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Published on Taipei Times http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/12/10/2003214540 Sample A Moving Sound if you can It's hard to know if A Moving Sound is music or theater. It is in fact both
By David Momphard
"It involves finding your own improvisational ideas, but then having a point of contact," Prairie explained, then demonstrated by tapping Hsieh on the arm. "It's about energy following reasoning," Hsieh said, picking up where Prairie left off. If you don't follow the reasoning, don't worry, it's easier to follow Hsieh and Prairie's energy.
What started as a bump at that New York City workshop blossomed into a friendship, a creative collaboration, a marriage and, more recently, A Moving Sound (
"The contest was yodeling," Prairie said. "Somebody dragged Mia on stage with all these crazy vocalists taking their turn. And when it came her turn she said `What is yodeling?' ... So somebody yodeleheehooed -- put it in her ear. She just let it fly and won the contest." Her prize, she learned later, was six weeks of voice lessons with a contemporary of Meredith Monk, the pioneer of "extended vocal technique," whose work intersects music and movement. "Before that, most of my experience was dance" in Taiwan, Hsieh said. Like Monk, Hsieh became interested in the combination of voice and movement. Her interest was the seed that later sprouted into her and Prairie's sister project, A Moving Sound Theater. In their musical collaborations, Hsieh will construct a vocal narrative to melodies that Prairie has written, Several of Little Universe's tracks are sung in a language Hsieh has improvised, though you have to listen closely before realizing as much. Movement is used to help move the narrative, or else to involve the audience, give them instruments or get them dancing.
But they're hardly alone in their collaboration, be it for music or theatre. A Moving Sound is joined by percussionists Alex Wu ( The quintet actually finished recording Little Universe in November of last year (It was reviewed in Taipei Times' May 9 issue of this year under its original title, Pacu's Trip) In the past year, they toured the album through several US cities -- including Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, New York and Pittsburgh, as well as performing at the Asian Acoustic Music Festival back in Taiwan and regular appearances at the Red Theater and Wisteria Tea House, to name a few. Their sound combines a world of elements. It's Indian-spiced and Middle-Eastern flavored. It employs African rhythms and often has the texture of Taiwanese Aboriginal music. It's eclectic, but has a universality that keeps you humming along with it. "We like to experiment with new combinations," Prairie said. An example? "We have one girl joining us for next week's show who is a trained circus performer who's here studying Chinese opera. She'll perform while hanging from the ceiling on a piece of cloth." A MOVING SOUND'S LITTLE UNIVERSE
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