To many people, he is a hero. Others label him a plane hijacker. But to his family and friends, he is forever a fervent advocate of peace who died for his cause. His name is Nguyễn Thái Bình, which means “Peace.” The day he was born, Vietnam was still in war, so his parents named […]
https://youtu.be/utD3OfdgfFo?si=piw4hA50a84vaW8y Recorded by the Popebama Duo at Florida State University (FSU) in 2023. Elected final selection of SCI Super Regional Summer Mixtape 2023. I composed The Boat and the Sea as a celebration of my first love. This piece is inspired by a poem by Xuân Quỳnh (1942–88), one of the most well-known female poets
The Boat and the Sea for Alto Saxophone, Percussion, and Live Electronics Read More »
I composed The Nine Dragons as an homage to the Mekong River and other all suffering rivers of our time. The Mekong River flows through Tibet, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and reaches the sea through the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. In the Delta, the river is separated into nine estuaries, which the Vietnamese reverently refer
The Nine Dragons for Vietnamese Zither (Đàn Tranh) or Fixed Media and Orchestra Read More »
I created this work of sound art using only one recording of me practicing the đàn tranh (Vietnamese zither). Even the drum’s sounds are also extracted from that sample. I employed a DAW to chop, juxtapose, stretch, loop, distort, and manipulate the sample, magnifying the strings’ subtle movements and turning the instrument’s sounds into different
I Hear the War Drum at Night for Fixed Media Read More »
I recorded the sounds of my crying and my mother’s laughter in different compositions, then worked with the samples as purely abstract sounds. As the sounds were detached from their original contexts and human emotions, they transcended into a vulnerable but cathartic experience. The other two sounds, made from inanimate objects such as clanging keys
Metallic Laughter, Watery Cry for Fixed Media Read More »
