Performed by Felix Fan as part of the 2021 soundSCAPE festival.

Hyphae are extremely fine filaments of fungus, often only a single cell thick, that collectively form complex networks called mycelium. Mycelium is a vital part of ecosystems and forms especially close relationships with plants. One of the most basic and important functions of mycelium is the decomposition of plant material, which creates nutritious soil necessary for future growth. But mycelium do so much more than recycle organic material. Subterranean mycelium forms symbiotic associations with plants called mycorrhiza. Arbuscular mycorrhiza penetrates the roots of a plant and greatly increases its efficiency in water and nutrient absorption. The relationships get even more complicated than that. Mycorrhizae operate as a primary immune response to the presence of microbial soil-borne pathogens, in other words protecting plant life from disease. Even more interesting is how mycorrhizal fungi network information from plant to plant within an ecosystem. The way mycorrhizal fungi network information is not unlike that of an animal's nervous system. For example, when a plant is attacked by aphids it releases chemicals that attract the insect's predators. When this chemical is released a signal is carried to neighbouring plants through a network of mycelium, and they start producing the same compound. Our understanding of this relationship is becoming increasingly more complex and points to dynamic interchanges of information between plants and fungi, across a network that is an ecosystem.
If we zoom back into the hypha, with an understanding of its role in mycorrhizae, this simple filament of fungus can be viewed as a symbol for healthy ecosystems. In 2019 and again in 2020 mass forest fires broke out across the Amazon, due to, in part, clear-cutting and increased volatility due to climate change. 2020 was a record-breaking wildfire season across the western United States. And on Vancouver Island, while I am writing this piece, land protectors, including the elders from the Pacheedaht and surrounding First Nations, have come to a head with the RCMP and logging companies, for blockading the clear-cutting of old-growth forests. In this time of horrific catastrophe, I write this piece as a song for hypha, a symbol of hope for the health of Earth's ecosystems, and for humanity to find ways to live in symbiotic association with the life around us.

Hypha for solo cello

With Swords

Neo-Noir

Generic Alien Love Song

TV Theme // Nerd Nostalgia

Conceptually based off of the 19th century poem 'Ozymandias' by Percy Blysshe Shelley, this composition is one piece out of a set of three that I composed around the poem’s many themes.

Building on the central theme of the poem, which explores the idea that all empires and their leaders inevitably decline despite their pretensions to greatness, I attempt to examine the concepts of monarchical/colonial musical deconstruction, fragmentation, juxtaposition, and evolution, and attempt to create the psychoacoustic elements needed for these abstract concepts to register with listeners.

The piece begins with a fanfare, a musical genre largely associated with nationalism and militarism.
This is then deconstructed, with fragments of the fanfare appearing throughout the piece, and being merged with musical phrases that seek to evoke the marching of soldiers, the violent interruptions of war, and the faith we put in our societal 'monuments'.

Recording: January, 2018 | Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Monuments

Performed by Rebecca Gary, soprano and Sara Constant, flute

scatterbrain

"Three Songs" (2018) for Hindustani Vocalist, Soprano and Sinfonietta  by Akshaya Avril Tucker. Live recording with Saili Oak, Suzanne Lis and the Prismatx Ensemble at the University of Texas Austin, Bates Recital Hall, on March 21, 2018.

To see the video! Here is the first song: https://youtu.be/3z-uS2Y6kY0
Here are the second and third songs: https://youtu.be/9YuF5r5WSD4

I. Saiyan: Fantasy on a song by Shobha Gurtu (00:00-09:10)
Lyrics: 
Saiyan nikas gaye mai na ladi thi
Na kachu boli na kachu chali
Sar ko jhukaye mai to chup ke khadi thi Rang mahal ke das darwaaje
Na jaane kaun si khidki khuli thi
Kahat Kamaali Kabir ki beti
Aise biyahi se to kuwari bhali thi
Kamaali (c.15th Century)

My love is leaving, but I do not resist
In stillness, without my notice, she slipped away.
My royal palace has ten doors
Who knows who opened that window, from which she flew...
As its beloved departs, the mortal body grieves, Said Kamaali, daughter of Kabir.
Transl. Saili Oak & Akshaya Avril Tucker

II. Geliebte Sakhi: Beloved Friend (09:11-22:45)
An earlier version of this song, for mezzo-soprano and sinfonietta, was commissioned by Density512, on the subject of “re-composing” Alma Mahler songs. Thus, the German text and some aspects of its setting comes from Alma Mahler’s Fünf Lieder. In juxtaposing the Heine text with a slow khyal composition in Raag Bageshree, I am creating one human character that sings in two voices. This is a meditative love song, but the lover or friend could be human, divine, abstract — even music itself.

Lyrics:
Ich wandle unter Blumen
Und blühe selber mit,
Ich wandle wie im Traume
Und schwanke bei jedem Schritt. O halt mich fest, Geliebte!
Vor Liebestrunkenheit
Fall' ich dir sonst zu Füßen Und der Garten ist voller Leut!
Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)

I wander among the flowers, blooming, I wander as if in a dream,
swaying at every step.
Oh, hold me close to you!
Enraptured,
I fall at your feet
while the garden breathes the life of thousands!
Transl. Akshaya Avril Tucker

Eri sakhi tyaja maan
Dhara dhyaan, chhaand gumaan Tabhi pave gyaan
Pratamata dhara dhyaan, Sharana eka surajaan,
Pajhe saba miTat agyaan.
Dr. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande (b.1960)

My friend, let go of your arrogance Focus, be compassionate
Let your pride fall away
Surrender to each note
Then you will see that truth:
The artist is the divine servant of music
Transl. Saili Oak & Akshaya Avril Tucker

III. Tarana: Dance (22:45-29:45)
Tarana is based on abstract syllables (“de re na”, “ta na na”) and references two Tarana compositions by Dr. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, in Raag Bhimpalas and Raag Desh. The soprano and Hindustani vocalist explore fast, frequently improvised runs, as well as lyrical lines, playing off one another.

Cover image, "Dancing on the Edge," courtesy of Kamini Avril, painter. (www.instagram.com/kaminiavril/)

Three Songs

Torturing Piano

- 2020 -

Tibetan, ye tang che.

The ye part means “totally, completely,” and the rest of it means “exhausted.” Altogether, ye tang che means totally tired out. 
We might say “totally fed up.” It describes an experience of complete hopelessness, of completely giving up hope. This is an important point. This is the beginning of the beginning. 
Without giving up hope—that there’s somewhere better to be, that there’s someone better to be—we will never relax with where we are or who we are.

To think that we can finally get it all together is unrealistic. To seek for some lasting security is futile. 
To undo our very ancient and very stuck habitual patterns of mind requires that we begin to turn around some of our most basic assumptions. 
Believing in a solid, separate self, continuing to seek pleasure and avoid pain, thinking that someone “out there” is to blame for our pain—one has to get totally fed up with these ways of thinking. 
One has to give up hope that this way of thinking will bring us satisfaction. Suffering begins to dissolve when we can question the belief or the hope that there’s anywhere to hide. 

© 1997, Pema Chödrön
From: When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Diffiicult Times
Publisher: Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston, 2005
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Music and text by Kristen Wachniak
Performed by Cam Denby (marimba) and Kristen Wachniak (vocals and electronics)
Produced by Selci

Written for and premiered live at Fresh Blood Project on October 31, 2019. The above track was recorded in late December and produced the following spring.

ye tang che

Contemporary Music Composer | Sound Designer

Monuments

Steven Webb

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