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’.

Installation

POLLINATORS
本作は、ベトナム北部の山岳地帯のモン族の生活にフォーカスし、シャーマンによる厄除儀礼と養蜂家による採蜜行為を重ね合わせた視聴覚インスタレーションとなっています。シャーマンによる精霊との対話と養蜂家による蜂との対話から引き起こされる人間、環境、そして生活における共生共存を通じ、記号化された私たちの社会生活にオルタナティブな視点を導入していく作品となっており、3D立体音響と4チャンネル映像によって、観賞者への没入度を一層高めていきます。

Installation

Invisible Ensemble
インドネシア、ジャワ島中部の儀礼ルワタン(Ruwatan)の一節を使用したサウンド・インスタレーション。ルワタン(Ruwatan)は、悪霊や危険または特定の人や出来事といった事象から身を守るための儀礼である。ジョグジャカルタのダラン(影絵師)のチャトゥール・クンコロ(Catur Kuncoro)や詩人のグナワン・マリヤント(Gunawan Maryanto)が朗誦するルワタンの一節に加え、この儀礼で伴奏されるゲンデルやボナンといった青銅楽器(ガムラン)の音、バイクの通過音や鳥のさえずりといった生活環境の音を立体音響の空間に散在させている。聴取者はヘッドフォンを装着し自由に展示空間を行き来しながらこれらの音を束ねてゆく。その音の痕跡は、ステレオの音声ファイルとして、聴取者自らの携帯電話に保存して持ち帰ることができる作品である。

Event/Workshop

Gong Therapy
Raw and remixed field recordings of gong orchestras throughout southeast Asia. Recorded, assembled, and remixed by Yasuhiro Morinaga for Radio is a Foreign Country. Yasuhiro Morinaga is a sound artist and filmmaker living in Tokyo. After graduating Tokyo University of the Arts, Yasuhiro has carried out field recording expeditions documenting the origins of musical instruments and the soundscapes of shamanic healing rituals throughout southeast Asia (see www.the-concrete .org). PLAYLIST Ambience: (Toraja group), Rambu Solo (Funeral ceremony) from Toraja, Sulawesi Island Tau Dou / (Tau Humba group), Sumba Island Harvesting / (Tau Humba group), Sumba Island Funeral / (M’nong + Krung groups), Mondalkiri, Northeast Cambodia Ma Badong Chanting / (Toraja group), Toraja, Sulawesi Island Gong Practice by Yasuhiro Morinaga / Bali Island Manang Sirang - chanting / (Dayak Iban group) West Kalimantan, Borneo Island Cut the Bamboo, / (M’nong Prang group), Central highland of Vietnam Hail / (Ede group), Central Highlands of Vietnam Guarding Rice Seeds / (Makassar group) Makassar, Sulawesi Island Daily Routine for everyday life / (Krung group), Ratanakiri, Northeast Cambodia Hedung Dance / (Lamaholot group), Flores Island Balangbang / (Kanakanaey group), Northern Luzon Island A Month after the Death / (Bahnar group), Central Highland of Vietnam Sole Oha Ritual / (Lamaholot group), Flores Island Hsaing Waing Remixes by Yasuhiro Morinaga, Yangon, Myanmar Ambience: (Toraja group), Rambu Solo (Funeral ceremony) from Toraja, Sulawesi Island