Audio file with piano and voice recording by myself and Text-to-Speech
Duration: 7’56
2023
…trong tiếng nhạc thần bay is a composition with Vietnamese tautogram recited by myself and its automatically Google translated version spoken by the robotic voice of Text-to-Speech function and my piano interpretation of Sarabande from Bach’s Cello Suite in C minor.
This work was born out of my ever-growing fascination with the musicality and playfulness of Vietnamese language. The Vietnamese tautogram poem recited here is written by starting every word with letter „B“. I’m curious to see what is lost and what is found in the translation process – meaning, connotation, expression, musicality … Some Vietnamese words are even wrongly translated but I decided to leave them as they are automatically translated. Sometimes when something goes „wrong“, we suddenly find new directions; perhaps not so different from many inventions that were created by „mistakes“.
At the heart of the work is the Sarabande that I personally love very much as it is so open and at the same time so profound. Yo-Yo Ma said this Sarabande is the soul of the whole suite. Mstislav Rostropovich described it as the essence of Bach’s genius. Paul Tortelier viewed it as an extension of silence. The first time I listened to it, I was astonished by how contemporary it sounded, as if it was written today although it was written about 300 years ago. I „translated“ it into the language of piano and hope that things are not only lost but also found.
In recent years I have been exploring how context brings meanings and how contextualization can change our perception and feelings. The Vietnamese tautogram, the automatic English translation, the music of Bach, each of them acts as a subject or as a context depending on the moment they are regarded and depending on the viewpoint, the personal and social background of the audience.
The title of this work is drawn from a poem by Hàn Mặc Tử, written in his last year of life, at the age of 28.
„Ta sống mãi với trăng sao, gấm vóc
Trong nắng thơm, trong tiếng nhạc thần bay“
(Hàn Mặc Tử – from the poetry collection „Trường thọ“)
Automatic translation by Google
„I live forever with the brocade, moon and stars
In the fragrant sunshine, in the music of the flying god“
(Hàn Mặc Tử – from the poetry collection „To be long-lived“)
Cao Thanh Lan 