Voices that speak not with words, but through melody and dance — these are the expressive elements of orBe and VOY, two French music troupes visiting Taiwan this month.
The Marseille-based groups, which start a two-week tour of Taiwan tonight at Sappho de Base, present two different styles of music — orBe is a jazz duo and VOY is a solo singer and pianist that performs with two dancers. The groups share family ties as two of the musicians are married, but, more importantly, they have a common artistic goal: to create “dark” and “intimate” emotional soundscapes in a live setting.
OrBe’s jazz compositions are minimalist but not abstract. Olivier Baron, who plays the valve trombone (a trombone with three valves like a trumpet), creates clear melodic themes, backed by Olivier Roussel on guitar. The music sounds both familiar and new, like cool jazz but without bass and drums, and traditional French music but without the accordion.
Indeed, the pair, who have formal training in jazz and composition, aim to create a uniquely “French” music, inspired by what Baron describes as the “nostalgic” feeling of musette, the accordion-tinged dance music popular in Paris during the early 20th century.
In terms of feeling and color, he says their songs evoke the darker tones of “the sea and the sky.” They add “texture” by coaxing some unusual noises from their instruments — sometimes Baron’s trombone sounds like a distant foghorn, while Roussel makes his guitar “talk” in funky cadences.
Like orBe, unique “voices” are the centerpiece of VOY’s performances. Pianist Veronique Truffot, who is married to guitarist Roussel, sings and plays sad, introspective melodies, which are given visual expression by two dancers — Daphne Abecassis and Pauline Meguerditchian.
Truffot sounds like she sings French, but her “words” are not real. For Truffot, songs are “emotional sounds,” a universal language in themselves.
“All people feel sadness, hunger — [we all have] emotional scars,” she said. “That is why I can sing in France, sing in Taiwan … and that is why [everyone] can understand my emotion.”
Singing didn’t come naturally to Truffot. She trained as a classical pianist, but felt something was missing by the time she finished her conservatory training. “I never thought I could write music, but I needed to explain emotions without words,” she said.
She quit the piano at one point, as if “stopping an interpersonal relationship,” and studied jazz and opera singing techniques “in a search for my own voice.”
Meeting Abecassis and Meguerditchian — who teach dance in Marseille and perform together as the Item Company — helped to fulfill Truffot’s yearning for expression that transcends spoken language. In several numbers, the dancers are tethered to the piano by ropes, making them appear to be physically linked with Truffot.
“For me the body is important … I’ve always dreamed to be a dancer, interested [in] the body, all the things the body can explain without words,” she said.
The inspiration is mutual. Dancer Abecassis, who once aspired to become a pianist, said the trio was like a “dream.” “There’s a rare connection between the three of us,” she said.
“We feel … we don’t need to explain,” Truffot said of working with the dancers, who have helped her see her compositions in a new light. “Within the work, we have discovered the meaning.”
The two groups will also be performing in Changhua, Chiayi, and Tainan next week, with additional dates planned. Check orBe’s myspace site for updates.
Even by the standards of Ukraine’s International Legion, which comprises volunteers from over 55 countries, Han has an unusual backstory. Born in Taichung, he grew up in Costa Rica — then one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — where a relative worked for the embassy. After attending an American international high school in San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, Han — who prefers to use only his given name for OPSEC (operations security) reasons — moved to the US in his teens. He attended Penn State University before returning to Taiwan to work in the semiconductor industry in Kaohsiung, where he
On May 2, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), at a meeting in support of Taipei city councilors at party headquarters, compared President William Lai (賴清德) to Hitler. Chu claimed that unlike any other democracy worldwide in history, no other leader was rooting out opposing parties like Lai and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). That his statements are wildly inaccurate was not the point. It was a rallying cry, not a history lesson. This was intentional to provoke the international diplomatic community into a response, which was promptly provided. Both the German and Israeli offices issued statements on Facebook
May 18 to May 24 Pastor Yang Hsu’s (楊煦) congregation was shocked upon seeing the land he chose to build his orphanage. It was surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the only way to access it was to cross a river by foot. The soil was poor due to runoff, and large rocks strewn across the plot prevented much from growing. In addition, there was no running water or electricity. But it was all Yang could afford. He and his Indigenous Atayal wife Lin Feng-ying (林鳳英) had already been caring for 24 orphans in their home, and they were in
Australia’s ABC last week published a piece on the recall campaign. The article emphasized the divisions in Taiwanese society and blamed the recall for worsening them. It quotes a supporter of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) as saying “I’m 43 years old, born and raised here, and I’ve never seen the country this divided in my entire life.” Apparently, as an adult, she slept through the post-election violence in 2000 and 2004 by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the veiled coup threats by the military when Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) became president, the 2006 Red Shirt protests against him ginned up by
RSS