳是一位自由表演者、舞蹈藝術創作者及表演藝術教師。她喜歡透過實驗和即興創作來探索自己在舞蹈藝術中的可能性。近幾年來，她偶然開始作為舞者與不同音樂家合作參與即興演出。並持續創作舞蹈肢體作品。近期作品包括 2018 年的《Ridiculous》，《Neverland》，2020 年的《The》，2021 年的《An Imagination About the Soul》影片版，2022 年的《Fairy Tale Life Accident》，《Untitled》，2023 年在 D-Lab 平台上創作並發表的《Caterpillar》，以及 2024 年的《Lady W & Lady M》。

Yannick Dauby (France / Taiwan)

Sound artist and field recordist. Sound designer/mixer for cinéma.
Audio documentary, experimental music and micro-movies enthusiast.
Inspired by ethnographic practices, stories about forests & mountains and marine ecology. Collaborates with communities in rural Taiwan and Indigenous territories.

Enregistrement de terrain et création sonore. Post-production audio pour l’image. Amateur de documentaires sonores, de musique expérimentale et de micro-cinéma. Inspiré par la pratique de l’ethnographie, les histoires de montagnes et de forêts et l’écologie marine. Collabore avec des communautés rurales et aborigènes à Taiwan.

www.kalerne.net

澎葉生 Yannick Dauby

現場錄音與聲音創作、作品音訊後製。 澎葉生熱愛聲音紀錄片、實驗音樂與微電影。他靈感來自民族誌的實踐、山林故事與海洋生態，並與台灣的農村與原住民社群合作。

Recording in progress

Mona Kaveh Ahangari

Mona Kaveh Ahangari, née à Téhéran en 1982, a débuté sa carrière musicale en 2005 et est devenue une joueuse de daf de niveau avancé en 2013. Elle a joué avec des ensembles renommés en Iran et à l’international avant de fonder le Barin Ensemble en 2016. En s’installant à Taïwan en 2018, elle est devenue la seule enseignante de daf du pays, organisant des concerts et des ateliers pour promouvoir la musique et la culture iraniennes. En 2020, elle a fondé le Mastaneh Music Band et le Daf Ensemble, les seuls groupes taïwanais dédiés à la musique iranienne, mettant en avant des musiciens taïwanais interprétant des rythmes iraniens. À travers sa musique et ses performances, elle continue de favoriser les échanges culturels.

Mona Kaveh Ahangari 於 1982 年出生於德黑蘭，2005 年開始音樂生涯，並於 2013 年成為高階達夫鼓（Daf）演奏家。她曾與伊朗及國際知名樂團合作演出，並於 2016 年創立 Barin Ensemble。2018 年，她移居台灣，成為全台唯一的達夫鼓教師，並透過演出及工作坊推廣伊朗音樂與文化。2020 年，她創立 Mastaneh Music Band 及 Daf Ensemble，這是台灣唯一專注於伊朗音樂的樂團，並獨特地由台灣音樂家演奏伊朗節奏。她的音樂創作與演出，持續促進文化交流。

Mark van Tongeren

Mark van Tongeren 是一位民族音樂學家和音樂家，擁有萊頓大學創意與表演藝術學院的藝術研究博士學位。他有超過 30 年的戲劇、音樂和舞蹈製作經驗，並曾在西伯利亞、台灣和藏族僑民社區進行田野調查。他以在泛音歌唱和圖瓦 khöömei 音樂領域的工作而聞名，並通過他的書籍《Overtone Singing》（Terra Nova Press 2022）以及他的專輯《Anthology of Overtone Singing》展示了這些研究成果。他是國際音樂與舞蹈傳統理事會原住民音樂與舞蹈學術小組的副主席，並曾或目前與 Silo Theatre、Oorbeek、Parafonia、IUooUI 等團體以及許多其他藝術家合作。

Mark van Tongeren est un ethnomusicologue et musicien titulaire d’un doctorat en recherche artistique de l’Académie des Arts Créatifs et Performants de l’Université de Leiden. Il possède plus de 30 ans d’expérience dans les productions théâtrales, musicales et de danse, et a effectué des travaux de terrain en Sibérie, à Taiwan et au sein de la diaspora tibétaine. Il est surtout connu pour son travail dans le domaine du chant harmonique et du khöömei touvain, à travers son livre Overtone Singing (Terra Nova Press 2022) et son album Anthology of Overtone Singing. Il est vice-président du groupe d’étude pour la musique et la danse indigènes du Conseil international pour les traditions de la musique et de la danse, et a été ou est encore actif au sein des groupes Silo Theatre, Oorbeek, Parafonia, IUooUI et avec de nombreux autres artistes.

The post Listening Party for Le Rêve appeared first on Fusica.

Upon arrival I had noticed a fascinating adobe-colored tower on the grasslands surrounding the museum. I had had a quick look and listen but was most eager to explore it more indepth and invited my singers to join me after the concert. It turned out to be a splendid work of art, of architecture, or something in between. A sonorous temple graced with the most intricate light patterns I have ever seen on adobe-like structures (earthy hues have been my favorite at least since the beginning of this millennium). These shifting light rays are the result of several horizontal slits placed in irregular intervals along the body of the tower. We stood in awe, listened in awe, walked around in awe. Notwithstanding the presence of a few other visitors, we began quite naturally to emit our first tones. The resulting resonance was as soft and layered as the plastered walls, which had uneven, undulating surfaces that still showed the signs of paintbrushes. Our voices bounced off the walls in a pleasant, smooth way, not as crystal-like and pure as glass-covered structures, but with a coarser grain of sound.

Walking around, you would hear your own sound, or someone else’s suddenly shifting from one direction to a totally different direction. Or even enveloping you from all sides. It is a familiar but surreal phenomenon in many round, resonant spaces with the wall or ceiling curving inward. In certain spots someone who is standing opposite you talking or singing, sounds as if she is behind you.

I knew already during the first glimpse: this is the kind of place I have been looking for in Taiwan for more than ten years. As time passed I knew I had to temper my expectations. There were occasional resonant places, like the one I had stept into earlier this year, but those were usually not very suitable for performing, or not very pleasant to be in, or too expensive or too inaccessible. This new tower was in fact many times better than what I had ever expected. It was not just a sonic treasure, which I somehow usually imagined to be a white or grey space, or otherwise colourless. This was the most intimate, warm, lush light I had seen in years, if I had ever been in such a building at all. It simply seemed to breath by itself already.

We did some more research and learnt to our astonishment that this treasure was not part of the newly opened museum, but it had been standing there for 14 years. Some months later, Sunny noticed an announcement of an event in the tower with the architect, the next day: the day when IUooUI rehearses! I quickly jotted down a simple idea we could sing and shared it. We rehearsed it in the morning and set out to the museum. Exactly at the designated time, the architect appeared from a hidden door, as if coming from nowhere. In the center of the spiraling form he began to talk casually about the history of his tower, its symbolism, problems he had overcome, adaptations to the original idea and more. The place came alive even stronger with these stories. Pei, as the tower is called, really was opened 14 years ago and virtually nothing happened with it, to the chagrin of the architect, Lin Shuen Long.

During the Q&A we introduced ourselves and asked if we could sing a piece to honour the architect and his creation. We spread out and sang Pi:Ecce (I thought the name of the tower was Pi, not Pei). I then started an improvised piece which IUooUI completed beautifully with several solo parts. The architect was enthusiastic about our musical performances and told me something that moved me to the core: “this tower has been waiting for you for fourteen years”.

This place is a treasure, a multi-faceted gem of a building. Not designed with a 3-D program, but by bare hands with mud or clay, just like all that amazing pottery that the small town of Yingge is famous for. Some pottery shops in Yingge have a history of 500 years behind them, and took their technology with them from the mainland. There is no more suitable architectural tribute to the town then a tower designed like most pottery is designed: from an ancient, artisanal practise. We can be greatful to the decisions-makers who planned to build something like this, for chosing this architect, and for both parties to overcome all the hurdles necessary to complete the project. And what is 14 years in the light of generations of pottery making? Now let’s hope steps are taken soon to celebrate the incredible potential of this tower, both visually and acoustically!

Our more or less failed outdoor performance on that early Summer day happened for a good reason. I feel blessed that we ran into something so special.

The post Discovering Lin Shuen-Long’s PEI appeared first on Fusica.

During one of my concerts in Taucha, Germany, last month, I asked the audience who knows the name Michael Vetter. Several people raised their hands. But as I expected, many people at the Ancient Trance Festival don’t know his name. Of course, quite a few more may have heard his music in the Age of Spotify: you listen but don’t know what album is playing, now that a physical relationship to the medium (as in the time of LPs, CDs) is outdated. Besides, Ancient Trance is not exactly overlapping with Vetter’s artistic direction. He was much more avant-garde, with musical influences from Baroque to Dada and Fluxus, and a host of visual influences, from mediaeval religious painting and Chinese calligraphy to comics.

In the next few weeks O TRIOM is looking back at the life and work of the instrumentalist, vocalist, painter, poet, pedagogue and ordained Zen master Michael Vetter (1943-2013). We will be showing how his legacy continues to inspire, inform and transform our performing today in several concerts, a lecture and workshops. Why? Certainly not because Vetter was such a fine overtone singer. There are and have been many fine overtone singers, and Vetter’s style of singing and performing was one of many – not ‘just’ one of many, but a very influential one, to be sure. In the 1980s, anyone wanting to do something with overtone singing went to Vetter’s workshops and bought his albums, at least in very active German-speaking areas (and The Netherlands too). Vetter set certain standards for overtone singing, for a certain period of time, and those standards hardly changed.

Michael Vetter making Indian ink drawings, Academia Caparaia, Italy, 2009. (Photograph Mark van Tongeren under protection of Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND)

The interest of O TRIOM in Vetter also started with overtone singing, but soon branched out in many other directions. For example: Vetter as a typical Zen Buddhist. He insists again and again that one should give undivided attention to what one is doing when making music (or anything else, though he would not talk about anything, but about art). And he applied this attitude in all his music, and all his other creative work, as well as his cooking and everyday life. When I read and re-read his texts, or when I go through the conversations we had and the interviews I did with him, I frequently stumble upon contradictions (literally: ‘counter-speaking’) concerning his spiritual or religious outlook. You may be looking to clarify his positions towards spiritual questions, and find that he has much to say about that. Many people felt he was a very religious person and his biography testifies to that. Certainly a believer! But then you will sooner or later find a remark in which he warns for overzealous religious interpretations. “Here and there one learns about the connection between overtones and Our Lord. That is far removed from me!” And yet, many of his art and music works bear very clear Christian (and not just Zen) elements.

It seems that it does not make sense. And that is exactly what we can take away from Michael Vetter (or maybe from Zen in general), and what keeps me coming back to him for fresh insights: there is no single, or final way to talk about or do anything. There are only temporarily, or partially ‘true’ or ‘convincing’ arguments to believe, or positions to take. As soon as one clings too much to certain truths, it is time to let it go again and look for yet another perspective .

In the weeks to come we will prepare ourselves with this in mind: try as best as you can to follow certain aesthetic and creative paths, and be always willing to throw them overboard again and replace them with something new. I am excited about this moment in our O TRIOM collaboration, which began in early 2022, if I remember well. And I salute the brilliant artist who bridged so many visions and visuals, sounds and musics, thoughts and dreams in a lifetime bursting with creative output.

Read an earlier post about why we should remember Michael Vetter here.

PROGRAM

FOR CONCERT TICKETS

CLICK HERE

O TRIOM Artists

LEE Wei Lin

LU Qi Chung

Mark van Tongeren

Production

Organizer| Taiwan Overtone Singing Association TOSA
Executive Producer  | Lee Chichen
Visual Design  | Bai Chi Hao
Image source | Michael Vetter

Lecture| prof. CHUNG Mingder

Taiwan Overtone Singing Association is also on Facebook.

Photos from a 2014 concert by O TRIOM

O TRIOM 紀念米歇爾·費特大師 系列泛音講座、工作坊暨音樂會

與談者將說談泛音音樂在台灣發展的故事，從當年北藝大邀請國外泛音音樂家來台傳藝及演出，到《OM泛唱作為藝乘》一書的誕生，泛音藝術家米歇爾・費特大師的生平創作故事，及至往後泛音音樂在台灣生根2022年台灣泛音詠唱協會TOSA的成立。

＊同場放映呂啓仲拍攝之泛音藝術家費特大師來台紀錄片《Transverbal穿越語言的相遇》。

｜工作坊內容｜

介紹「泛音唱法」，引領學員如何唱和體驗泛音，藉由唱出和聽到泛音，踏上精神的探險之旅。

點此報名工作坊＆講座

O TRIOM 米歇爾‧費特大師 紀念音樂會

時間：

2023/10/21  六 19:00

2023/10/22 日  14:00

地點：

夢響廳 Dreamphony Hall

新北市蘆洲區光榮路97巷59號

**捷運蘆洲站步行約5分鐘**

演出者：Mark van Tongeren．呂啓仲．李維琳

 音樂會購票點此 

O TRIOM 演出者

製作團隊

主辦單位| |台灣泛音詠唱協會

執行製作  | 李紀辰

視覺設計 |  白濟豪

圖片來源 | Michael Vetter

講座講者| 鍾明德教授

台灣泛音詠唱協會Facebook

Read an earlier post about why we should remember Michael Vetter here.

The post O TRIOM remembers Michael Vetter appeared first on Fusica.

Tapestry by Kustaa Saksi for the myth of Sinbad

There were too many highlights during the opening, really, but I mention a few. Sanxia hosts many temples, tea houses, retreat centres, etc., and has its own magic atmosphere. Approaching the former minesite, and stepping into the actual buildings, now called Mineless, is a journey in itself. The design is an unbeatable combination of industrial, functional architecture repurposed very skilfully, to get the best out of the combination of trees and plants overgrowing the buildings and the interiors.

The short documentary film about what drives Kustaa is very moving, and shown near the entrance. You walk in and out of buildings, up and down stairs to see all the rooms – I guess I haven’t seen it all yet. June gave a moving poetic talk – two, in fact – based on Japanese stories. There was a fire performance which will still be performed over the next few weeks, and there was music played on a collection of wood fish, including some really huge ones, made of unlacquered, plain wood. I had a chance to add some last notes in a space with booming low resonances, and those high notes too, of course (you know me).

Yours truly illustrating June’s beautiful story of old age and flowing water

Raymond opening a book of secrets

Say hello to The Artist

Go check it out, there are many performances and I think it is all free! More info and review in Chinese here.

肯園 25 週年紀念展覽Ｘ芬蘭當代藝術家古斯塔‧薩克希

CANJUNE 25th Anniversary Exhibition X KUSTAA SAKSI

日期： 6月1 日至6月18日

地點：無礦 Mineless （新北市三峽區圳頭路119號之1）

時間：每週四、五、六、日　13:00-20:00

常設展演：免費入場自由參與

​𓇬 芬蘭當代藝術家 KUSTAA SAKSI – 巨幅手工織毯｜藝術作品｜

𓇬 KUSTAA SAKSI ​ – ​ 紀錄片播映｜影片播映｜

𓇬 肯園企劃「日 ☼ 造夢」 – ​ 香氣解藥舖｜互動藝術｜

𓇬 肯園芳療師 – 頌缽走神 ｜頌缽展演｜

𓇬 葡萄牙當代藝術家 André Uerba – 時間燃燒 ｜裝置展演｜

𓇬 台灣新銳藝術家/設計師 張家翎 – 潮濕的火 ｜裝置作品｜

其它主題專場活動：https://www.accupass.com/event/2305111013036498445300

Talking about Expos, there was more happening, and still going on. Some of my oldest friends here in Taiwan, Aichin Rao and Iming Mavaliw, have a joint-solo-exhibition in the Kuandu Arts Museum. They used to work in Dulan (recently adopting its more correct, indigenous name Atolan, which sounds so much better), and live in Jrben, Taidong. Away from the humdrum of Taiwan’s metropoles, where they are quietly but surely working on an oeuvre that is really impressive.

Iming’s work is part furniture that is almost (neo)classic in style, in the sense that you see it all over Taiwan: huge slabs of wood for marvelous tables and benches, smaller pieces turned into chairs, stools, etc. But the surprise was the original art works, and most of all the more unpolished pieces.

Aichin’s work consists of paintings, some sort of shelters, and mosaics, the latter of which you can encounter in larger-than-life-size on the East Coast of Taiwan as land-art, more and more often (we bumped into her two years ago, finishing her wall for the old train station in Taidong city).

Like some of my best artist-friends, Aichin never talks about her work, and I only learnt of the exhibition after running into Aichin. Another nearly accidental visitor, just like myself, was Scott Ezell, a somewhat elusive figure whom Aichin had often told me about. He used to live in Dulan and make music there shortly before I first set foot there, in 2004, but was expelled from the country. After many years, he turned up again and now we made the acquaintance. We exchanged our books: after some 15 years he published the account of his experiences in Atolan around the turn of the millenium. And I have to say it is a thoroughly enjoyable, poetic read, featuring Aichin, Yiming and many others of the burgeoning artist community, before Atolan became a hotspot for some sort of ethnic chic. Scott played some guitar, with flageolettes. A sure way to let me prick up my ears and introduce myself.

If you live in Taipei, go see both exhibitions while you can!

Scott Ezell playing guitar harmonics at Kuandu Museum of Arts.

Scott’s book about Atolan (Dulan) around the year 2000.

The post Must-See exhibits in Taipei appeared first on Fusica.

Events by the Taiwan Overtone Singing Association and IUooUI

The year began with our new performance group, IUooUI presenting itself with concerts in Mei Garden, Taipei. This was followed by the establishing of the Taiwan Overtone Singing Association (TOSA), and then again more concerts by IUooUI. It is very encouraging to see the developments of some of my most loyal students in this performance group, and a growing audience for our musical adventures, now joining in an official association. I am grateful to all the members, supporters and to Sunny Chen, who is the driving force behind TOSA and pushed ahead with the concert programs for IUooUI. The highlight was a series of concerts in the Taipei Fringe Festival.

Performing Hsu Po-Yun’s music at the National Concert Hall, Taipei

As icing on the cake of the overtone singing events in early 2022, I was invited to perform in a piece of the venerable Taiwanese composer Hsu Po-Yun, contributing with Tuvan throat singing, in the National Concert Hall in Taipei.

Smells of 2022: Healing Island Videos

One of the recurring activities in 2022 was the shooting of short video documentaries about Taiwanese trees and plants that my wife June Wen included in her book Healing Island. That is sort of a new role for me as a video-host/presenter without direct link to my performing roles (though surely I do sometimes popped out some guttural sounds or overtones – don’t worry!). Here we shot one of the favorite species we visited: shell ginger aka pandanus aka kewra. An aroma that ‘blew me away’ when I first smelled its extract at the book launch in January 2022.

Jew’s Harp extravaganza

Just like some 15 years ago, we had several days of Jew’s Harp music, but this time in Taiwan. The first large-scale festival of its kind. I had the honour to open and close the festival with a solo performance. The closing ceremony turned into an hour+  jam with everybody joining – including the audience. Special guest and old friend Leo Tadagawa joined me for some visits to several great, indigenous Jew’s harp makers.

Authoring of a New Music text

I contributed not only music (voices and Jew’s harp) but also text to a new composition by the German-Chinese composer Yang Song (who also has Mongol parentage). The writing fits into my current practise of writing one okyo a day, but I specifically sought out Mongolian characteristics. Full story here.

365 Algorhythms: 23112001

I am writing at least one new okyo every day since early December. Okyo is Japanese for sutra, borrowed from Michael Vetter’s use of the term (more about that later).

Listen and join in if you like (click the image).

Oldest Institutions

For some time (decades, in a way) I am interested in the question what are the oldest institutions in the world. A post I read last year of an organisation dedicated to thinking and acting on the long term provided interesting yet unsatisfying answers. There is a nice list of old institutions as a GIF image, with some truly surprising names. It includes Japan, too, which is important. But China was lacking, as was India, and I am not sure yet how that could be possible. I guess this lack gave me the impetus, a few months later, to decide to attend that very ancient ceremony, celebrated on Teacher’s Day in Chinese-speaking countries. I had been thinking about that for at least 10 years, but now was the time. Time to act. Time to witness history. On September 28, I heard the ceremony designed by Confucius, and I saw Kung Tsui-Chang, who can claim descent from that old master. The 79th generation, 2572 years later. A stunning idea. Several versions of the ritual seem to exist and changes did and do happen. Yet we can praise Confucius for creating something that more or less survived all these two-and-a-half thousand years.

https://youtu.be/rypAVwtHurA

Two new albums, one book and one book contribution

Click on the image for the full story.

The post 2022 in sounds, sights and smells appeared first on Fusica.

The name UIooUI stands for the mantra-and sutra-like phrases that we often use, inspired by the okyo of Michael Vetter (1943-2013). Michael transformed these traditional Japanese sutras to expand his own musical language, and this has become part of my own language now. IuooUI also stands for:

Of course, the syllables i-u-o-o-u-i  make a small overtone piece in themselves.

The name was proposed by our in-house poet, Amang, whose Chinese name is Yü, which is the last part of IUooUI when it is pronounced as a three-character Mandarin syllabe, yiwoyu.

Our in-house designer JiJi Liu created the logo for us.

The name TWEAKS refers to the process of tweaking, adjusting, making things better by smaller or sometimes bigger changes. It is my hope that next week we can really tweak all the musical elements so that they keep on growing, changing and move towards a more refined shape. This week, at least, some of us were still busy tweaking, like JiJi and Sky, who came up with this after the dress rehearsal:

It has been inspiring to see how busy all members got in recent months to prepare for this first complete performance. They have been working diligently on their sounds and pieces, of which more than half is composed by themselves in smaller units. They took care of sound and light, finding equipment and personnel to handle it, costumes …

Earlier this year we have done some smaller performance, to warm up, and as teasers for our bigger program.

DATES and TIMES

Sunday August 21 – 19:30

Wednesday August 24 – 19:30

Friday August 26 – 15:00 and 19:30

Sunday August 28 – 19:30

The performances will be held at VENUE, on its 5F space, No. 10, Lane 107, Linsen North Road. This is a bustling area and if you have the time, you can have diner before at a nice Japanese restaurant, Umeko, right next door to VENUE  (no. 8)!

Limited 20% discounted tickets available, please write to: iuooui.taiwan@gmail.com
to secure your seat. Tickets: https://www.opentix.life/event/1536284030369976325

Our Facebook and IG:

www.facebook.com/iuooui.taiwan

https://www.instagram.com/_iuooui/

The post Introducing: IUooUI appeared first on Fusica.

The timing of the invitation, some four months ago, was auspicious, because I had just began to delve deeper into the Mongolian long song genre with the intention to include it in my live repertoire. So a month or so earlier I picked up a book plus CD I had bought in Mongolia but never properly studied: Alain Desjaques’s Dix-Huit Chants Mongols Dzahtchin et Ourianhai. (If this sounds familiar to some readers, I wrote more about that in this recent blogpost.)*

While I was working on that material, Yang Song got in touch with me through a common friend, Frank Kouwenhoven, of CHIME in Leiden. Song grew up in Inner-Mongolia, part of the PRC, from partial Mongolian parentage, but in a Chinese-language environment. In the program notes to her piece, she admits that she is familiar with traditional Mongol music and yet not really used to them. “In my family Mongolian blood flows; I was used to be surrounded by Mongolian music in various formats, even though I did not understand the lyrics.”

The question was if I could provide a number of different techniques of throat singing / overtone singing, Mongolian long song, and Jew’s harp, to use as the ground material for her electronic composition and the orchestral piece. I wanted to oblige, as her music immediately appealed to me and our first conversation made clear we had many things in common aesthetically. At the same time I was a bit confused: Why Me? Wouldn’t it be easier and more logical to ask a musician from Inner-Mongolia to provide the basic tracks for her piece? Even though I am a Dutchman living in Taiwan, and she is a Chinese Mongol in Germany, we had a similar proximity, or rather: distance to the music that inspired her. Noticing that this was apparently what she wanted (someone with a certain distance to the living source of Mongol traditional music) I put the question aside and started to work.

I sent her my updated and expanded Anthology of Overtone Singing: a selection of my field recordings from traditional of overtone singing plus several of my own pieces and demonstrations (and which will be published soon as the 2022 version of my book Overtone Singing is in its final stages of publication). She sent me back samples of it and of recordings she found on the web. We agreed to work on 7 short pieces of about 30 to 90 seconds. Although initially it seemed she wanted to let me improvise, over time her ideas became more fixed. She wanted to let the orchestra sing or recite some of the long song syllables, so she ended up needing fixed lyrics. I then wrote lyrics inspired by Mongolian phonemes (I only speak a few words of Mongolian and do not want to make a fool of myself pretending I can sings ongs in fluently Mongolian). She also set out the rhythmical structure, fundamental notes and durations for my parts, all of which I recorded in a studio.

I am curious about the result but will not be able to hear it in its full 8-channel form with live orchestra. If you are near Saarbrücken, please go and listen for me – at least Frank Kouwenhoven will be there to give his account of how it sounded! Since this is a radio concert, I think it will be live on the radio too this Friday.

May 20, 2022, 19:00

Benjamin Britten
Variationen über ein Thema von Frank Bridge für Streicher op. 10

Yang Song
„In einem Moment – 须臾“

Uraufführung / World Premiere

Benjamin Britten
Violinkonzert d-Moll op. 15

German Radio Philharmonic. Conductor: Martyn Brabbins.

Website Link: Saarländischen Rundfunk Saal, Saarbrücken/Germany, 20th May 2022

Live broadcast:

Sendetermin | 20 Uhr zeitversetzt auf SR 2 KulturRadio

Künstlergespräch | 18.15 Uhr

Program booklet (in German)

https://www.yang-song-composer.com/

* Alain Desjaques’ book title is a reference to an earlier collection of songs and poems assembled by a Mongolian princess, Dix-huit chants et poèmes mongols, published 1937.

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