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