An excerpt of Jen Shyu’s „Raging Waters, Red Sands“ on YouTube.
Jen Shyu, composition, voice, dance, er hu
Satoshi Haga, dance
Ivan Barenboim, clarinet
Chris Dingman, vibes
Mat Maneri, viola
Satoshi Takeishi, percussion
Poetry by Patrícia Magalhães.
„The water god, in anger, cuts a hole in the sky. The sky opens. Rain pours out like a river, submerging the earth, allotting one man the fate to choose between saving his villagers from the flooding waters or being loyal to his wife and yet unborn son. Notions of love, existence, and universal versus personal obligation are tested in this modern myth based on an ancient narrative form called Shuo-chang, literally meaning speak-sing in Mandarin Chinese. The narrative mixes Portuguese, Tetum, English, Taiwanese, and Mandarin interchangeably with the sound and space of voice (Jen Shyu, composer), dance (Satoshi Haga, choreographer), viola (Mat Maneri), clarinet (Ivan Barenboim), vibraphone (Chris Dingman), and percussion (Satoshi Takeishi).“
Doesn´t this sound great? Jen Shyu´s art of singing impressed me the most, when i heard her voice on the Steve Coleman Album HARVESTING SEMBLENCES AND AFFINITIES, which is actually followed by THE MANCY OF SOUND, also with her in Colemans Five Elements. The educational backround is remarkable and one is tempted to call her wunderkind. Don´t wonder, if you might hear a relationship (wahlverwandschaft) to the younger works of David Sylvian, as there are MANAFON and DIED IN THE WOOL. I won´t be disappointed, if there will be a collaboration of those two artists in future times.