strengur by Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir & Lương Huệ Trinh
- from 'strengur' liner notes -
In 2017 I met the Vietnamese born Lương Huệ Trinh through a project instigated by The Six Tones. This sonic encounter led us to form, together with đàn tranh player Nguyễn Thanh Thủy, the Vietnamese/Icelandic improvisation group ð. The letter is mutual to our languages but try uttering its ‘eð’ phonetics in Icelandic and its ‘đê’ sound in Vietnamese and immediately you are holding two different sonic worlds in your mouth, a cultural difference which we wanted to explore through music. Trinh was at the time completing her master studies in multimedia composition from the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre and I was curious about this more formal side of her music making and commissioned a written work by her, set to include electronics, that later premiered at the Skálholt festival in Iceland. The result is 'Departure of a Leaf', a work which balances between written and improvisatory passages. It draws inspiration from an Icelandic folk song, with a vocal part that converges in some parts the Vietnamese phonemic with the Icelandic alphabet.
- Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir, April 19, 2022
Tracklist
| 1. | Departure of a Leaf | 7:56 |
| 2. | strengur | 8:30 |
| 3. | Thinh không (Ether) | 9:56 |
Videos
Credits
'Departure of a Leaf' for solo violin, voice and electronics. Written by Lương Huệ Trinh. Performed by Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir. Produced by Lương Huệ Trinh. Editing Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir.
'strengur' for live electronics. Written by Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir. Performed and produced by Lương Huệ Trinh. strengur-visuals titled 'Packed memories' by Lương Huệ Trinh.
'Thinh không (Ether)' for live electronics. Written, performed and produced by Lương Huệ Trinh. The work is dedicated to Emmanuel Labrande.
Halla plays a David Hopf violin from around 1780 in baroque setup by Matthieu Besseling. Bow by anonymous.
Final mix and mastering by Valgeir Sigurðsson at Greenhouse Studios.
