Space Gambus Experiment (from left) gambus player Ahmad Taqiudin Abd Latiff, sound artist Kamal Sabran and synth player Nazimin Nazeri. The group will be performing at the Muzik Kosmos showcase at the National Planetarium in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 18. - ASYRAF BAKRI
Music, poetry and the sounds from outer space are all set to combine in a "performance art experience" at the Teater Angkasa, National Planetarium in Kuala Lumpur this Saturday.
This performance, titled Muzik Kosmos Mempersembahkan Malam Cakerawala Berbisik (translated roughly as Music Of The Cosmos Presents Whispering Celestial Spheres), brings a whole host of poets and musicians together, including the prolific sound artist, academic and researcher Dr Kamal Sabran.
Kamal, 47, creates his sound and musical experiments with his longstanding collective Space Gambus Experiment (SGE) and has been actively involved in the Malaysian sound art scene for nearly 20 years, including an eye-opening artist-in-residence fellowship from Malaysia’s National Space Agency in 2005.
From that residency, he collected a vast array of cosmic sounds for his own archives.
At the National Planetarium, Kamal aims to combine those intergalactic transmissions with electronic and acoustic music to accompany the poetry being read by the show's various collaborators from the literary and arts scene.
Muzik Kosmos is a joint effort between the National Planetarium, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), UiTM and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).
Eight poets will be featured, including Aryan Andika Azizudin, Ngo Kar Min, Rabi’ahtuladawyah Md Saleh, Dr Shafa’atussara Silahudin, Halinaz Hanapi, Shukri Abdullah, Dr Shamsudin Othman and National Laureate Datuk Rahman Shaari.
Kamal will also be joined by Dr Ainolnaim Azizol and Dr Yeoh Pei Ann (both from the Conservatory of Music, College of Creative Arts UiTM), who will be steering the electro-acoustic instrumentation.
“Last year we had a Muzik Kosmos performance but it was a competition where we invited sound artists and musicians to combine their music with space sounds but this year it is a performance of sound, music and poetry ... it's more of a concert experience," says Kamal, who is a senior lecturer at the school of arts, USM, where he specialises in media art subjects and researches art-based interventions (for mental health, well-being and ageing).
Into the deep night
This year’s Muzik Kosmos show is fully booked, but for a wider audience, the upcoming performance will be streamed on Facebook Live through the National Planetarium and DBP Facebook pages this Saturday.
Considering the good response, Kamal is hoping to put together another public show next year.
“For my part I will explore sounds from space which I had recorded earlier and add something new to it. We may combine it with traditional instruments like the oud and percussion, analogue synthesisers ... so you can imagine the music to what American astrophysicist Carl Sagan and composer Terry Riley have done,” says Kamal.
The idea is to create a very minimal soundscape, explains the Ipoh-based artist, to backdrop the poetry sessions.
Kamal sees spontaneity as an important element to the show. That there won’t an opportunity to practise together with the poets except for one rehearsal before the show.
“I expect the music to be improvisational because right now the music is a work in progress and the poetry, which is all new, is also being written as we speak,” he says.
For this upcoming performance, he will sample sounds captured on Jupiter’s radiowave and galactic radio noise.
"We also have a lot of new recordings from NASA, which were captured its through radio telescope ... these sounds are provided for free for people to download and explore.
“So that will be the base of what I consider the real sound of space because there is no sound in outer space but this is a suggestion of what it may sound like if we reduce it to the frequencies of human hearing.
“These sounds will be in my Roland SP-404 sampling workstation and, if there are eight poetic readings, I will further divide this into eight individual samples so there will be a different soundtrack to accompany each poet and poem," he explains.
Kamal is also adding an element of live performance – harmonising – by playing the synthesisers.
“I will probably bring along three or four different synths. And I also will have to prepare banks of sounds for each poet. So to have a sense of harmony, I will use one key for each poet. For example, Poet A will have sounds in the key of C major. Even though there is improvisation going on, it will be done in a particular key. It’s a way of controlling the chaos,” says Kamal candidly.
Another interesting aspect which Kamal divulged is the space in which they will be performing at the Teater Angkasa as it is a domed roof under which the performers and the audience will be seated under.
“It is an interesting space (Teater Angkasa) ... I’ve performed in there before and we had encountered problems with the reverberation that room produced.
“There was a lot of 'sound reflections' in that hall. In order to not have that happen again we are going to have to play at a very low volume and we are going to check that the volume is acceptable,” says Kamal.
And that does indeed coincide with the whispering sound of the celestial spheres that Muzik Kosmos is going for.
Muzik Kosmos will be streamed on Facebook Live this Saturday at 8pm. Visit the Facebook pages: Planetarium Negara and Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka Malaysia.
