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New audio recording features opera singers and water percussionists
(Seattle WA) One day, composer Byron Au Yong was overcome in the bottled water section of the supermarket. He heard voices from Poland Spring and Fiji cry out. Au Yong, a Seattle-based musician who composes songs of dislocation, realized that water was kidnapped and taken far from home. In response, he created 64 musical miniatures for voice and percussion to be performed in, about, and around water. While composing, Au Yong was inspired by listening to water and studying the I Ching (Book of Changes). He invited eight librettists from around the world to create contemporary responses to the I Ching, one of the oldest Chinese texts. Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas travels through warnings, prayers, fantasies, and whispers in a thematic review for future generations about an element older than man. Human voices and splashing water cry out harder than the silent wisdom of hair turned white. The initiative was performed in 64 waterways throughout the Pacific Northwest in Summer 2008, as part of 4Culture’s Site-Specific Performance Network and the Bumbershoot Festival of the Arts. A Sound/Light Installation, created with media sculptor Randy Moss, was shown at the Jack Straw New Media Gallery in Fall 2008. The Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas CD is available from CD Baby at http://cdbaby.com/cd/byronauyong Track List
Composer Byron Au Yong Singers Josie Davis, Emily Greenleaf, Jeremiah Oliver, David Stutz Percussionists Stuart McLeod, Dean Moore, Benjamin Morrow, James Whetzel Librettists Eugenie Chan, Bret Fetzer, Aaron Jafferis, Archana Kumar, Carola Luther, Caroline Murphy, Vivian Umino, and Edisa Weeks Audio Engineer Tom Stiles at Jack Designer Wing Fong # # # About Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas Praise for Au Yong’s previous work
Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas is thankful for support from Creative Capital’s Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation; 4Culture’s King County Site-Specific Performance Network; Bumbershoot Festival of the Arts; and Jack Straw Productions. Contact Info
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Technorati Tags: music | CD | opera | water | percussion | Asian | Chinese American | composer | Au Yong | Kidnapping Water | CD Baby | musical | bottled operas | singing | Pacific Northwest | environment | water resources |
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CD Makes a Splash
17 February 2009 by Byron
Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas
First off, Kidnapping Water: Bottled Operas is recorded beautifully. Could one expect any less with Seattle’s own Tom Stiles at the recording helm?
Secondly, the undercurrent of water sounds is incredibly soothing yet invite one to listen closely. The water sounds lead to each separate piece, or opera or collection of operas, in a very gentle way. Having myself attended a Bumbershoot Festival performance this past summer (2008) it is special to hear these operas with the clarity they deserve. Diction friction is at a minimum and, indeed, for the most part excellent enunciation of the various libretti prevails throughout. An impressive cast of vocalists and percussionists present elegant realizations of each opera.
A reassuring surprise is the running time of a little over 47 minutes that (I am assuming) represents choices made by Au Yong to create a sensible continuity of the various operas. Too often CDs run on to their full 70 plus minutes; just because one can doesn’t mean one necessarily should. One glitch that I have never thought about before is the running header on iTunes, on which I happened to be listening to the CD. It says “Bottles” rather than “Bottled” and I found it to be surprisingly annoying as it looped over and over. It is a lesson to any and all of us who produce CDs to proofread or otherwise determine what text or “code” iTunes will be offered to “read”.
Regarding another issue, I am personally disappointed in the back cover of the generally helpful liner notes. Not only is it overly designed, both the needlessly small print and lack of contrast make it virtually impossible to read.
All in all, this is a fine CD that, while inspired by the I Ching, makes this reviewer think of the coming worldwide water shortages whereby kidnapping water may well be the order of the day.