Fire Museum Presents:
Jen Shyu's Solo Rites : Seven Breaths
Sunday, June 22nd 4:00 PM
House Gallery 1816
1816 Frankford Ave
Philadelphia, PA
Free
Made possible by sponsorship from Penn Treaty Special Services District
Jen Shyu: Composition, vocals, dance, Taiwanese moon lute, piano, gayageum, er hu, East Timorese lakadou
Garin Nugroho: Director
Danang Pamungkas: Choreographer
Kristin Isola & Ghia Javaqueen: Costume Designer
Kristen Robinson: Set Designer
Solomon Weisbard: Lighting Designer...
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Fire Museum Presents:
Jen Shyu's Solo Rites : Seven Breaths
Sunday, June 22nd 4:00 PM
House Gallery 1816
1816 Frankford Ave
Philadelphia, PA
Free
Made possible by sponsorship from Penn Treaty Special Services District
Jen Shyu: Composition, vocals, dance, Taiwanese moon lute, piano, gayageum, er hu, East Timorese lakadou
Garin Nugroho: Director
Danang Pamungkas: Choreographer
Kristin Isola & Ghia Javaqueen: Costume Designer
Kristen Robinson: Set Designer
Solomon Weisbard: Lighting Designer
Sonic, visual, and visceral rites and reflections upon pilgrimage throughout Taiwan, East Timor, Indonesia (Java, Bali, Bandung, Kalimantan), Vietnam, and South Korea. Using multiple tools of expression in multiple languages (new improvised languages as well as existing ones including Indonesian, Javanese, Taiwanese, indigenous Taiwanese languages, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Tetum, Korean), this solo performance--that of a woman living simultaneously in multiple cultures and "projecting her ancestry" (Val-Inc) through contemporary monologue--will reveal a personal journey of loss and redemption made universal, giving voice to the silenced. These losses reflect crises now plaguing these lands: the loss of voices found in traditional music and shaman rituals; the loss of habitat and wildlife and thus the linked ancient cosmology; and finally, the loss of public space, such as the submission of traditional markets and forests to malls and coal mines. These issues will be explored in performance through sound, movement, and fieldwork footage, creating a land-sound-scape which will serve to transport and transform both the performer and audience, leading to shared revelation and recovery from past sorrow.
Born in Illinois, USA, from immigrant parents of Taiwan and East Timor, the New York based Jen Shyu is an experimental jazz vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, scholar, and educator, having performed internationally as a solo artist, bandleader, and collaborator. Also a Stanford University graduate, MacDowell, Yaddo, and Montalvo Arts Center fellow, she has toured and recorded with saxophonist Steve Coleman & Five Elements since 2003 and has presented her own music at Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Blue Note NYC, Bimhuis (Netherlands), Salihara (Indonesia), National Theater of Korea and National Gugak Center in Korea to name a few. Shyu has sung with Anthony Braxton in his operas Trillium E and Trillium J (April 2014), Dave Burrell, Chris Potter, Mat Maneri, and Michael Formanek among many others. She has produced 5 albums as a leader: For Now, Jade Tongue, Inner Chapters, Raging Waters and Red Sands, and is the first female artist and vocalist as bandleader on the Pi Recordings label with the widely praised album Synastry with legendary bassist Mark Dresser. Having done extensive music fieldwork and research, especially shedding light on lesser known traditional musics in Taiwan, China, and East Timor, Shyu recently spent 22 months on a Fulbright scholarship in Indonesia studying Sindhenan, traditional Javanese improvisational singing, as well as the simultaneous Sindhenan and dance form rarely performed because of its difficulty, Ledhekan. She performed Ledhekan at Mangkunegaran Palace in Surakarta as well as her own music at numerous festivals throughout Indonesia both solo and in collaboration with Javanese artists such as Djaduk Ferianto, Eko Supriyanto, Mugiono, Slamet Gundono, Peni Candrarini, and Garin Nugroho. She then received a six-month scholarship from the National Gugak Center to study Pansori and Gayageum Byeongchang in Seoul. The research for this solo work has been supported by Asian Cultural Council, Jerome Foundation, Fulbright Program, Bronx Council of the Arts, and the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
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