My interest in constructing sound elements by imitating the development of hieroglyph, oracle bone script, and pictophonetic characters in the ancient Chinese etymology. The newly constructed "sound words" become living organisms that move, live, prosper, decay, and die.

"Drifting Moon," written for Grafenegg Festival Ink Still Wet and the Tonkunstler Orchestra is no exception to this aesthetic research path. All the sounds are constructed attribute to the movement and the sound of riding traditional Chinese flatboat on the river. And these sound materials tell a story: "If Dharma is the boat we ride on to pass the river of life, we won't need it when we get ashore. Though before we might have a chance to get ashore, we see the moon drifting with the wrecked ships, centuries after centuries."




Conductor: Myself

Drifting Moon 月湧 (2021)

homework01.mp3

Assemblage of field recordings made in the Mojave Desert in 2022.

Mojave Traces

Calls of Munjtac deer :
山羌 Muntiacus reevesi (Ogilby, 1839)

Also a chorus of endemic treefrogs of Taiwan :
莫氏樹蛙 Rhacophorus moltrechti Boulenger, 1908.
台北樹蛙 Rhacophorus taipeianus Liang & Wang, 1978.

Recorded near Jiaping Camp, Yilan County, Taiwan.
14.04.2024 04:50
Sony PCM-D100 + Primo EM272

240414 Muntjac deer with tree frogs chorus, Jiaping, Yilan, Taiwan

Written for TANA Quartet during 2017 Royaumont |  ACADÉMIE VOIX NOUVELLES. Premiere on 10th September, 2017, Royaumont, France.

神秀說：「身是菩提樹，心如明鏡台，時時勤拂拭，勿使惹塵埃。」 
慧能說：「菩提本無樹，明鏡亦非台，本來無一物，何處惹塵埃。」

I imagine cleaning the big ancient Buddhist temple, but in the end I’m cleaning my soul. This piece is inspired by the two famous poems in China from one thousand year ago.

Shenxiu – 
I strive to be a tree of bodhi,
And have a heart of a clear reflecting plane,
Forever polishing it I will be,
To never let it be dusted and vain.


Huineng – 
The bodhi did not really the form of a tree possess,
A clear reflector restricted not to a plane;
When not a thing ever really mattered,
Where could dust have gathered and lain?

Cleaning The Temple (2017)

Bian Zhou II - Floating Market 
扁舟（二）海上市集
Premiered by Atlas Ensemble during 2017 Taipei Innovative Series
Conductor: Artyom Kim

LithicOde

ruidobello