X-Drifts Weekends 16th July

The piece Yongnam Nongak is a piece of music   from the south Eastern part of South Korea. This piece of music played by farmers during harvest. Celebrating the bountiful harvest and showing their hope for greater blessings to come.

“Who are you?” is an amalgamation of recordings of the diverse communities in the UK.

Artist Thekla has created “a painting of layers of sounds”. She has recorded people (all from different backgrounds but do not look like they are from that country) in their native language to read a set of questions through which to explore the definition of the word ‘Identity’. At the same time in the background you can hear Thekla singing those questions in English. Collaborators will be appearing in this live performance.

The questions start with:
Who are you?
Where do you come from?
You do not look like you are from here, I mean what are your origins?
Where do your parents come from?

Damilola Eniola

Dami is currently studying a MMus degree in Performance at SOAS University. Focusing on Korean traditional music and composition, she is both a performer and composer. She is a performer of the 12-string Korean Zither Kayageum, and has been greatly inspired to write for it. As a performer she has performed at various events around the UK playing a variety of Korean traditional instruments and educating the public on Korean traditional music. In her spare time she is also a radio presenter at the University radio running a show called Gugak Sounds.
The piece – blooming flower / Spring is Damilola’s first piece written for the Kayageum and inspired by the Lotus flower. This piece goes through the various periods of the flower from its growth to the blooming. However it does not deal with death due to the composer’s belief of life after death end reincarnation.

Performer
Cholong Sung — Kayagum

Cholong Sung has been studying Korean music for eighteen years. She graduated from the National Gukak (Korean traditional music) Middle and High school, where she majored in Kayagum (Korean zither) and she did BA in Korean Traditional Music at Ewha Woman’s University. As a Kayagum player, she gained much experience by taking part in many concerts and had received awards at a number of Kayagum competitions. After graduating from university, she went to Seoul National University to study Korean Music Theory. Her master’s degree dissertation looked at “A Study of Seongdok (Lectio Devina, The sound of reading) on Musical Perspective.” She completed her masters music degree in 2013, and she is now a Ph.D. candidate in Ethnomusicology at the SOAS University.

About Aravinth Kumarasamy
Aravinth Kumarasamy has been working with the Sathyalingams the founders of Apsaras Arts since 1990 as a composer and choreographer, and is the creative and managing director at Apsaras Arts since 2001. A multi-talented artiste, Aravinth is involved in Indian dance, music, theatre and other related fields and is a prominent figure in the international Indian arts community. Aravinth’s creations at Apsaras Arts have been acclaimed as world class seamlessly blending innovative choreography based on traditional dance vocabulary, thereby progressively redefining the boundaries of Bharatanatyam ensemble work. His collaborations with Cambodian, Javanese and Balinese dance forms have been critically acclaimed. Aravinth is professionally qualified in both Indian classical dance and music. He is the proud recipient of several awards including the Singapore’s “Young Artiste Award” by the National Arts Council of Singapore.

The Bhumi Collective will discuss the origins of bhumi and its journey from Singapore to London and Edinburgh. The team will also share the creative process of developing the multidisciplinary work and the principles and strategies underpinning its approach as well as the challenges of navigating intercultural collaboration between Singaporean and British artists who themselves are diverse in terms of ethnicities. Tackling the issue of identity has stirred debate and brought about a natural evolution in the creative direction of bhumi and how traditional and contemporary practices can influence and learn from each other.

Reflecting upon their own decade-old experience working with youths and practitioners from the traditional and contemporary arts sector in multicultural Singapore and London, Soultari Amin Farid (Creative Director) and Mohamad Shaifulbahri (Producer) will contemplate how bhumi will probably be one of the most challenging, yet provoking, works they have created till date.

Presenters: Soultari Amin Farid, Mohamad Shaifulbahri

Featuring actor, Chen Rui, from the Jiangsu Province Kunju Opera Troupe

Presenter: Kathy Hall, Founder of former London Jing Kun Opera Association

A brief introduction.
Make-up demonstration by Chen Rui of Young Male role face, as in ‘The Startling Dream’ and costuming.
Chen Rui performs first couple of phrases as he explains what he is doing with his eyes, hands, body, steps, etc. with surtitles.
Chen Rui performs the excerpt with Kathy Hall in watersleeves jacket only. Kathy explains her ‘dan’ movements. The two perform again.
Chen Rui teaches audience to sing a few words (with surtitles)
Q&A