MUSICAL WORKS

ZHANG Xiao-Fu / 张小夫

1996

Nuo Ri Lang / Promesse d’un jour lumineux / 诺日朗 / Nuo Ri Lang

Birth Y: 1954 Birth C: CHINA Gender: Male

Dest: Concert

Media Specification: Mixed Music

Commission: INA-GRM, Paris, France

First perf.: Paris, Maison de Radio France, salle Olivier Messiaen, 22. Feb. 1996.

Duration: 18:23

Perf. Country: FRANCE

Context: Festival 'Présences 96' (Radio France)

Instruments: 5 percussionists, video and electroacoustic music

Setup: Groupe de recherches musicales (INGRM), Paris, France; Digital Tape Recorder DAT, sampler: AKAI S-1000, synthesizer: Yamaha SY-77

Media: CD

Prog. notes: In Tibetan faith, Nuo Ri Lang is said to be the title of the god of masculinity. To extract the spiritual essence of the Tibetan culture, the composer utilized the concepts of 'Zhuan Jing' (a Tibetan-Buddhist rite of revolving the tube inscribed with sutra) and 'Samsara'(the Wheel of Transmigration) as its predominant features. The composer transformed the cultural concepts into a specific kind of electroacoustic musical language that is characteristic of the utilization of 'loop' technique of different kinds of acoustic material. The loops and the spiral structure are highly symbolic of the cosmological outlook of 'round' in Tibetan culture and daily life of the Tibetan people, --for instance, the above-mentioned 'Zhuan Jing', the twisting of Buddhist beads, worshiping the Mani stone, and the Tibetan circular dance. The principle of loop in philosophical depth could be found in multiple dimensions. Intertwined small loops constitute larger loops, while the circulation of larger loops completes the whole piece. // In contrast with the modern electoacoustic technique, percussion instruments made out of bronze, leathern, wooden or stone material--which are symbolic of the primitive cultures--are introduced in Nuo Ri Lang; for instance, the clashes and frictions among Chinese bronze and stone percussions are in sharp contrast with the electronic acoustics. // Thanks to the modern technique, the composition is able to contribute itself to the imagined dialogue between man and god in the form of multimedia. The system of dozens of loudspeakers on and off the stage is comparable to an orchestra while the composer, in the midst of the parterre, is like the conductor who controls the ups and downs of the acoustics. Simultaneously, a set of digital video pieces are played respectively on several screens on the stage, which add to the symphonic flavour of the piece. // Nuo Ri Lang was commissioned by the INA-GRM (France) in 1996 and world premiered with success in its '96 PRESENCES' in Paris. As one of the representative works of the composer, Nuo Ri Lang has been presented repeatedly around the world in the last ten years.

Editor: Ka Lun CHEUNG

Phono: CD: 'Dialogues between different worlds - collection of Zhang Xiao-fu's works (Butong kongjian de duihua - Zhang Xiao-fu zuopin zhuanji 不同空间的对话－张小夫作品专辑)', China Record Company (Zhonggua changpian zonggongsi中国唱片总公司), 1994

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