APSE 2021 | Day 4 | Keynote 4

Presented by
Chinary Ung, PhD.
“Neak Pean (Intertwining Dragons)“

Moderator: Verne de la Peña, PhD.

Abstract
Beginning with the 1970 composition Tall Wind to my recent work Four Elements from 2020, I presented the most significant compositional techniques in my music as well as how they were imagined and their origins. These compositional techniques are presented in five sections. One, how daydreaming brought about the imagined to actualizing a compositional technique. Two, how dreams can uncover key moments in a musical composition. Three, how the organization of mandala can inspire the form of a composition. Four, how being open to synchronicity can lead to abstract answers and bring about a new sound world. And finally, how philosophical concepts can inspire new sounds. By means of musical excerpts, scores, animation and images, I reveal how differing forms of inspiration have led to an ongoing creative process for more than fifty years. It can be seen that one’s voice or point of view resonates when abstract musical techniques are grounded in vastly differing sources including, daydreaming, dreaming, Buddhist concepts, historical monuments, and the near destruction of a culture. This talk discussed how my Khmer cultural background has contributed enormously to the creation of my music. Based on the established understanding of music as both event and activity (Stige 2002), the paper adopts the cutting-edge arguments on music as a vessel that gives affordance (DeNora 2000). It suggests that in small-scale communities, the virtual platforms used in sharing music functions to enhance the face-to-face communal identity across miles but among those who have shared the physical musicking experiences in the locale.

The Asia-Pacific Society for Ethnomusicology (APSE) Online Conference 2021
“INTEGRITIES AND IDENTITIES OF ASIA-PACIFIC TRADITIONAL EXPRESSIVE CULTURES”

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IV. CREATION
This topic dwells on the process of creation of the different expressive traditions. While composition and improvisation are the two main methods of creating music from the west, different cultures have their traditional ways of making and producing their expressive practices. Many Asian cultures for example do not have the distinction between creation and performance as they happen simultaneously. Here, the concept of improvisation comes into question, since the spontaneity of some expressions are closely related more to language than to the “music”. In this topic of creation, the element of time also plays a role in that the subject of form varies from culture to culture. Some music does not conform to the western concept of beginning, middle, and end, but is rather based on inspiration and prowess. And so, there are several subtopics that can be discussed in this topic, which should generate a lively exchange.

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