concrete

Installation
The Voice of Inconstant Savage
Commissioned for the Engawa – Japanese Contemporary Art Season programme organized by Calouste Gulbenkian Museum's Modern Art Center, The Voice of Inconstant Savage is an immersive installation that superimposes a prayer inspired by the story of a 16th-century Portuguese missionary, a chant from a Kakure-Kirishitan (hidden Christians) prayer – a religion rooted in Nagasaki Prefecture –, a chant from the Karawara spirits of the Awá indigenous people – who live in the Amazon rainforest – and a chorus of Western Gregorian chant. Morinaga questions the position of the aesthetics of inconstancy in relation to the discourse of the “savage” that modern society confronts.

Field recordings
Sombat Simla: Master Of Bamboo Mouth Organ
Simla is known in Thailand as one of the greatest living players of the khene, the ancient bamboo mouth organ particularly associated with Laos but found throughout East and Southeast Asia. His virtuosic and endlessly inventive renditions of traditional and popular songs have earned him the title ‘the god of khene’, and he is known for his innovative techniques and ability to mimic other instruments and non-musical sound, including, as a writer for the Bangkok Post describes, ‘the sound of a train journey, complete with traffic crossings and the call of barbecue chicken vendors’.

Cinema
THE SCIENCE OF FICTIONS
In 1962, Siman, a solitary farmer, came to Gumuk, sandy bare land. Siman was witnessing a shooting of a fiction film about man landing on the moon. It was an unlucky day for him, Siman was caught by the army and got his tongue chopped off.Soekarno, the first president of Republic Indonesia, came to Gumuk, brought with him a Bolex 8mm camera. From the distance, he made a “the making of” man-landing-on-the-moon film. And the politics went so wrong. Under the new regime, A New Order of Soeharto, Siman was then being named as an insane person because he often moves stupidly, acting as if he is walking on the moon. In the village, Siman built a strange cubical building looking like a robotic machine that he saw in the sands. Siman designed an astronaut costume, and always uses a white helmet every time he goes out of his house. All the villagers agree that Siman is insane, but what he did is actually words and the only way he knows to show the truth. He is the only one who knew about the worlds biggest lie.

Field recordings
Yasuhiro Morinaga presents Field Recording Series Endah Laras [Surakarta, Indonesia]
Endah Laras [Surakarta, Indonesia]
A pioneer of Japanese Sound Design, Yasuhiro Morinaga’s field recording series has just launched the first edition! This first edition is featuring one of the most astonishing Indonesian singers, Endah Laras, who has been known for Javanese traiditional art like Wayang Kuri. The recording was conduced at the open-air studio, owned by Endah’s father who was regarded as one of the maestro of Javanese Wayang Kuri. The location has rich sonic environment and enriches natural resonance. Through her astonishing voice with different music instruments, such as ukulele and guitalele and other traditional Javanese instruments like gender and Javanese sitar, The music in itself beings us the feeling of Kroncong and Folk. Although we all know that Indonesia has strong tradition in gamelan music or ritual ceremonies, this recording work should be treated as a new music of modern Indonesian sound.