PhD research project: Inventing New Marimba Performance from the West African Balafon Music Practice

VIEW Dissertation

The aim of this practice-based project is to search for new performance perspectives for the marimba (invented in 1910s) by inquiring into the West African music tradition--the balafon of the Bobo and Bamana tribes living in Mali and Burkina Faso.

Through a triangulation of research methodology—participant-observation (lessons with local musicians and interviews), literature (African ethnomusicology, phenomenology in music and music embodiment) and artistic practice (analyses and experiments in music)—I have gained insights on describing the artistic experience of stepping into the "unknown" balafon world. It is a discussion on how I have overcome the obstacles of learning, performing and listening to balafon music, and how these new experiences renewed and enriched my original artistic practice and ideas. Due to oral tradition, the balafon polyrhythm and melodic materials are embodied in forms of bimanual (two-hand) coordination patterns rather than symbolic representation. Music-making is largely informed by the performer's motoric sensory, and body movement is given a crucial role in music communication and sensory perception.

The second purpose of this research is, therefore, to apply these balafon practices in the Western performance. Most preceding Western composers and performers have initiated music projects to adapt the African musical materials to their creative processes, e.g. "Drumming" (Steve Reich, 1971), but barely a work grows out of an inquiry into the embodied performance practice of the non-Western genre. This yields artistic outcomes of five commissioned compositions for the marimba and a concert program "In the Heat of the Moment".

Keywords: marimba, balafon, body movement, music embodiment.

Concert program “In the Heat of the Moment”

Mal/oxin Suite | Michiel De Malsche

Transposons | Cheong Li

El Perjurio de la Nieve | Juan Albarracín

Sound Portrait V | Enric Riu

Inner Sight Etudes | Cornelia Zambila

 Mal/oxin Suite Michiel De Malsche (Belgium) shares his afro-funk and Yaki-da grooves with full energy;  Transposons Dr. Cheong Li (Hong Kong) makes a scientific metaphor to the idiomatic musical element embeds in the balafon music, which is constantly changeable in position, capable to re-creation and reverse mutation; El Perjurio de la Nieve for four hands on marimba, Juan Albarracín (Argentina) creates a retrograde journey back to the historic moment when the Africans first meeting the Western musical practices, the bombarding moment of rhythmic patterns and style; Sound Portrait V Enric Riu (Spain/Canada) uses graphical score to frame the time structure and bodily movement of the performer; Inner Sight Etudes Cornelia Zambila (Romania) investigates into the sensorial experience of the performer leaving her comfort zone (the change of marimba to balafon) by setting up a blindfolded performance.

Duo Antwerp is formed by two outstanding performers: Adilia Yip (marimba/percussion) and Daniel Belloví (bass clarinet), who always believe in the enormous potential of this unique combination. Through original works from contemporary composers and classical arrangements, the Duo extends the amazing possibilities of marimba and bass clarinet in both musical interpretation and high technical level. Every concert of the Duo is an enjoyable musical experience full of creativity and cultural excursions. Website: www.duoantwerp.com

Programs (click titles below for more details)

Spanish Dreams

The Belgian Contemporaries

The Modern Sound of Wood – International program for Bass Clarinet and Marimba

Duo Antwerp Symphony

The Bracket Percussion v.z.w.

is an international percussion collaboration with percussionists Ricardo Lievano Flores, Juan Carlos Bonifaz and Ilya Dynov. Established in Antwerp since 2010, the Brackets has formed a creative interdisciplinary artistic platform that combines Western percussion music with Chinese, Mexican and African cultures and music traditions, theatre and contemporary art.

PERCUSSIVE SENSE TIME

Ricardo Lievano Flores (Mexico) | Juan Carlos Bonifaz (Mexico/Belgium)

Combining Western classical music with rhythms from Latino, African to Chinese percussion, the musicians present different senses of time and grooves on one stage—Samba festivity, elements of nature and nostalgic feelings inside our memories.

VLINDERS (2013-16)

A musical puppet theater for children, based on “The Butterfly Lovers”, a traditional love tragedy from China

Solo Repertoire

*Commissioned by Adilia Yip

Wind Across Mountains (1992) | Keiko Abe VIDEO

Voice of Matsuri Drums (1992) | Keiko Abe VIDEO

*Sound of Silence for marimba and motion (2018) | Chan Ming Chi

Xylophonie I (1983) | Klarenz Barlow VIDEO

*Transposons (2017) | Cheong Li VIDEO

*Mal/oxin Suite for marimba solo (2016) | Michiel De Malsche VIDEO

*El Perjurio de le Nieve for marimba duo (2016) | Juan Albarracín VIDEO

*Inner Sight Etudes (2015) | Cornelia Zambila

*Sound Portrait V for marimba solo (2014) | Enric Riu

MAKYO for marimba and String Orchestra (or piano) (1990) | Wim Henderickx

Concerto for Marimba and Wind Band (2007) | David R. Gillingham VIDEO

Concert for Marimba (2005) | Ramón García VIDEO

Concerto for Marimba and Strings (2006) | Emmanuel Séjourné

Libertango (2002) | Astor Piazzolla, arr. Eric Sammut VIDEO

*For All Seasons We Celebrate 四時慶 for marimba, glasses and multi-percussion (2013) | Choy Hei-man Bernadette

*All Day Climax for solo marimba, tape and urban Hong Kong (2009) | Choy Hei-man Bernadette SOUND

Duo Antwerp repertoire

**Commissioned by Duo Antwerp, marimba and bass clarinet duo (Contact our publisher Musicvall Edicion C.B. "Duo Antwerp Collection")

Searching (1986, revised 2005) for marimba and bass clarinet | Wim Henderickx SOUND

Controverse (1983) for bass clarinet and percussion | Jacqueline Fontyn SOUND

From Far and Near (1990) | Wilfried Westerlinck VIDEO

**Inkling of Zephyr (2018) | Chris Hung VIDEO

**Tempus Fugit (2018) | Bart Verstraeten SOUND

**Aroma Del Sur double concerto of bass clarinet, marimba and wind ensemble (or string ensemble) (2017) José Susi López

**Farnese Bridge Fantasía Concertante for marimba, bass clarinet and wind orchestra (or sym. orch.) (2016) | Ramon Garcia VIDEO SOUND

**The Spanish Dream Malagueña for marimba, bass clarinet and wind orchestra (or sym. orch.) (2016) | Pere Sanz SOUND

**Spanish Watercolor (2016) | Josep Roda (Spain)

**Chinese Watercolor (2016) | Josep Roda (Spain)

**Danzas del Mar (2016) | Santiago Pelaez (Spain)

**Tango Milonga (2015) | Josep Roda (Spain)

**ClarimBass (2015) | Juan Bautista Meseguer (Spain)

**Duende (2015) | Eduardo Nogueroles (Spain)

**Inmanencia (2015) | Enrique Rodilla (Spain)

**The Spanish Dream (2014) | Pere Sanz (Spain) VIDEO

**Ballade (2014) | Jose Alama (Spain) VIDEO

Diàlegs Subtils (1990) for percussion and bass clarinet | Salvador Brotons VIDEO

**Mixik Balamil (2014) | Eva Lopszyc (Argentina)

**Hiperbrevedades (2014) | Enric Riu (USA/Spain)

**Tres Mundos para dos jugadores (2014) | Geoffrey Alvarez (England)

**Le Reve du Jaguar (2014) | Alexandre Ouzounouff (France)

**Belchite Duo (2013) | Manuel Morcillo (Spain) VIDEO

Five Bagatelles for marimba, vibraphone and bass clarinet (1987) | Philip Parker (United States) SOUND

Divertimento (1976) | Akira Yuyama (Japan) VIDEO

Arrangements by Duo Antwerp for marimba and bass clarinet duo

Spanish Dance No. 5 Andaluza (1890) | Enrique Granados (Spain) VIDEO

Tango (1890) | Isaac Albeniz (Spain) VIDEO

Suite Popular Espanola (1914) | Manuel de Falla (Spain) SOUND

Pequena Czarda (1949) | Pedro Iturralde (Spain)

Libertango (1974) | Astor Piazzolla (Argentina)

Oblivion (1984) | Astor Piazzolla (Argentina)

Arrangements for marimba and percussion

Asturias for marimba solo (1883) | Isaac Albeniz | arranged in 2014

Pagodes for four percussionists on keyboards and metallic instruments (1903) | Claude Debussy | arranged in 2011