JONAS BAES: WALA [Bangkok Performance]

Philippine-born composer and ethnomusicologist JONAS BAES composed WALA [i.e., 'nothing,' or more appropriately, "nothingness"] in 1997 at a sojourn into the banks of the Mekhong river and various Buddhist sanctuaries like Phimai and Phnom Rung in Northeastern Thailand during the Third ASEAN-COCI Composer's Forum on Traditional Music. The work was premiered in Ubon Ratchathani and subsequently performed in various other venues in the Isan Region of Thailand. In this composition, Jonas Baes experiments in aestheticizing social theory [after Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens, Jean Paul Sartre and other social theorists], performing the work along with six traditional musicians from Solo, Indonesia. This short, albeit "classic" rendition was recorded in Bangkok, Thailand in December 1997, and is represented in the photo taken during the premiere showing, from left to right, [1] Pak A. L. Suwardi, [2] the great Pak Rahayu Supanggah, [3] Pak Sukamso, [4] Pak Supardi, [5] the composer Jonas Baes [with a reddish 'tubao' cloth hanging around the collar], [6] Pak Rusdiantoro, and [7] Pak T. Slamet Suparno.

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
• WALA [Nothingness]
• Asian contemporary music