Thursday 22 January 2015

Thoughts about the camp


Thoughts about the camp

Back here in my own little country, the same thoughts are repeating in my head:” Wow! Amazing! Inspiring!”

I feel like I suddenly got caught up in some kind of global song with references from the whole world. This amazing feeling where it’s not about only one culture, but about the meeting between cultures. The openness, curiosity and of course the music that glued us all together. Personally I feel filled up with new acquaintances, new smiles, new music genres and new knowledge about the world and its citizens. Big words – I know – but nevertheless, it’s the feeling that comes to me here back home.

Thank you :-)

Wednesday 21 January 2015

Day 7


Day 7

This day we prepared, in my small group, for the two concerts.

In the large group we tried to make one show out of the malaysian puppet, shadow theater, the stage fighting and the improvisational dance. Challenging, but it became a small little show.

In the night everyone went out for dinner.

Tuesday 20 January 2015

Day 9


Saturn Day, the slow as they call him in Indian Astrology. 
Last night for me in Serawak cultural village. Not much of my thoughts got enough out to get written. We had an easy day. Most of us where thinking on how to get a good party in the night so we would have fun without this would be "scheduled".
We have had an ok dinner in a Chinese restaurant  in a near by town and kept quite 'til we would go back in the Permai Resort Cafeteria. We took a few drinks with us and occupied the Permai Cafeteria that was already closed. Very soon, after chatting and sitting there, my friend Eetu says: "Hey, I have a bass line that got stuck in my head, shall we play it?!!!"Eetu grabbed his trombone and in a instant Amos and I joined with a talking drum and a nice pot set from the bar kitchen. Quite soon Max joined us with his sax. Everybody grabbed other kitchen stuff and started dancing transforming the Cafeteria in an incredible dancehall!!
We didn't stop until 1 o'clock i guess. It was the most amazing improvised party ever! 
Thank you all guys!!!!!!!

Antonio


Saturday 17 January 2015

Day 8

Concert!!!

Its day 8 of the amazing Glomus camp and even though tiredness is catching up, I can see from all the participants that they are really looking forward to the days activities. Indeed today is going to be fun as we prepare for our first concert later in the evening.

We were supposed to be listening to the founder and director of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, Dr. Ahmed Naser Samast, but due to reasons which are given in the previous blog (day 3) he is not here with us. However, Dr. Samast sent us a video message. He is indeed doing a great work in Afghanistan and I personally think it was unfortunate we couldn't meet this amazing man in person. In short he is a complete gentleman who understands what music can do. He stressed on the fact that music should be a platform for sharing, collaborating and inclusion which of course has been the emphasis on Glomus camp 2015. The students who were supposed to join Dr. Samast here also made a video recording of the music they had prepared to share with us here and we were privileged to listen those wonderful students. 

In the general assembly, kind of open forum, the future of the Glomus networked was discussed. It was great for the organizers to create the platform to hear from almost each participant their thoughts and experiences of the camp and for future camps. 

Since we came here we have been working with various small groups and one hardly gets to know what each group is doing or working at but this evening we had the chance to listen to all the groups and it was extremely mind blowing. There were about 8 different groups working with diverse people with diverse cultural and musical backgrounds. In all we listened to music with Arabic, Africa and Asian influences. I should say that the level of improvisation was highly displayed. The most fascinating experience was with the Gamelan group nicely displaying with the Gamelan.

We were humbled with the performance from the local kids. Yeah, we had Nathan Riki Thomson leading and collaborating with the local kids and as we listened to their performance, all one could think about is the unity in diversity. We were surely educated by these kids and this will forever remain in our memories. Vilma Timonen, a teacher from the Sibelius Academy, Finland, couldn't keep this emotional experience to herself and shed tears of joy. Indeed it was an emotional experience with the kids singing songs of peace and tolerance. What then are we doing as reasonable beings and adults for that matter? I hope we ponder on these and many other things that will bring peace to humanity.




Thursday 15 January 2015

Day 6

Rain!!!

Today there was a nature hike scheduled in the morning for the Glomus group. When I woke up and saw the buckets of water that were falling out of the sky I had the feeling that it was better to stay inside. When I reached the breakfast café, my compatriots told me that the hike had indeed been canceled. The next half of the day continued in much the same way, huddled under roof or umbrella, marveling at the strength and speed that the rain was coming down. It was easy to imagine being flooded out of the area. The way the creeks changed to rivers within a few hours was startling.

In the small group – cooperative composition with Nathan – we had our first visit by the 20 or so Malaysian children. Nathan led the group with calm, yet strong energy, using almost entirely body language rather than spoken language. Most of the children only took a few minutes to become comfortable with the situation and were then quite attentive and responsive to participating with the group. By the end of the session they basically knew the song that we had prepared to teach to them.


The large group – drama/music/movement/shadow puppets –used the time to begin the process of stitching together the material presented by each of the three teachers. We had been practicing various exercises rather than one theatrical piece, but we wanted to put them together with a sort of story shape to be entertaining for our audience on Friday.  It was decided that the first work presented would be what we did under the guidance of Komrul Hussin with Malaysian shadow puppets, musical theater accompaniment, and dance with puppets. From that segment we would move on to theater fights as taught by Seppo Kalevi Kumpulainen and the emotional body conversations as taught by Jenni Johanna Nikolajeff. We managed in our short class time to choreograph a basic shape for the fight scene before we had to break for the day leaving the full shape of the performance to be completed in the final rehearse the following day.

-Isabel

Tuesday 13 January 2015

Day 5

Almost a week has passed since we first arrived here in Sawarak Culture Village, though so much has happened during those few days that it's difficult to get a realistic sense of how fast the days pass.

The more time passes, the more this place soaks in, literally and metaphorically. To wake up every morning to the sounds of birds, insects, rain - windows wide open (covered with mosquito nets), the air indoors and outdoors one and the same, humidity the ever-present guest and a temperature almost too comfortable in the evenings to sleep in. I have been starting my mornings by taking a dip in the rock pool by the shore, where the roaring waves of the pacific ocean blend in with the rest of the sounds.

This time we missed the "local culture experiences" (events/workshops at the Sarawak Culture Village organized at different locations within the village) because us second year Glomas students from Sibelius Academy were helping out as the "house band" for a Glomas applicant.

The day continued with the regional presentation of the Chinese group, which was –in one word– impressive. The number (and size) of instruments they managed to carry on flights all the way to Kuching was a feat in itself, and also the range and variety of their instruments, the virtuosity and unity with which they performed their music, and all the delicate sounds those instruments produced were all very remarkable.

What really grabbed my attention was what their presenter said, when explaining that those instruments are generally very soft, to be heard only by a group of few people - they are not meant for a large stage, but rather for the intimate setting of playing at the court for the emperor and a select few. This, of course, asks for a very different kind of listening, in which every detail takes on a life of its own.

After lunch we continued working with the small bands. Today was supposed to be the first day working together with the kids, though in the end we were informed that they will arrive tomorrow. This allowed us to work a bit more with the material we have created so far, clarifying various parts of it and developing others.

I was meaning to upload an excerpt from the rehearsal, but the recording was so distorted that it is better not to. I will try to find a recording from someone else and upload it soon.

Later we had a rehearsal with the glomas choir, lead by Kristjof Skårhøj, which was again a lot of fun. Not much to say, but here's another excerpt to get an idea of what we've been doing (this is an arrangement we have done of a Norwegian tune - again, a distorted recording but you get an idea!)



To close the day we went out to Kampung Buntal, a local fishing village, where we had seafood galore at Lim Hock Ann Seafood restaurant. Shark fin soup, squid, prawns, fried jungle fern were all part of this delicious meal.

Today was Antonio's birthday and we, of course, sang him a massive 120-people-strong happy birthday in a couple of languages. When you have this big a group full of musicians and dancers together, however, singing happy birthday is never just that, and having finished the song we naturally glided onto one big jam, people grooving on whatever they could get their hands on, and soon after finding ourselves enjoying an impromptu class in Ghanaian dancing:

(The music was so loud it was impossible to capture this without any distortion - no matter how smart a phone can be..)

Laonikos


Monday 12 January 2015

Day 4

Day 4

We are right in the middle or this Glomus Camp 2015 in the wonderful Serawak.
I start feeling I'll miss this place while on my way back. The atmosphere among participants, teachers, organizers and local people is so unique that is very easy to keep smiling all day, even when we are tired or feeling crazily humid hot!
The day has opened with the third and final lecture on Fundraising greatly led by Randall. Followed by the regional presentation on Arabic-Middle East music: Palestine, Egypt and Syria.  I had the great pleasure to play frame drum with Islam, Khaled, Mohammed, Maral, Moslem which very soon became my friends. Despite of the various technical issues with laptop and stuff (that were working the day before) we have had a lot of fun. At first I was a bit nervous because I was playing traditional arabic music with people that have played that all their life and I have had much leas experience playing it. At the end without any rehearsal all went great. We played a completely different program from what we talked about. Though I got a good learning on letting things to go. Letting go from playing "in the right way" or filling the moment with expectations. One can very much surprise him/her self.
Towards the end of the presentation, Maral had the fantastic idea to teach a traditional dance from Palestine. It was awesome to get the audience involved as well! So she has invited the audience to the stage and promised she would award the best dancer with a "shal" a traditional Palestinian scarf that can be used in several different ways. 

I would like to share few thoughts I have had today. I was thinking that here we are in this amazing meeting. About 120 people from different countries all over the world. The schedule is very interesting and quite full that actually at the end we meet "for real" only few of them. With how many people have you talked outside of your roommates or far from the eating table?  It is normal to connect with only few, to which can happen to have interesting and nice sharing.  On the other hand  It is totally fine to simply share just simple "how are you?" and so on kind of questions with other people? Universe, as in music, is made of dynamics and we cannot use the same with all. Though I found interesting to be aware of that and ask myself "Am I giving a chance to connect in different ways to people? And in a way I could give spaces to the different dynamics connection to happen and yet surprise myself?"
I have met incredible people and despite the language barrier, communication is strong. Among the others, I found a great connection with my friend Islam. He's an incredible oud player from Cairo, and I am honored to play beside him. i am learning a lot from him. I found not only a talented musician, but a deep "brother" connection. Sometimes words are not enough to express what we want to communicate out there. Easily can happen that even we know English good enough, it is not our mother tongue. Inside our energy body, heart and so on, we can perceive these different layers of energy where communication goes over the words. Through all these we can relate in a high connection with people, listening with all senses.  That's how I relate to the universe. Listening not only with the ears, but with the whole body. Flowers have the shape of the planets movements,  or some of them even move following some of them. And so happen to us, our body is a micro cosmos of the outer macro cosmos.
Listen and surprise yourself...


I send a lot of strength and gratitude to my brother Islam and a safe journey home,



Antonio 

Day 3:


Welcome to day 3 of the exciting Glomus camp 2015 here in Sarawak Cultural Village, Kuching. If there is something I was expecting this morning then I was sure of this wonderful friend we had close to our cabin (15) volunteering to wake us up before six in the morning since our arrival and that's a wonderful monkey friend who will jump on our room early in the morning to say 'hey guys it's morning wake up'. As early as 7 in the morning, the temperature was around 27 degrees with the sun up in the sky presenting a nice and beautiful environment. At this point, all one could think of is there's no better place to be at this moment than here, Sarawak cultural Village. What a sight to behold!!!!

This day is indeed special not only  because of the wonderful presentations but also for the first time we have the opportunity to go out on an excursion to Orang Utan Sanctuary at Semenggoh Wildlife Center and also a tour of the Kuching town itself. Let me quickly take you through what transpired today.

We had two wonderful workshops in the morning where participants had the option of choosing wherever they wanted to be. There was an amazing workshop captioned 'Local Culture Experiences' and it was about the Malay Gamelan. This workshop was led by Dr. Shahanum Mohd Shah, a faculty member of the University Teknologi Mara, Malaysia. The main idea of this workshop was to introduce participants to basic knowledge of Malay Gamelan and a firsthand experience with the instruments. The beaming smiley faces of the participants could tell it all. As I walked towards the Rain Forest Music Center where this workshop took place, I felt the nice melodies of the gongs and I could understand why every participant was very happy trying their hands on the instruments. I should say that Dr. Shahanum was a wonderful teacher because it was highly incredible how she approached the teaching and within a very short time frame the wonderful participants were making good music.

Hey you can't believe it. Glomus camp 2015 is not just about music, dance and drama, it goes beyond that. There was an exciting and equally important workshop on 'Types of Funding Sources: Finding the Right Match ' led by Randall Stubbs, an American who heads the music department in Tumaini University, Makumira, Tanzania. How to raise funds and approach your funding application has been a challenging experience for both students and even teachers so this workshop highlighted on how to approach these funding opportunities. As I sat and listened to this thought provoking workshop, the thought that kept coming to me was this saying that 'give me a fish and I will come back for fish again but teach me how to catch the fish and I can always go catch my own fish'. This I think has been the main point as far as this workshop is concerned, thus, students and teachers and arts administrators developing the habit of working out for funding opportunities with the right approach.

These workshops were followed by regional presentations from Afghanistan, Nepal and Brazil. Listening to diverse musical performances from these diverse traditions was an interesting experience. It's stunning the kind of work Dr. Ahmad Naser Sarmast is doing in terms of reviving Afghan music despite the set backs. It is incumbent on all musicians and arts educators to extend a helping hand in any capacity to the revival and development of Afghan music.
For Nepal Music Center, their aim has been using music to promote national unity and development. It's also important to state that the Nepal Music Center is doing a great job in promoting Nepalese music but we were made to know that they also need help in diverse ways: teacher training, bachelors in World Music Program and future collaborations. For me this presentation wouldn't have been complete if we had not seen the maestro Mr. Nucche Bahadur Dangol perform. He is just a delight to watch on stage and the passion with which he approaches his music making serves as encouragement to younger musicians. Above all he is so humble and down to earth.
The Presentation from Brazil was just perfect to end the day's regional presentations. Fabio told us about the wonderful work they are doing in Natal-Brasil and he highlighted on some incredible projects their university is undertaking. It was also fascinating to see him perform with some Mozambique musicians. I think collaboration is one big thing this camp is actually emphasizing on so it wasn't surprising though to see Fabio collaborating with the Mozambiques for a wonderful Brazilian tunes. He also managed to involve all the camp participants in one of his performances which was so interesting. Little did I know that human voices could imitate the sound of a train. Yes the sound of a train, Fabio challenged the camp participants  and I guess he was surprised himself.

As I stated earlier, the day was special partly because we had the opportunity to move out of the camp premises to observe nature and experience the wonderful Kuching city. The excursion to Orang Utan Sanctuary at Semenggoh Wildlife Center will be an unforgettable experience. We had wonderful bus conductors who also offered to give us a little history about Kuching city. We were told that Kuching is the biggest state in Malaysia and the third biggest island in the world. Kuching also is divided into north and south. The north we were told is inhabited by Malays and the south by the Chinese. The name Kuching means cat, no wonder there are lots of cats and cat portraits around.
It was so nice seeing the beautiful Kuching city, the landscape and the Semenggoh wildlife center. The main purpose of going to the wildlife center was to see the Orang Utan, at least one, but we got there and we were told that it's not automatic that we will see them but if we were lucky then we might see them. Apparently they had not showed up in the morning at all making our chances of seeing them a bit slim but guess what? We got there and lo and behold there were two big ones just approaching the feeding area. We were so happy to see them and that made our purpose of going there successful.

We ended up the trip to Kuching city with a wonderful dinner at one of the biggest restaurants in town, one which I personally have never seen before. Of course Glomus participants registered our presence there with creative shouts and music making. This is definitely an experience you wouldn't get anywhere else than GLOMUSCAMP 2015, MALAYSIA.





Saturday 10 January 2015

Day 2


I arrived to our beautiful rainforest camp one day later than the rest of the group, so this day 10 was my first day. 
It started out with a beautiful walk in the rainforest and meetings with big spiders.

The first music in-put this day was small presentations from Ghana and Mali where they played, danced and made a little performance from their folk cultures.

After that we went to some small groups where I joined the group with the finish woman Kristina. We started out with a small finish folk song, which developed into some vocal improvisation with a Chinese singer, a Ghanaian singer and me. It was beautiful to hear our different musical references and our different approaches to the harmonic and rhythmical layers in the improvisation. A good way to get to know each other. After that we played a small tune that some of the other participants brought to the class: A Chinese song and a Malaysian song.

Later that day I went to sing some choir with Kristian Skårhøj. We worked with grooving in different levels and sang a Brazilian, Japanese song.

The day ended up with dinner and a Gendang performance.

An inspiring and beautiful day :-)

-Julie

Friday 9 January 2015

Day 1



Because our group arrived to the Permai Rainforest Resort late in the evening of the 8th, I understood little of where we were. Only a vague pile of shadows was visible through the windows during the bus ride in. A tired stumble, click clack of tugging luggage up to our cabins and swoosh, I fell into a deeply craved sleep. The next morning, the first viewing of this environment, was completely…well…what can I say? I’ve never been quite so moved by the color green. I felt both embraced and humbled by the all surrounding, continuous diversity in the expression of green. This green mixed with the warm, humid air had an immediate impact on my body and mindset. I felt my rhythm steady. A medium slow tempo took over. Those achy joints from the long plane ride softened, smoothed and reconnected. The hip bone connected to the knee bone, the shoulder bone connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone connected….and something similar was happening to the paths in my brain. To say it more simply, by the time I got to breakfast I was thoroughly relaxed.


The Glomus camp day started with a welcoming talk given by all the leaders of the organizing institutions. Within that section of the morning Keld Hosbond gave a short presentation outlining the themes and overall aim of this year’s camp. I was quite pleased to hear that activism with music work is one of the main themes.

Following the introduction, a presentation was given by Dr. Heidi Westerlund (Finland) and Nucche Bahadur Dangol (Nepal) which focused on the impressive musical activism Professor Dangol has been initiating. To summerize  his work very breifly, Professor Dangol has been leading an educational movement in Nepal using his deep lifelong accumulation of knowledge about drumming. He has dedicated his work towards educating Nepalese people about the music of their nation regardless of their gender or caste.  He is creating connections between people through music, of preserving tradition through education and documentation of the music, and of finding ways of innovating the music to give it new meaning for the next generations of Nepalese. The information in the presentation was very inspiring but what really brought forth the feeling behind Professor Dangol’s work was to see/hear him play. The calmness in his body, the huge, warm smile on his face, and the electric enthusiasm he touched the drum with communicated a love for his work that was completely infectious.

The presentation ended with a performance of local dancing and music which was impressive with it’s diversity and playfulness.

The day continued with the small and large group classes, then a small break, and ended with dinner and a jam session. I will leave descriptions of these parts of the day to the next blogger.

All and all it was a great start to Glomus Camp!

-Isabel





Rumah Orang-Ulu - The location of the Cooperative Composition Small Group 

Persada Ilmu - The location of the Movement/Theater/Shadow Puppet Large Group


Thursday 8 January 2015

Day 0: Travelling to Kuching

For many of us, today was a travelling day towards Kuching. Our group left early morning on Wednesday 7.01 from Helsinki Airport, consisting of teachers and students from the University of the Arts. The flight was meant to go from Helsinki to London, London to Kuala Lumpur, and Kuala Lumpur to Kuching, apart from Mila who was flying through Paris (and whom we met again in Kuala Lumpur.)

After a long day(s) and two connections in massive airports, we finally arrived in Kuching at around midday on Thursday local time. During the trip, however, four pieces of luggage were delayed, along with two members of our group, Eetu and Amos, who were stranded for a few hours longer at Heathrow Airport in London because of a mistake with the booking/check-in in Helsinki, which meant they missed the flight to Kuala Lumpur and had to follow us with a later one.

Coming out of the airport, the first thing that makes an impression is the almost intense humidity, especially having come from the typically dry winter in Finland with temperatures mostly around or below 0 degrees. The atmosphere is so wet, that thin wisps of cloud cling on the tops of mountains and stay there suspended, due to a lack of big contrasts in pressure or precipitation in the air.

And then, upon arrival at the Sarawak Cultural Village and making our way to the cabins, the greenness of the land became very present, as our perspective changed from the plane window, to the bus window, to seeing it, to walking in it. The depth, variety, and extent of everything green, and the immersivity of the experience of just being around it. After checking in, we had free time until dinner which I spent walking around and swimming in the beaches and a spring-water pool, feeling a need to breathe in this new environment.

(Our commuting route to work for the next two weeks.)

As a first impression, it seems that in these rainforests so close to the equator, the predominant characteristic is one of blending, a conspicuous coexistence and interdependence not so obvious in boreal forests and their arctic climates, which are typically characterised by intense contrasts (of colour, seasons, temperatures, sun and the lack of, and so on).

This is a place where mountain, forest, sea are all inseparably one. The forests arranged in such a mesmerising complex set of relationships that it is hard to point where one plant ends and where another begins, or figure out which leaves belong to which tree. This sensation of bleeding borders extends from landscapes at broad, where sea, forest, rock, mountain all blend into each other, to soundscapes.


In the same way that everything is filled with green of all kinds, against which we can then perceive the insects, animals, seeds, flowers and other elements of the surrounding nature, the soundscape is similarly arranged where the constant sound of water (in the form of waves, rivers, brooks, waterfalls, rain, or droplets making their way to the ground through the various layers of foliage after the rain has stopped) provides a backdrop against which we hear a mix of birdsong, insectsong, and monkey-call. This soundscape feels like the equivalent of Pollock painting on top of a Rothko in the same colours.

What makes this land so exotic personally, beyond the different flora and fauna, the length of the days or the temperature, is the impossibility of snow or ice. There is, however, a similar stillness in the air despite constant movement - much like one can experience stillness and clarity of mind while ice-swimming in Finland, or while kayaking down complicated and demanding rapids.

All in all, this seems to be a place where a multitude of very diverse elements seem to co-exist peacefully and interdependently, which feels like a great inspiration for the work that is going to take place here over the following days.


I can't say much about the camp itself, other than that it feels like it's going to be a very intensive and fascinating ten days, which we are all looking forward to. After dinner we were briefed about tomororw's schedule, most of the missing luggage was already at the nearby hotel, and we now know that Amus and Eetu are very close to arriving here.

-Laonikos

Tuesday 6 January 2015

Some thoughts before the camp by Anna Stina



I'm packing my suitcase and thinking what on earth I should take with me. My flight leaves in less than eight hours and I have packed most of my things, but having -15 degrees in Helsinki, Finland today it's not exactly easy to figure out what is needed in the +30 degrees humid climate of Malaysia. I was thinking of writing couple of lines about my current feelings towards the GLOMUS camp here.

After 2 587 emails in my email folder named “GLOMUS camp” and without a doubt a double of that in the “sent”-folder only about the camp, after 82 budget drafts, around 20 skype meetings and approximately 40 flight reservations later, finally, the camp is about to start. I feel that I have gone through the list of participants so many times that I almost feel like I know all the participants already. Yet the part which I’m most excited about is that I get to meet in person many people that have become familiar to me through emails and skype meetings. 

I have been lucky to visit the venue of the camp already one year before and I can’t wait to get back there! I’m hoping everyone will enjoy the beautiful Sarawak Cultural Village as much as I do. I can imagine that the atmosphere there is going to be something very special once the camp starts.
I’m also looking forward to meeting the local team that has been making practical arrangements in Malaysia – they have done an unbelievable job to get everything ready for the camp! There has been so many little things and so many huge things to think of and to do that I cannot even start to explain the task they have done to enable this camp!

I will admit it here that I’m not musically talented at all and I don’t have a musical background – I can sort of play “La Bamba” on guitar and that’s it. So, I’m taking this opportunity to thank you all fellow GLOMUS camp participants of giving me the possibility to enjoy to the full the music you will be making during the GLOMUS camp. I feel like I’m getting to attend a concert of eleven days, how lucky am I? 

I hope we will make an amazing GLOMUS camp together! See you soon in Malaysia!

Anna Stina
Project Coordinator of International Relations, Sibelius Academy, Finland