Oil Painting "DIVINE MELODY" by Tan Swie Hian
In the conclusion of a two-part article, NIRMALA SESHADRI looks at what went on behind production at the Singapore Arts Festival. She talks to three of its key members.
THE gala opening of the Singapore Arts Festival, held at the new Esplanade Theatre, featured the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) in a musical dialogue with the country's most celebrated multi-disciplinary artist, Tan Swie Hian in the world premiere of "Instant is a Millenium"— A Musical Conversation with Tan Swie Hian".
Following the interview with Tan Swie Hian, which was featured in part one of this article, a discussion with conductor Tsung Yeh, digital video artist Casey Lim and lighting designer Tommy Wong offers a peek at the production process.
Quite by coincidence, the discussion picks up from Swie Hian's last comment. "You are all naturally multi-disciplinary".
"All of us here are multi-disciplinary!" says an excited Tommy Wong, who is also a dancer. Casey is also a musician, actor and director. Tsung Yeh, a pianist and conductor, brings up another aspect of his artistic persona.
"I was the trouble maker!" says conductor Tsung Yeh when I ask them just how it all began. "I have always enjoyed combining music with other art forms but have never had the chance of collaborating with calligraphy." Maestro Tsung Yeh joined the SCO as Music Director in 2002. He is also the music director of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra in the United States and Conductor Laureate of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
Not only was he looking for a calligrapher, but also for one who could perform in front of an audience. It was the Singapore National Arts Council that connected the two. "After getting to know Swie Hian, so many other aspects to the performance emerged," says Tsung Yeh.
There were some very dramatic moments that evening that still remain etched in my mind. I ask the team for some insights into the process.
NIRMALA SESHADRI: In the first piece, "The Celestial Web", none of us in the audience would have imagined that there was a 188-member choir standing on stage. When the lights came on at the back of the stage in the middle of the number, and we suddenly saw them standing there, we knew it was going to be a special performance.
CASEY LIM (C.L.): The poem touched on the concept of breath, and then a deeper breath. So we thought that we could highlight this thought with the introduction of the choir at that point in the poem. Most of the time, what started as being functional became aesthetic.
It also went in line with the idea of inter-connectedness which was an integral element in the poem.
TOMMY WONG (T.W.): Did you notice how we lifted the thin veil towards the end so that you could see the choir clearly in full white light?
Yes, and you know I didn't know till you lifted it that there was a veil in front of them in the first place! Another element of surprise there.
C.L.: It was a spontaneous decision. The night before, during the stage rehearsal, the music was on. The part about the "white light" came in the verse and we suddenly lifted the veil so that it looked as if the choir was soaked in white light, in purity. It wasn't planned at all. It meant that we had to plan well and the orchestra became inspirational. Many ideas emerged during rehearsals, not really during the meetings.
It was a highly imaginative display of Swie Hian's water colour paintings in the second piece, "Fables". When the choir moved off stage, instead of moving away the steps on which they stood, you turned both the steps to form a kind of a `V', resulting in a very interesting series of visuals. How did that idea come about?
T.W.: We kept thinking of how we could create a 3-D field with the slides. It could have looked very one-dimensional had it been projected directly onto the cyclorama. And from a static state, there was movement that matched the flow in the fables.
In "Divine Melody", you displayed the oil painting in such a way that it seemed as if an invisible hand was at work. How did you manage that?
C.L.: First, when both Swie Hian and I came up with the same thought at the same time during one of our creative meetings, we knew it was the right idea. We both agreed it should be an oil painting. But we wanted to keep the calligraphy special; for him to come up only in that final segment. Also, an oil painting can't be completed so quickly.
So I recorded him painting it with three digital video recorders, extracted every stroke and replicated it as a digital painting. Swie Hian listened to music as he painted. I listened to music as I did the digital work.
It seems as if at every level there were dialogues and that music inspired you at each level.
C.L.: Yes, and do you know that the graphics were happening live? Because the music was live. We couldn't pre-record the timing of the graphics because it would've been out of sync with the music
T.W.: And even the lighting was linked to the tempo of the music. It was like being a dancer but off stage!
It did feel, though, that the pipa solo brought about a dip in the mood and tempo. I found myself getting restless. Why did you choose to include that piece?
TSUNG YEH (T.Y.): I thought it would be good to have a string solo without the orchestra, to provide some contrast and focus.
The final piece with the calligraphy must have been the most challenging especially in terms of timing. I noticed you and Swie Hian watching each other very closely.
T.Y.: I had to calculate when he should come in, start, and how long he would paint. He said it would be for five minutes, but on that day, he completed it in two minutes! He is a true performer.
How was it decided that he would do the work on the elevated platform and that this would be projected on the cyclorama? Why didn't you get him to paint vertically on a sheet of paper?
C.L.: The theatre is so big that we would have had to get a gigantic piece of rice paper for the calligraphy to be seen. Also, if it had been vertical, the ink would have been dripping. So for very practical reasons, we came up with this design and found we were happy with it functionally and aesthetically.
How does it feel now that you have the production behind you? What are future plans?
T.Y.: I feel we have created a new type of art and enlarged the repertoire of Chinese music. That it has moved people from other artistic and ethnic backgrounds is indeed gratifying. We are going to continue on this route. Perhaps next time, we will introduce audience participation. It is really the arts coming together and moving up to a different level.
Multiple levels of dialogue, dialogues within a dialogue, a unique harmony between music, visual art and poetry, between the real brush and digital brush, real space and the virtual.
To quote Swie Hian: "To me, all forms of art are interrelated. Cross-disciplinary practice is like mutual visits between neighbours. It is just next door and one can easily go over for a chat, so near and so close."
A stanza from the English translation of the Mandarin poem "The Celestial Web":
A jasmine by the window
Has got a thread
Linking with a star beyond the horizon
A star beyond the horizon
Has got a thread
Linking with an early-rising mother
An early-rising mother
Has got a thread
Linking with a wink of a butterfly
A wink of a butterfly
Has got a thread
Linking with the inner clarity of a lake
And a thread of the inner clarity
Links with the eternity of the cosmos. (Written specially for this concert by Tan Swie Hian, and inspired by the Avatamsaka Sutra)
(Concluded)
Note: This article was published in The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, on July 13, 2003.
The first part titled "Myriad Possibilities" appeared in The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, issue dated July 6, 2003.
