PROGRAM NOTES
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Usuli Boat Song is an arrangement of two traditional folk songs by the Hezhe Tribe from the Northeastern territory of China: 《想情郎》(“Missing My Lover”) and《狩猎的哥哥回来了》(“Brother is Back from Hunting”). The work, featuring text by Song Guo and Xiaoshi Hu and music by Song Guo and Yuncai Wang, was commissioned in 1962 by Xiaoshi Hu for the Second Summer of Harbin Music Festival held at the city of Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost province. In 1980, the song was listed on the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music from Asia Pacific.
Usuli Boat Song tells a story about the lives of the Hezhe tribe. The first and second verses illustrate the beautiful scenery of the Usuli River, depicting the Hezhe people fishing and sailing on the water. The hopeful final verse foretells the bright future of the Hezhe tribe. The opening and closing are the highlights of this song. According to the composers, the virtuosic and improvised opening and concluding passages pay tribute to the Hezhe boat song tradition and mimic the sound of the boatmen calling and talking to each other. The “call” at the end of each verse is typically performed in a call-and-response style to emulate the sound of fishermen’s voices reflected off the frozen surface of the Usuli River during the cold, harsh winter in the Northeast province of China.
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乌苏里江来长又长
蓝蓝的江水起波浪
赫哲人撒开千张网
船儿满江鱼满舱白云飘过大顶子山
金色的阳光照船帆
紧摇桨来掌稳舵
双手赢得丰收年白桦林里人儿笑
笑开了满山红杜鹃
赫哲人走上幸福路
人民的江山万万年The Usuli River is very long;
Waves appear on the blue water.
The Hezhe people spread a thousand nets;
The boats are filled with fish.White clouds float over Dadingzi Mountain;
The golden sun shines on the boat sails.
They row briskly and hold the rudder firm;
They reap a good harvest working with their hands.The woods are filled with white birch;
The mountains are covered with red azaleas.
The Hezhe people are very happy;
There will be plenty in the years ahead. -
Dayung Sampan is a traditional Indonesian folk song describing rowing or paddling a sampan or wooden boat. There are many versions of the original folk song, which was adapted by immigrants in Singapore in the 19th century. The melody was later popularized by the Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng in one of her most famous pop songs, Tian Mi Mi (甜蜜蜜). The opening verse of this choral arrangement borrows text popularized by the Singaporean choral composer Darius Lim, which describes the journey by boat from China to Singapore to seek a better life. Later verses utilize the structure of the pantun, a form of Malay poetry in which the first two lines (the pembayang) typically describe a scene or situation that is unrelated to the second two lines (the isi), which is the true meaning of the text.
This arrangement of Dayung Sampan is set for double choir, with the first choir delivering the melody of the original folk song overlaid with rhythmically interlocking pentatonic motives inspired by the sound of gamelan and kulintang gong-chime music. Meanwhile, the second choir creates a lush background waterscape by quoting harmony from another 19th century choral work: To be sung of a summer night on the water by Frederick Delius (1862-1934).
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Dayung sampan, dayung dayung sampan
Datang dari negara Cina sampai Singapura
Lai lai lai lai laiNaik sampan, sampan didayung
Sampan pun m’laju hai nelayan
ke pantai nan biruKalau tuan mencari jodoh
Jangan mencari hai nelayan
Selalu cemburuJangan selalu cemburu
Cemburu hatinya palsuRow the sampan (boat), row, row the sampan
Coming from China to Singapore
Lai lai lai lai laiA sampan is being rowed quickly
The sampan is being rowed, fisherman,
To the blue beachIf you are looking for a loved one,
Be aware of the fisherman
Be aware of jealousyYes, be aware of jealousy,
As it is everywhere and will make your heart false -
Saunder Choi (b.1988) is a Los Angeles-based Filipino composer and choral artist. His works have been performed by Conspirare, the Philippine Madrigal Singers, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Pacific Chorale, World Youth Choir, Brightwork New Music, and People Inside Electronics. As an arranger and orchestrator, Choi has written for Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Filarmónica Portuguesa, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. (From the composer’s website: www.saunderchoi.com/bio/)
Leron, Leron Sinta or “My Dear Little Leron” is a popular Filipino folk song from the Tagalog region. It is traditionally a work song, representing those who are in the fields harvesting fruits, though the origin is unclear due to the lack of scholarly literature examining Filipino folk music. Because of its catchy tune, it is often presented as a children’s song, though some parts of the text may have been meant for a more mature audience. Some sources also refer to it as a courtship song. (Notes from the score)
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Leron, Leron sinta
buko ng papaya,
Dala-dala’y buslo,
sisidlan ng bunga.
Pagdating sa dulo’y,
nabali ang sanga.
Kapos kapalaran,
humanap ng iba.Gumising ka, neneng;
tayo’y manampalok.
Dalhin mo ang buslong,
Sisidlan ng hinog.
Pagdating sa dulo’y,
lalamba-lambayog.
Kumapit ka, neneng,
baka ka mahulog.Ang iibigin ko’y
lalaking matapang.
Baril niya ay pito;
Sundang niya ay siyam.
Ang lalakarin niya’y
parte ng dinulang.
Isang pinggang pansit
ang kanyang kalaban.Leron, Leron my dear,
blossoms of the papaya tree,
with a bamboo basket,
he’d gather some fruits.
But when he reached the top (of the
tree),
the branch broke.
Oh, what a trick of fate,
he had to search for another.Wake up, neneng*;
let’s pick some tamarind fruits.
Take the bamboo baskets,
to put the ripe ones in.
Upon reaching the top (of the tree),
the branches swayed heavily.
Hold on tight, neneng*,
as you might fall.The one I will love
is a fearless man.
He has seven guns
and nine knives.
The journey he will take
is the distance of a table.
A plate of noodles
is his foe!*neneng is a colloquial term referring to a girl
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From the Philippines, Fabian Obispo (b.1947) is a choral and instrumental composer and arranger. A graduate of the University of the Philippines and the Manhattan School of Music, he is an active composer in the Filipino choral and instrumental music scene. His music has been performed by the world-famous Philippines Madrigal Singers, Ansan City Chorale, and very recently, the 2018 World Youth Choir. He moved to the US in the late 1970s and led the New York Philippine Folk Arts Festival until 1986. He is currently working as a sound designer and Broadway composer in New York City. To date, he has over a dozen musical productions to his name. His work has been recognized with the American Theatre Wing’s Hewes Design Award, as well as Helen Hayes, Barrymore, NAACP, Jackie, and Bay Area Critics Circle award nominations.
Mamayog Akun (“My dear Mamayog”) is a traditional Filipino Muslim folk song from Mindanao. The text depicts the unrequited love of a young man trying to court a beautiful girl named Mamayog. Just like many folk songs from around the world, the melody of Mamayog Akun is short and repetitive. The two-phrase melody is made up of only three notes: do-do-mi-mi-re/re-do-re-mi-mi-re-re-do. However, when paired with Obispo’s canonic ostinato sung in the lower voices, the melody shows the graceful swaying of Mamayog and demonstrates the sounds of kulitang (gongs) from the Muslim region of the Philippines. A quiet, almost-mysterious middle section chanting “mamayog akun” leads the arrangement to a powerful, celebratory conclusion.
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Mamayog akun na di ko seka isu got
Mamayog akun amare gem sasaga dan,
Na ma taid a di sakunMy dear Mamayog,
Do not walk beside me
When we visit Sabaden
So the attention will be on me -
Frequently performed at cultural events and celebratory occasions, Pak Ketipak Ketipung is a popular joget dance song across the Malay Archipelago. Joget is a popular musical style influenced by corridhinho, a Portuguese folk dance music brought into the Malay Archipelago as early as 1511. As with many other joget songs, this work features two rhythmic devices that are non-native to early Malay music: the hemiola, a rhythmic device that creates the effect of shifting between duple and triple meters, and compound meter, in which each main beat is subdivided into three. The combination of these unique rhythmic devices turned Pak Ketipak Ketipung into one of the most popular dance songs across the Malay Archipelago.
Pak Ketipak Ketipung is a song giving advice to young adults. The verses of this song are set to two pantun, a disjunctive form of Malay poetry that comes in two parts: the first two lines being the pembayang (shadow) that usually connects to the isi (the heart of the message) by rhymes and verbal associations. The isi of the first poem reminds people that nothing will get in the way of true love, and the second poem urges people to stop daydreaming (“melamun”). The refrain links the sound of a gendang (drum), “pak ketipak ketipung,” to the heartbeat of a young person feeling confused and madly in love.
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Pak ketipak ketipung!
Suara gendang bertalu-talu.
Serentak hati bingung dalam hati siapa tahu?Kolam di dusun dek airnya penuh,
Hujanlah rintik belum berlalu.
Senjata racun dek tiada membunuh,
Cinta yang murni dibawa mati.Janganlah suka dek makan ketimun,
Ketimun itu banyak getahnya.
Janganlah suka dek duduk melamun,
Melamun itu banyak susahnya.Pak ketipak ketipung
The sound of drum goes on and on.
Simultaneously, my heart is confused. But who knows that?The pond in the village is full, my dear,
The rain is not over yet.
Poisonous weapons will not kill,
Pure love will last through lifeDon’t eat too much cucumbers, my dear,
Cucumbers are full of rubbery substance.
Don’t sit and daydream, my dear,
Daydreaming is not good. -
Ken Steven (b. 1993) is known for his fusion of Indonesian colors and elements with modern techniques and harmonies. He received his undergraduate degree in church music from the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music in the Philippines and completed his Master of Music degree from California Baptist University, USA. Currently, he serves as the Director of Studies at SMK Methodist Charles Wesley Music Vocational School in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. He is also the conductor of Medan Community Male Choir and has led the choir to achieve many international awards in choral festivals and competitions.
Rambadia is a Sumatran folk song about the culture of brotherhood and strong sense of solidarity among the Batak people. The pantun (poem) describes a culture of greeting and getting acquainted with new people. As with many Southeast Asian countries, a person’s surname (“marga”) and clan (“ramba”) often indicate where the person is from. Therefore, when meeting a new person, Batak people would often ask “What clan are you from?” (“rambadia”) and “What is your surname?” (“margadia”) as a way of seeking communal connection with each other. The arrangement opens with a gamelan-inspired introduction with the upper voices singing a melismatic phrase accompanied by a two-note motif by the lower voices. Short in length, largely homophonic, and scored with simple triadic harmonies, this arrangement effectively portrays the moment when a group of individuals gradually begins to improvise and harmonize the melody as a multi-verse folk song progresses.
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Rambadia Ramba munadaito?
Rio rio ramba naposo.
Margadia marga munadaito?
Uso uso naso umboto.
I Anggo Ramba Nami daito,
Parasaran ni borong borong.
I Anggo marga nami daito,
Inda datar paboa boa!Ala tipang tipang tipang polo labaya,*
Ala rudeng rudeng rudeng pong.*
Ala tipang tipang tipang polo labaya,*
Apa rudeng rudeng rudeng pong.*What clan are you from, brother/sister?
It is rare to meet a youngster from the same clan.
What is your family name, brother/sister?
Asking to know your family name.Our clan, brother/sister,
is the home for us.
Our clan, brother/sister,
I won’t tell you*These 4 lines have no meaning. They are vocables made to rhyme and lead to the next part. (Steven, 2023)
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Pontas Purba was born in 1953 in the city of Sidikalang, North Sumatra. As a student, he studied at the Medan Music School, also in North Sumatra. Further studies included cinematography work at the Jakarta Institute of Art. Purba’s work as an adult has included support of sacred music across Indonesia. He was a member of YAMUGER, a foundation that plays a major role in Indonesian sacred music, and the conductor of Talenta Choir in Jakarta. He also served as secretary of the National Church Choir Development Institute. In addition to his work conducting and training university, community, and church choirs over a long career, he also composed several choral works through a variety of commissions (notes from the score).
Sik Sik Si Batu Manikkam sets a pantun, a traditional Malay poetic form with a rich and complex evolution that has long been a part of everyday life. Pantuns are typically not narratives or in a lyrical style. Instead, they express a riddle with a hidden meaning. In a typical pantun, the text is divided into couplets in which the first half (the pembayang or shadow) is comprised of text that establishes the rhythm and the rhyme scheme, and the second half (the maksud or meaning) carries the enigmatic message of the poem. Sik Sik Si Batu Manikkam, however, is a rare example in which the pembayang is a tongue twister set entirely to nonsense syllables. This version, adapted by Yu Hang Tan, is scored for a cappella SSATB choir with three treble solo lines. The opening recreates the sounds of a gamelan ensemble using onomatopoeic syllables that imitate the timbre and articulation of different-sized gongs. The excitement of the music builds to the end of the piece as the choir modulates higher while repeating a tongue-twister pantun at faster and faster speeds.
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Loi Kratong was originally composed in the 1930s by Euah Suntornsanan (1910–1981). A prolific composer, educator, conductor, violinist, and singer, Suntorsanan founded the Suntaraporn big band in the 1940s. He is credited with bringing Western classical, jazz, and Latin music into Thai pop culture.
Named after the well-known Loi Kratong Festival, Loi Kratong is one of the most iconic folk songs in Thai music. This song is traditionally performed on the night of the full moon during the twelfth lunar month in the Thai lunar calendar, which usually falls in November. Loi means to float, and kratong refers to a banana-leaf lantern decorated with flowers, incense sticks, and candles. In this arrangement, Tantrarungroj explores different sonorities from the piphat ensemble in the verses. Onomatopoeic syllables such as “tung,” “mung,” “tong,” and “patong” are used to emulate the sounds of Thai gongs and bamboo xylophones. The arrangement starts and ends with staggered entrances from the lowest voice to the highest, symbolizing the gesture of sending away a krathong on the river as one expresses gratitude and asks for forgiveness from the Khongkha, the River Goddess.
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วันเพ็ญ เดือน สิบสอง
น้ำ ก็ นอง เต็ม ตลิ่ง
เรา ทั้ง หลาย ชาย หญิง สนุก กัน จริง วัน ลอย กระทงลอย ลอย กระทง, ลอย ลอย กระทง
ลอย ลอย กระทง กัน แล้ว ขอ เชิญ น้อง แก้ว ออก มา รำวง
รำวง วัน ลอย กระทง, รำวง วัน ลอย กระทง
บุญ จะ ส่ง ให้ เรา สุข ใจ, บุญ จะ ส่ง ให้ เรา สุข ใจOn the Full Moon of the 12th lunar month.
Water overflows the banks.
We all, men and women
Have a lot of fun on Loi Kratong DayFloat, float the banana leaf boats
After we float our banana leaf boats
I invite you darling
To come out and dance the Ram WongDance the Ram Wong on Loi Kratong Day
Dance the Ram Wong on Loi Kratong Day
Good merit brings us happiness -
Geneviene Wong is a Malaysian pianist, composer, and professor. A graduate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with First Class Honours in 1999, Wong received the Rhona Reid Scholarship to pursue a Master of Music (Performance) in Piano Accompaniment. A highly-demanded keyboard collaborative artist, Wong has accompanied musicians throughout Britain, Thailand, Brunei, and Malaysia including the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and represented the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in the Europe Day concert series organized by the European Parliament. As a composer, Wong specializes in Malaysian folk songs. To date, her works have been performed by the Young Kuala Lumpur Singers, Kuala Lumpur Children’s Choir, Trinity Choir from Australia, Australian Boys Choir, and New Zealand Secondary Students Choir.
Kun Nelane (“Truly So”) is a farewell song originating from the Kenyah tribe from the Borneo island of present-day Malaysia and Indonesia. Arranged for mixed choir and percussion, this arrangement comes from the first song in a medley of Borneo folk songs arranged by Wong in 2010 for the Young Kuala Lumpur Singers for the 6th World Choir Games, called Irama Borneo. Wong’s arrangement features call-and-response singing accompanied by an open fifth drone that evolves rhythmically throughout the arrangement. Even though the work is simple in form, the irregular phrase structure conveys sadness and nostalgia. The quiet intensity from the drone and the alternation between phrases of different lengths––ranging from five to twelve measures––add a sense of anticipation to the otherwise pentatonic and modal melody. After a canonic passage where the treble voices repeat “oiyois, oiyois” (“But do not be sad now”), the arrangement returns to the opening section, bringing the piece to a warm, quiet conclusion, singing “Kun nelane, tiang!” (“Truly so, friends!”)
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Tiang bio lan ilu pesong,
Tiang layang lanbatung
Layan batung usah lan inan.Kun nelane tiang,
bampa lalilale la me ke iko
Lan oiyois.My friends, we meet for the first time,
My friends, we come together for the first time,
We gather in close fellowship.Truly, we say, friends,
We will miss you,
But do not be sad now.