« The title of this sound piece is borrowed to Nanguan, an ancient music style from Southern China, still practiced in Taiwan. This song, part of a Taoist ritual, describes a journey into an other-wordly and colorful garden. The condition of the plants and the pavilion seen on the path would reflect the participant's future.
I have been visiting Penghu archipelago, Taiwan, since 2004. Its
islands, surrounded by blue-green water, and battled by the wind during the Winter, are presenting a unique landscape of basalt structures, prairies and houses made of coral blocks.
But the most attractive and precious environments are underwater. In
2008, a cold water stream, consequence of climate change, destroyed a large part of the coral reefs. Overfishing, drifting garbage, abandoned fishing nets and construction projects constitute a huge pressure on these natural habitats.
I have done underwater recordings since a while, but it is only this
year that I finally started a more systematic sound documentation, in
collabo- ration with marine biologists, experimenting with recording
techniques, initiating a sound archive and bioacoustic survey.
I consider Dit lip hue hng as a metaphor : visiting these underwater
gardens and observing their condition might give us a hint about our own future as a human species. »
Commissioned by Bogong Centre for Sound Culture for the event "The Ecology of Place", Melbourne, Australia, June 2017.
bogongsound.com.au
Release by Kalerne Editions (Taiwan) and Discrepant (UK) in December 2020.
Please check the first two volumes of the series Penghu Experimental
Sound Studio, published as 12" records.
discrepant.net
released December 4, 2020
Field recordings & composition : Yannick Dauby 澎葉生
Nanpa and interviewee : Yung-Chieh Chang 張詠捷
Voice : Lysianassa Dauby 澎科萌