concrete

Current
The Voice of Inconstant Savage
[Commissioned Work] This multifaceted, polyphonic and immersive sound installation by Yasuhiro Morinaga establishes a historical encounter between Portuguese culture and Japan, memories and myths that remain and coexist with other cultures of the Amazon. Commissioned for the Engawa – Japanese Contemporary Art Season programme , The Voice of Inconstant (2023) is an immersive installation that superimposes a prayer inspired by the story of a 16th-century Portuguese missionary, a chant from a Kakure-Kirishitan (hidden Christians) prayer – a religion rooted in Nagasaki Prefecture –, a chant from the Karawara spirits of the Awá indigenous people – who live in the Amazon rainforest – and a chorus of Western Gregorian chant. Morinaga questions the position of the aesthetics of inconstancy in relation to the discourse of the “savage” that modern society confronts.

Field recordings
Sombat Simla: Master Of Bamboo Mouth Organ
Simla is known in Thailand as one of the greatest living players of the khene, the ancient bamboo mouth organ particularly associated with Laos but found throughout East and Southeast Asia. His virtuosic and endlessly inventive renditions of traditional and popular songs have earned him the title ‘the god of khene’, and he is known for his innovative techniques and ability to mimic other instruments and non-musical sound, including, as a writer for the Bangkok Post describes, ‘the sound of a train journey, complete with traffic crossings and the call of barbecue chicken vendors’.

Performing arts
Kenta Kojiri + Yasuhiro Morinaga : COROLI
A performative installation that evokes memory Based on the theme of "recording" the "memory" that has been the basis of previous creations, this is an attempt to approach the sense of "flavor" that appears when you visit a certain place. Using the "places" observed and collected by each artist in the theatre, we will try to reconstruct the places that did not coexist, using the sensations and imaginations brought from the space as clues. By inviting the audience to the place of creation, we will guide the existence of a "performative installation" where humans and the environment come and go while further integrating and dismantling.

Concert
A Widow in Batavia
『A Widow in Batavia(バタヴィアの未亡人) 』は、17世紀に長崎で生まれた日蘭混血女性のコルネリア・ファン・ネイエンローデ (Cornelia van Nijenroode)をテーマに大航海時代のアジア島嶼部と現代文化の関係を探る音を扱ったコンサート作品です。本作品は環境音や楽器音そして電子音を駆使しながら、異なる世界の変化を同時に操作していくもので、立体音響技術による特殊音場を取り入れライブ演奏と融合していくものです。 本コンサートは、大航海時代のアジア島嶼の各地で使用された数々のテクストを土台に、その時代性を描写している箇所が多くあります。日本や東南アジアで使用されていた「じゃがたら文」「オラショ」「パントゥン(Pantun)」といった異なるテクストを全体の連続した時間の中で扱い、マルチプルな世界観を束ねてゆく試みです。この世界観を創出するために電子音や環境音を立体音場の装置の中で展開させ、西洋楽器やインドネシア楽器を取り入れることで、音や音楽の異なる世界観を重層的に展開してゆく作品として創作したものです。