JONAS BAES: "PEACE CHIMES" [with BANWA of 2001]

Jonas Baes came up with the idea of making iron-nail "peace chimes" in Japan when in 1995, his late brother, the geochemist, activist and hero Aloysius U. Baes [1958-2006] took him to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. So moved by then power of the thousands of colorful paper "peace cranes" that were offered in the memorial cite of the Atomic Bomb blasts, composer Jonas Baes thought of translating those fine colors of the paper cranes into sound. The "peace chimes" are meant to be given away to the audience; this act of giving away is to be an integral part of Jonas Baes' compositional works, most especially the IBO-IBON ['bird woman"] composed in 1996 as a memorial to the execution of Filipina domestic helper Flor Contemplacion, and then the BANWA ["imagined community"] composed in 1997 as an offering for the peace efforts in Mindanao.

Made from scrap pieces of wood, pieces of strings, hooks and iron-nails, these peace chimes create diffused sounds that resemble water, or the forests when played by the hundreds; and given away to the audience, the chimes create the community that manifests itself in the gentle ringing that can spread over space and time. The chimes are meant to be given away, and should never be sold; that is imperative to the very concept of the 'peace chimes.' Jonas Baes signs his name in every chime as to signify that each of these is a gift from him.

Playing here is the 2001 performance of BANWA at the University of the Philippines, as directed by the composer Jonas Baes, and which features Ms. Katherine Tranco, singer; Pulumun Ginting, playing a 'sarunai' [double-reed instrument from Indonesia]; James Swu, playing a 'khaen' [mouth organ from Thailand]; David Marleh making 'bamui' calls [trail calls from Papua New Guinea], and four students of the University of the Philippines College of Music playing large bamboo rasps and distributing more than a hundred iron-nail "peace chimes" among the audience. In the end, the music abruptly stops and only the peace chimes are left behind, played by the audience who hesitate to stop because of the sensation of the diffused forest of sounds.

This musical work is dedicated by the composer to his daughter Patricia Baes.

2009 PAGSAMBORANAY and PATRICIA BAES, Inc. All rights Reserved

More information on Jonas Baes is found in:

http://www.munzinger.de/search/kdg/Jonas+Baes/21.html

and:

http://www.composers21.com/compdocs/baesj.htm

Category:

Music

Tags:

• JONAS BAES
• BANWA
• PEACE CHIMES
• AVANT-GARDE MUSIC
• ASIAN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
• MUSIC FOR PEACE
• MUSIC FOR THE AUDIENCE