SMS Online - The Rainforest World Music Festival 2003

No nation in recent history has suffered as greatly as Afghanistan. Among the many tribulations that nation's citizens had to endure was the banning of all music (both making and playing) by the Taliban.

The removal of the Taliban post-September 11 has seen a surge of interest in Afghan arts. Ensemble Kabul is one of the best examples of Afghanistan's traditional musical aesthetics.

This July, this quiet but powerful group of musicians will be performing at the Rainforest World Music Festival, Kuching.

They have been in great demand all over the world but have made a space in their busy schedules to spend a week here in Borneo at the expense of refusing some shows in Europe.

They are all, except for Paul Grant who is American, Afghan exiles.

And they are all devoted to the performance of traditional music from Afghanistan.

'Afghanistan has suffered 23 years of war,' explains ENSEMBLE KABOUL leader Khaled Arman. 'Most of the musicians have not survived. I don't mean they died in combat. I mean they suffered psychological trauma. They couldn't stand the weight of war and emigration. Now, some of our instruments are disappearing because nobody is able to play them.'

Arman is a master rubab player. The rubab is a short-necked lute regarded as Afghanistan's national instrument. The music of the ENSEMBLE KABOUL is based on a traditional corpus of melodic modes (râg) and time cycles (tâl, sometimes known as zarb). The Kabul Ensemble shows deep respect for the musical heritage of Afghanistan including the various influences that have been assimilated over the centuries, while retaining its own individual character.

The ensemble’s repertoire draws from the classical and folk heritage from the various regions of Afghanistan, but its interpretation is refined by Khaled’s very careful arrangements.

The Kabul Ensemble’s characteristic sound is produced by a unique blend of timbres, those of the rubâb and the santûr - the latter has rarely been used in Afghanistan, at least not over the past forty years.

The group also brings together several percussion instruments - the tablâ of Indian origin, the Afghan zirbaghali (similar to the Iranian zarb) and the darabukka of the Islamic Middle East and North Africa, thus reflecting the various facets of Afghan music and influences.

This is certainly going to be one of the classiest acts at the festival this year. Their workshops will be enlightening sessions as well.

EXOTIC TUVAN THROAT SINGERS AT THE FESTIVAL

Perhaps the most exotic band coming in this year to the Rainforest World Music Festival is the famous folk singers of Tuva, HUUN HUUR TU.

HUUN HUUR TU (In Tuvan, it is xün xürtü) literally means "sun propeller." or the vertical separation of light rays that often occurs just after sunrise or just before sunset. For the members of HUUN HUUR TU, the refraction of light that produces these rays seems analogous to the "refraction" of sound that produces articulated harmonics in Tuvan throat-singing.

Throat singing is also known as overtone singing. This is the musical technique of "xöömei", in which a single vocalist simultaneously produces two distinct pitches - a fundamental note and, high above it, a series of articulated harmonics that are sequenced into melodies and manipulated with extreme virtuosity in several canonical styles.

Traditionally, Tuvan overtone singing had been performed by soloists, each specializing in a particular style of xöömei. In 1992 Kaigal-ool Khovalyg, Alexander Bapa, his brother Sayan Bapa, and Albert Kuvezin founded the quartet Kungurtuk, as a means of concentrating on the presentation of traditional songs of their homeland.

Representing such a culture, however, is a delicate task. How can one convey to outsiders the subtle sensibility of a music so intimately tied to a sense of place — a place whose landscapes and soundscapes are unknown to most listeners in the West or other parts of Asia? Must one experience the place to understand the music? Or do the sweeping melodic contours and poignant timbres of Tuvan music touch something in all of us — a vestigial collective memory of one of humankind's most ancient
livelihoods - pastoralism?

Throat singing tries to aesthetically represent the sounds of nature - domestic animals, mountains and grasslands, and the elemental energies of wind, water, and light.

By precisely controlling the movements of lips, tongue, jaw, velum and larynx, a single Tuvan vocalist can produce two (occasionally three) distinct simultaneous notes, controlling the mouth's and throat's
resonance.

Tuvan music is not abstract, like most Western music, but the product of a cult of imitation that ties it to an animistic understanding of the world.

The Republic of Tuva is a sparsely settled region of grasslands, boreal forests, and mountain ridges that lies some 2,500 miles east of Moscow, and is situated at the geographical centre of Asia, north of Mongolia.

Turkic-speaking descendants of aboriginal Siberian forest people live there, herding reindeer in the taiga, blood mingled with their longtime Mongol oppressors. Decades of Soviet rule brought influences from Russia and from the West.

Tuvan music, like many indigenous musical traditions around the world, has become de-territorialized.
HUUH HUUR TU has made a big name for themselves. Their community of listeners is a worldwide community The tradition's authenticity stems from the group's effort to bring their own life experience into their music, and to build a rapport with their audiences, as any tradition
must to remain alive.

Kaigal-ool Khovalyg worked as a shepherd until the age of 21, when he was invited to join the Tuvan State Ensemble. He settled in Kyzyl and started teaching throat singing and igil. A co-founder of HUUN HUUR TU, he left the State Ensemble in 1993 to devote his attention to the newly formed quartet. Covering a range from tenor to bass, Khovalyg is particularly known for his unique rendition of the khöömei and kargyraa singing styles.

Sayan Bapa was a child of a Tuvan father and Russian mother and grew up in the industrial town Ak-Dovurak. He received his musical training in Kislovodsk, Northern Caucasus, where he played fretless bass in a Russian jazz-rock band for several years. In the early 1990s he returned to Tuva to study his roots, and became a member of a folk-rock band, performing traditional Tuvan music on electric instruments. Also co-founder of HUUN HUUR TU, Sayan is a versatile string instrumentalist, and performs on the doshpuluur, igil and acoustic guitar. As a vocalist he is currently specializing in the kargyraa style.

Usually HUUN HUUR TU performs on their own. For the Rainforest World Music Festival, they are not only bringing their traditional songs, but they will also be joined by members of Russian group MALERIJA – Sergei Klevensky & XMZ who will add more modern elements and world beat to their music.

The rave reviews of HUUN HUUR TU can cover ceiling to floor. The music is unfamiliar yet very accessible. It is deeply spiritual music that is rooted in the sounds of nature.

The Union News of Massachusetts described it as ….. "Imagine cool, fresh air, high altitudes, the wild open spaces of the steppes, rushing rivers, singing birds, galloping horses, yurts, and a culture that combines Buddhism with shamanism, and then imagine that you hear the sounds of all these elements in the music. With a beat. That's what it sounds like." Their songs are haiku-like verses also about the simple things in life – often favorably comparing women with horses - in Tuvan, at least, a great compliment.

Don’t miss this unique group at the festival. It will make you smile
while bringing tears to your eyes.

MYSTIC SOUNDS OF THE BISAYAH GONGS AT THE RAINFOREST WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL

One of the groups representing Sarawak in the coming Rainforest World Music Festival is the BISAYAH GONG ORCHESTRA.

Within the Bisaya community of Sarawak, the music from an ensemble of gongs is one of the favourite traditional way of making music and songs.

Traditionally, playing of this music is popular after every harvesting season. The gongs are also highly valued for religious and economic significance.

It is very rare to find a complete set of gongs owned by one person. They are made and acquired separately rather than in sets.

For the BISAYAH GONG ORCHESTRA that will be performing at the festival the musicians will be coming from both Miri and Kuching. Leader of the orchestra, Mr. Peter Sawal, says the gongs will also have to be brought in from Miri.

The gong orchestra is comprised of Dumbak, Babandil, Agong, Tawak, and Kalantangan ,also known as Gulintangan. The dumbak (drum) is made from hollow-log, covered at both ends with animal skin, usually; of a monitor lizard or lagatan. The sound of the dumbak is produced by hitting the skin. In the Gong Orchestra, the dumbak player controls the beat of types of gandang played. The beat of the dumbak will signifies what tune will be played.

A set of babandil consists of two: one taritik and two bandil. The babandil is normally played by two players, although there are people who can play it single-handedly. If compared with modern orchestra/band, the babandil assume the role of rhythm guitar.

The Gong Orchestra has two sets of gong, with each set having two gongs.

Each set is played by one player. The gongs are made of bronze and are vertically hung.

Two types of gongs are used, namely tawak indu and tawak anak Each tawak is played for different purposes. The tawak anak produces ngembua sound (`questioning' sound) and tawak indu produces peningkul sound (`answering' sound). Each tawak is played by a player. The Tawak, if compared to modern band, plays the role of a bass guitar.

One set of kalantangan has eight or nine pieces. The set is played by one person and normally performs the 'lead guitar' role.

The tunes or the melodies played by the BISAYA GONG ORCHESTRA are many and a tune is played according to the requirement of the occasion. There are tunes or melodies for celebration, marriages, deaths, births, and sickness. In other words, the type of gandang or tunes played signifies an occasion.

The Rainforest World Music Festival is now entering its 6th year – each year being more successful than the last. One of the predominant driving forces behind the festival was to highlight Sarawak musicians and their instruments and music, and to have them juxtaposed with other World Music bands from around the world. The hope is to instill enthusiasm for the music and a culture that might so easily fade away with global modernization.

The BISAYAH GONG ORCHESTRA will truly bring a touch of the Borneo rainforests to all the musicians and media who will be at the festival.

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