In AMAZING BEASTS & BOTANICALS, producer Angela Liong and composer Chua Jon Lin explore a Southeast Asian perspective on the Sanxingdui ruins (translated as three-star mound 三星堆) in Sichuan, its artefacts unveiling the ancient Shu kingdom. The programme consists of twelve movements or episodes presented in a non-linear manner, featuring ancient Chinese wind instruments like the xun (埙, ocarina-like aerophone) and gudi (骨笛, bone flute).
AMAZING BEASTS & BOTANICALS does not contain any overall narrative. Instead it uses nuanced modes of expressions to draw on various metaphors relating to excavation and going back in time. Three artefacts from the ruins are interpreted and dubbed, the Bird-Man, The Sacred Tree, and The Tall-Man. Chua’s music is highly eclectic: sometimes reminiscent of traditional music yet approached with modern compositional thought. The music and choreography are developed parallel to each other, and whilst they often have moments of interaction, they do not completely form a codependent and hierarchical relationship.
From left to right: the Bird-Man, the Tall-Man, and the Sacred Tree
When viewing the show, one could try to follow the developments of both the music and dance simultaneously whilst consciously avoiding imposing a functional element on either. Sometimes, intuitively, the music will appear to serve the motion (and vice versa), but in actuality both art forms unfold and develop independently along parallel lines, loosely corresponding with each other in character and concept.
The episodic nature of the programme makes it digestible due to the length of each movement, with each section bringing about captivating, new energies. However, this does not impede its cohesiveness significantly as soundscapes are often constructed using the same musical materials. Here, Chua manipulates the same materials differently to produce distinctively different soundscapes across the programme.
The three artefacts serve as subjects for their sections, depicted by solo or duo performers, and are shown alongside character music. The Bird-Man is presented with a xun solo, with intervallic and melodic elements that hints at a pentatonic sound. The Sacred Tree is a fragile subject, and its two branches inspire a feminine duet between dancers. Similar to the Bird-man, the Tall-Man is also introduced with a solo, this time on the gudi. While initially presented as a formally dressed character, almost like a priest conducting a ritual, the scene changes drastically as the roll of the dagu gradually morphs into that on the snare of the jazz drumset. The tone of the vibraphone, glockenspiel, and jazz drumset as well as the style of the music played on these instruments provide a stark contrast when juxtaposed with the yunluo, peng ling, and dagu, but at the same time there are motivic, timbral, and gestural intersections, linking this reimagined fragment of antiquity to urban contemporary life.
The xun (left), with performer Lee Jun Cheng and gudi (right). The xun is made of clay and the gudi is made of a turkey bone.
Permuted between these episodes are interludes and sections titled Seeding in the Walled City (I and II), and Crumbling Opus (I, II, and III). The interludes are short and present different percussion soundworlds, each with their own symbolistic atmospheres. The Crumbling Opus uses the juxtaposition of regular and irregular rhythms in the music as dancers attempt to construct a literal perfect square but are undermined in their attempts. They serve as interruptions to the Seeding sections and each presents its own character, such as the formation of animalistic or beast shapes in Crumbling Opus III.
Overall, one can expect the scenes depicted in AMAZING BEASTS & BOTANICALS to be rather imaginative and interpretive, with the ancient artefacts presented in a modern, eclectic, and sometimes whimsical manner. Producer Liong, composer Chua and the rest of the production team intend to portray the topic of the Sanxingdui with much nuance, with elements that evoke a sense of mystery and timelessness beyond the ancient Bronze Age of China. The ruins also relate to similar cultural artefacts in Southeast Asia, complexifying the already abstruse nature of the subject with observable commonalities seen across geographically and historically removed sections of the world.
Written by Joel Tan
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