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扮 仙 26-28 MAY 2016 | HAMBURG．GERMANY

The Hamburg University of Applied Sciences The Audio Engineering Society Student Section Hamburg

BAN SHAN fixed media computer music for 5.1 surround sound system

Wuan-chin Li

BAN SHAN (2016)

Fixed media, Computer Music work for 5.1 surround sound system 《Ban Shan》—Taiwanese for “play god”—is a story about a “Ba Jia Jiang,” a

young medium who also represents the bodyguard of Taiwanese gods. He had a lucid dream after a temple fair until midnight. The young medium kept dancing in the dream until he finally became one of the gods.

Taiwanese “Ba Jia Jiang (八家將)” originated from Chinese folk beliefs and myths, and are usually referred to as the eight members of the gods. The initial legend of “Ba Jia Jiang” is from the eight generals catching evil exorcists for the Wufu Emperor (五福大帝). The eight generals are the gods of the underworld. They are also known as the bodyguards or attendants for the temples of the nether gods such as Dongyue Emperor (東獄大帝), Yama (King of hell, 閻羅王) and Cheng Huang (City gods, 城隍).

In order to draw out the scene of the temple fair in Taiwan, in which “Ba Jia

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Jiang” mediums dance in martial troupes with firecrackers, Taiwanese drums and gongs sounding, a version of 5.1-surround sound was designed for this work.

Drum samples processed in multiple layers represent the different spaces/worlds that the young medium dreamed. The different spaces sometimes stretch over each other, sometimes stand up indivisible, and sometimes exist independently. Besides the sound samples of drums processed into varied transforms, a sampled Taiwanese Hand Gong was also played through multiple effects. In the traditional legend, people believe the sound of the Taiwanese Hand Gong leads the human spirit and ghosts.

The composer, who grew up in the temple area in Tainan City (Taiwan), hopes the 5.1 surround sound version of 《Ban Shan》 will invoke the most charming fever from the traditional festival in her hometown to share with the world. 《Ban

Wuan-chin Li (Sandra Tavali) of the Siraya people, is a former keyboardist of the symphonic metal band Chthonic. She was the composer for the TV documentary 《Unknown Taiwan》 produced by the Discovery Channel. Also, she was the artistic director of the musical 《Dark Baroque》. Li earned the Master of Music degree in Computer Music from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in USA., where she studied Computer Music with Dr. Geoffrey Wright.

Li’s musical works crossover between classical and fine art, experiment, dance, film and documentaries. She is currently a faculty member of the Music Department of Fu-Jen Catholic University Taiwan and Curator at Guling Street Avant-garde Theatre Taipei. sandrawcl.wix.com/demo photo: Ching-ming Hsu makeup: Teddy Cheng

Shan》 is originally in 5.1 surround sound, and a stereo demo is

located at: https://goo.gl/74tRCI photo: twospeeds / Shutterstock.com