Joël Bons E C | P Music1 air#3in C contextair#4 air#0 air#1 air#2 Joël Bons Invitation / 3 The international music world is increasingly shaped by music from diverse cultures. However, almost no structural research has been performed into the impact this has, or might have in the future, on musicians in training. air#3 That the distinction between composition and performance differs according to culture is also an area of interest. The Amsterdam Conservatory has invited Joël Bons to investi- gate the opportunities arising from the combination of differ- ent music cultures, for both composition and performance prac- tice. Particular attention will be given to bringing these two practices closer to one another. Where possible he will, in response to his findings, advise the Board on the selection of guest tutors and other teaching air#4 staff, the development and reform of the curriculum, and the programming of the Composition Department. In addition, the Amsterdam Conservatory has asked Joël Bons to investigate the feasibility of a Centre of Excellence at the Conservatory devoted to various aspects of non-Western music, namely knowledge, research, composition and performance. air#0 air#1 From the letter of appointment air#2 Joël Bons Joël Bons studied guitar and composition at the Sweelinck Conservatory in 4 5 Amsterdam. After completion of his composition studies, he attended summer Winds courses by Franco Donatoni in Siena and the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik. In 1982 he resumed his composition studies, with Brian Ferneyhough in Freiburg. and Strings At the beginning of the 1980s, Joël Bons co-founded the Nieuw Ensemble, a leading 3 international ensemble for contemporary music that is pioneering in its programming (02–2005) / and innovative in its repertoire. As artistic leader, Joël Bons is still responsible for this programming. In 1988 he travelled in China, where he got to know a generation of One of my aims will be to arouse your interest in non-European musi- young composers that would later cause a furore as part of the Nieuw Ensemble. cal cultures and find ways to broaden our horizon and enrich our vocabulary. Many renowned musicians have shown us that encounters Joël Bons initiated thematic festivals such as Complexity, Rules and Play, with other cultures can be very fruitful. In my opinion it is fundamen- Improvisations, the multicultural Tokkel Festival, and The Refined Ear. tally important in today’s multicultural society to open up to the world, also in music education. I am convinced that in the years ahead, more In 2002, Bons made study trips to the Middle East and Central Asia. That same year and more serious musicians from all over the world will meet and col- he founded the Atlas Ensemble. laborate. The Amsterdam Conservatory (CvA) could develop into a centre for those interested in this subject, and so become the place to be, the place ‘where it’s all happening’. 4 To make a start I would like to invite you to participate in a special project. During the first ten days of February 2005 a number of wonderful Asian musicians will be in Amsterdam for the project Atlas & Consorten (Atlas & Associates). Together with the musicians of the Nieuw Ensemble and conductor Ed Spanjaard, they will rehearse and perform four brand new works written for a combination of Western and non- Western instruments. In addition, the Korean, Chinese, Uzbek and Turkish virtuosi will present their musical traditions at two concerts in the Tropentheater. To stimulate your interest and provoke ideas, we have organised three presentations especially for you: Asian winds, Asian strings and a composers’ forum about the newly0 composed pieces. This first encounter is intended to provide you with the opportunity to get acquaint- ed with some of the distant family members of our own instruments and to exchange ideas and experiences with the musicians, and perhaps even make music together. The topics will include comparison of Eastern and Western attitudes to timbre, sound quality, vibrato/glissando, articulation, tuning, timing and concentration. On 10 February the four composers will present their new works and report on the challenge of writing for non-Western instruments. 1 2 e-mail response From: j th loevendie 6 7 Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 19:53:52 -0800 To: Joël Instruments / Subject: asianinstr. Beste Joël. >> De demonstratie vanmmorgen was verbijsterend. Voor het eerst VOELDE ik, hoewel ik het wel altijd BEGREEP, wat je passie is met families van instrumenten van verschillende culturen. Zelfs in het Atlas Ensemble kwam dat er niet zo goed uit. Als je als componist die dubbelrietinstr. na elkaar hebt geho- ord, kan ik me niet voorstellen dat iemand nog zin heeft om een saxofoon- of klarinetkwartet te schrijven. Bij elk nieuw instrument dacht ik, ja, dit is de mooiste. Toen kwam de duduk, zo prachtig door Raph. bespeeld, hoewel de melodie mij wat minder bekoorde. En ik vond dat dit het summum was, zo dicht bij de menselijke stem. Toen daarna dat rare instrument- je van Abdulhomid kwam, in Turkije sipsi genaamd, met die rare muziek, had ik het helemaal niet meer, dat sloeg alles en raakte ik de kluts kwijt. Een kwartet voor die instrumenten bijvoorbeeld, moet het toppunt zijn van klankrijkdom. Kortom, dat is iets wat ik je altijd heb horen roepen. Helaas vermoed ik dat ik zelf daar niet meer aan toe zal komen, wegens verplichtingen elders, zal ik maar zeggen. Over de shakuhachi en consorten praat ik maar niet, maar dat is natuurlijk een vergelijkbaar pakket. Het was groots, ik moest een keuze maken en kom helaas vanavond niet naar het concert. Dit belooft veel goeds voor de toekomst. Gefeliciteerd!!!!!!!!!!!!! Theo. Duduk /The Armenian duduk is one of Erhu /The erhu is a two-string knee fid- 89Oud /The oud, known as ‘the sultan of Kemençe / The kemençe is a small the most ancient double reed instru- dle with a long neck and a round, hexag- instruments’, is the most important Turkish bowed string instrument chiefly ments. Over centuries, the duduk trav- onal or octagonal wooden body. The instrument in the Middle East. Its name used in Anatolia and the Black Sea elled to many neighbouring countries upper side of the body is usually cov- is derived from the Arabic word for region. Its form and name varied and underwent subtle alterations, such ered with a skin of a python or other wood, probably because wood strips are according to region until defined in as specific tuning and more or fewer snake. The bow is horsehair on a bam- used to make the round body. Relative Anatolia. Until the end of the nine- finger holes. Nowadays, duduk variants boo stick. While playing, the erhu is to its body, the neck of the oud is short teenth century, the instrument was can be found in Georgia (duduki), rested on the player’s left thigh and and it has no frets, endowing the instru- used in Rumeli folk music, kaba saz, Azerbaijan (balaban), Turkey (mey), held with the left hand; the right hand ment with the potential for enormous accompanied by the lavta and percus- Iran and the Balkan nations. Its basic moves the bow. Because of its lovely, melodic flexibility: the musician can sion. It was only at the end of the nine- form has changed little during this long lyrically expressive sound, the erhu is play microtones – the tones between teenth century that the kemençe history, however. The instrument was used as a solo instrument in small folk the twelve half-steps of the chromatic became truly popular, also being used originally made of bone, as were many and classical ensembles and in Chinese scale – which are essential for much in the ince saz, Turkish art music. The early flutes, but nowadays, the tube is orchestras. The erhu belongs to the Arabian and Turkish music. The most kemençe has three strings and a pear- made of apricot wood. It has a range of huquin, or ‘foreign stringed instru- common stringing arrangement com- shaped body made from the wood of the one-and-a-quarter octaves, and is a ments’, group, which suggests they are prises eleven strings in six courses mulberry and plum trees, and the deceptively simple instrument. It is nei- not indigenous. Instruments resembling (five pairs tuned in unison and a single juniper berry bush. The bow stick is ther diatonic nor even-tempered and the erhu were common in Chinese bass string). The strings are usually made from rosewood or boxwood. variants exist in a number of keys. The music from the twelfth century onwards. made of nylon or gut and these are There is no fingerboard on the neck and velvety, melancholic sound it produces (from www.atlasensemble.nl) strummed with a plectrum, the risha or the strings are stopped by pushing the and its great dynamic potential have mizrap. Another characteristic feature fingernails against them. The kemençe made it popular in many musical genres. of the oud used throughout the Arab is held vertically, resting on the lap of It is traditionally played in small ensem- world is the neck with its backward- the player. The tuning is: d (neva), g bles, often in duet with frame drums, facing tuning knobs. In its construction, (rast), d (yegah). such as the daf, in lyrical songs and tuning and sound, the Arabian oud dif- (from www.atlasensemble.nl) dances. Nowadays, the duduk is also fers somewhat from its Turkish and played in clubs and is included in larger Armenian cousins. The instrument is professional ensembles. the ancestor of the Chinese pipa, the (from www.atlasensemble.nl) Japanese biwa, the European lute (al-oud, became ‘lute’) and ultimately of the guitar.