Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Product details

Duration: 31 min.

Contents note: A song from English -- A song from Mandarin -- A song from Khmer -- A song from Vietnamese -- A song from Indonesian -- A song from French -- A song from Greek -- A song from Aboriginal -- A song from several languages.

Commissioned by ABC Classic FM for The Listening Room -- Composer's note.

Instrumentation: computer, stereo sound system.

First performance broadcast on the radio programme The Listening Room, ABC Classic FM, November 1999 -- Composer's note.

A suite of nine songs. The music is made from the spoken language which was then computer processed. The resemblance between the processed sound from language and the music from the parent culture is evident -- Composer's note.

Copyright held by ABC.

Although the voices used for these songs cannot be individually recognised, they did contribute not only their cultural sound but their personal 'voice print'. Other voices would have made for different results. Though this suite of songs shares a thematic origin, they are equally suited to individual listening -- Composer's note.

Year of composition: 1999.

All performers appear on 'A song from several languages'.

Non-commercial recording - for study purposes only.

Performers: Robyn Ravlich (A song from English) ; Yi Luo (A song from Mandarin) ; Wendy Chien (A song from Mandarin) ; Fang Tian (A song from Mandarin) ; Ellia Leong (A song from Mandarin) ; Leviseda Douglas (A song from Khmer) ; Muntha Crowe (A song from Khmer) ; Hue Nguyen (A song from Vietnamese) ; Lien Pham (A song from Vietnamese) ; Hidayat Djajamihardja (A song from Indonesian) ; Mireille Vignol (A song from French) ; Nicholas Mitsakis (A song from Greek) ; Tom Lewis (A song from Aboriginal)