{"id":27556,"date":"2006-10-11T15:27:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-11T15:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/?p=27556"},"modified":"2024-03-14T13:36:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T05:36:00","slug":"listening-to-pomeloes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/artikel\/2006\/10\/listening-to-pomeloes\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening to Pomeloes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

What do the films Lelaki Komunis Terakhir<\/em> and Gubra<\/em> have in common? Obvious answer:\nthey were both Malaysian films that stirred local controversy in recent times. Less\nobvious answer: they both contained music by composer Hardesh Singh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When one talks about film, composers\nrarely get mentioned. “Film is not a medium for composers who want to be\nnoticed,” says Hardesh modestly. But notice is what one has to expect when\none makes music such as that in Amir Muhammad’s Lelaki Komunis Terakhir <\/em>— which consists of a series of highly\npungent, satirical songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The release of a CD compilation of Hardesh’s film work, the unwieldy Eating Pomeloes From Tokyo To Tamil Nadu Makes My Heart Go Gubra<\/em>, gives Malaysians a chance to hear the films they did not get to see, thanks to shoot-\u00adfrom-the-hip attacks by certain local newspapers, and so on — but, more significantly, brings the often anonymous art of scoring film music to the forefront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eating Pomeloes<\/em> could not be timelier. It is an important testimony to our growing\nmusic scene: a scene that is increasingly sophisticated and deserving of\nattention. Further, Malaysian film is undergoing a renaissance of sorts, and\nMalaysian composers are asserting themselves in this genre as never before —\nfor example, December sees  the music of\nanother of our exciting young composers, Adeline Wong, in Zarina Abdullah’s new\nfilm Chermin<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communist Hymns<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first of its kind in recent\nyears, Eating Pomeloes<\/em> is a\ncompilation of four of Hardesh’s most intriguing soundtracks. It kicks off with\nLelaki Komunis Terakhir<\/em>, traverses\nmercurially over Gubra<\/em>, pauses for\nthought with Chemman Chaalai<\/em>, before\nsettling in on its most substantial offering: the dark and hypnotic sounds of Tokyo Magic Hour<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why these four films? Hardesh\nexplains: “After Lelaki Komunis\nTerakhir<\/em>, Amir and I both thought it would be nice to release the film’s\nsoundtrack. But the songs only totalled 12 minutes — and I also had all this\nother music, from films I had scored, that didn’t have a life of their own\noutside of the film screenings. So I thought I should compile my\nsoundtracks.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The five songs from Amir’s road\nmusical, with lyrics by Jerome Kugan and cast in a retro P Ramlee mode with\nmodern twists, is brought alive by the Saloma-type vocals of the delicious\nZalila Lee. They satirise the artless slogans and patriotic songs that\ndominated our airwaves from the 1950s through to the 1970s. If you’re old\nenough to remember the ‘Undi Lah’ jingle, then you will enjoy the irony of\nsongs like the mock-utilitarian ‘I.C.’ or the breezy ‘Senjata’. Hardesh really\nstrikes a chord with the hilarious ‘Malaria’: it features the Merdeka-day pomp\nof marching bands, replete with a raspy tuba to underline its sing-along —\nalbeit offbeat — tune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, of course, because we can’t say\n‘komunis’ in Malaysia, it dutifully gets beeped out in the cheery refrains of\nInternationale-inspired ‘Gemilang’. So who says we are irresponsible?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After this riotous opener, Hardesh,\na self confessed ‘composer and some-time jazz musician’, dishes up two brief\npieces that adorn Yasmin Ahmad’s Gubra<\/em>.\nTogether they last no more than 3 minutes, but manage to express a wealth of\nnostalgic feeling. Cellist Jonathan Oh provides the lyrical soul of these\nbeautiful acoustic vignettes, while Hardesh makes up for Gubra<\/em>‘s brevity by including a beautiful demo version of one of its\ntracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such ravishing music, but why so\nlittle of it in Gubra<\/em>, itself?\n“Because there is no way I can outdo Beethoven?” Hardesh jokes.\n“Seriously, though, the movie didn’t really require much music. I have\nalways believed that the job of a film composer is to aid the visuals. The less\npeople notice the music, the better — unless, of course, it is a Hollywood\nblockbuster with music that might rattle your bones for added punch.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I have to add,” Hardesh\ncontinues, “That watching local movies makes me cringe: the music takes up\ntoo much space — most of the time it is too loud, and always draws too much\nattention to itself for the wrong reasons.” It’s a point well taken.\nSomehow, I am reminded of the catfight scene from the black-and-white classic Bawang Merah, Bawang Putih<\/em>, which was\nplayed out to Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony\nNr 6<\/em> and, as a consequence, entirely obscured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Evoke a Rubber Estate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardesh’s favourite film score from\nthe collection happens to coincide with mine: the quietly understated music for\nDeepak Kumaran Menon’s Chemman Chaalai<\/em>.\n“I never imagined that I’d get to score an entire film using my Indian\nclassical music background,” Hardesh says. “I was very excited to\nwork on it, and the entire score was improvised. I’d start the scene and play\nalong freely to it, and record whatever I played. Nothing was edited, except\nthe rhythmic parts, which I had already laid down before hand. The film is very\nopen: wide shots, minimal edits. My music reflects the simplicity of an estate\nlife.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using minimal resources, Hardesh\ncrafted beautifully crisp atmospheric sketches for the Tamil feature. Applying\nIndian classical techniques to the guitar, he produced a sound that sounds\nremarkably like a veena or a sarod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We wanted to keep the music as\nminimal and pure as possible,” Hardesh explains. “There are only\nthree instruments throughout: a modified guitar, a tabla and a claypot. I used\na 12-string guitar, and replaced all the additional pegs with chikaris: special\ndrone strings. That’s what gives it the unmistakable drone. The claypot was\nsomething I took from my mum’s kitchen, as I didn’t have a ghatam with\nme.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having studied at Ustad Ali Akbar\nKhan’s college of music in San Rafael, California, Hardesh was provided with\nthe basics of Indian classical music, which he learnt on the guitar.\n“Unlike most other schools,” Hardesh says, “Ustad Ali did not\nrequire us to take up an Indian instrument, like the sitar or sarod. Students\nwere encouraged to study under the instrument of their choice. I learned to\nplay the ragas on my guitar.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experimental Love in Tokyo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus far, Eating Pomeloes<\/em> has transported us from the wry to the wistful.\nTaking up nearly 50 minutes of the rest of the disc is Hardesh’s sonic backdrop\nfor another Amir Muhammad feature, the hyper-experimental Tokyo Magic Hour<\/em>, an hour of digitally processed images to which\nnarrated pantuns and gritty urban sound canvasses collide and collude to unveil\nthe life cycle of the protagonist’s experience of love in Tokyo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was left rather free to\nexplore the soundscape,” Hardesh says. “Amir gave me a free hand in\ndoing what I felt was right for the film. In a way, the entire process of\ncomposing was very iterative. I’d start with one sound, process it in various\nways so that it would sound totally different from the original, add more\nelements, and process it over all again. There is actually lots of live music\nin there, but it is all processed so much that it sounds more electronic than\nanalogue — very much like the visuals, which were treated and re-treated many\ntimes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tokyo Magic Hour<\/em>‘s music is sometimes alienating, sometimes comforting — very often dark\nand pensive. Over the sound collages, narrators recite a series of pantuns,\nfilling in the emotions where the visuals cannot. I suspect Amir’s choice of\npresentation was in part driven by the fact that the film, a love story between\ntwo men, would not have made it to screen in any literal form, anyway. An\nalternative approach had to be taken; as such, Hardesh’s soundtrack plays an\nimportant role in the storytelling. The result is music that has life of its\nown, outside the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poetic aspect of the Tokyo Magic Hour<\/em> soundtrack — a\nstunning interplay of sounds, music and pantuns — is perhaps its most alluring\nquality. One of the most poignant of its moments comes towards the end of a\ntrack called ‘Lusting’, where the couplet:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bukan cempedak kami katakan <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buah delima dalam pasu …<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pandang\npertama cinta palsu<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

cuts into a nostalgic piano solo\nthat is heartbreaking in its simplicity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For ‘Lusting’, I was very\nconscious about the music and the poetry working together,\u201d says Hardesh.\n“That section is quiet, but also dissonant in its own way. It felt, to me,\nlike two lovers really could be sitting on a beach somewhere, listening to this\nmusic and reciting those poems to each other.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are similar lyrical gems\nhidden within the shifting dunes of Tokyo\nMagic Hour<\/em>‘s sound layers: the jazzy sequence with Zalila Lee vocals that\nbursts forth in ‘Remembrance’ like a sudden afternoon shower; the Ryuichi Sakamoto-like\npiano sequence in ‘Loving’ that echoes with unspoken tenderness. Patient\nlisteners are rewarded in ‘Parting’ with an extensive Indian violin solo,\nplayed here by Kolkata native Manoj Baruah, that recalls the pyrotechnics of\nthe great Carnatic maestro L Subramaniam: a slowly unfolding mournful raga that\nerupts into violin arpeggios reminiscent of those in Arvo Part’s Tabula Rasa<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We knowingly allowed the\nimages, sound and text to go off on their own tangents,” Hardesh tells me.\n“You may observe that, even though the text starts off happy and ends\nbitterly, the music actually gradually becomes more relaxed as it\nprogresses.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ask what it was like, working with\nAmir on this project. “It was extremely fun; working with Amir is\nsomething I always look forward to,” Hardesh answers. “Also\nfrustrating, in a way — once I got into the rhythm, I’d spend days holed up,\njust working and reworking things. We never quite knew when to stop.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~~ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malaysian CH Loh is a freelance writer who now lives in Singapore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Published: 11.10.2006 on Kakiseni <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do the films Lelaki Komunis Terakhir and Gubra have in common? Obvious answer: they were both Malaysian films that stirred local controversy in recent times. Less obvious answer: they both contained music by composer Hardesh Singh. When one talks about film, composers rarely get mentioned. “Film is not a medium for composers who want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7758,7767,7764,7774],"tags":[245,268,2794,223,2999,568,534,4014,4016,40,4017,538,49,4015,521,4013],"language":[7785],"writer":[7831],"class_list":["post-27556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artikel","category-filem","category-muzik","category-ulasan","tag-amir-muhammad","tag-classical","tag-deepak-kumaran-menon","tag-film","tag-hardesh-singh","tag-indian","tag-jerome-kugan","tag-jonathan-oh","tag-manoj-baruah","tag-music","tag-pantun","tag-poetry","tag-review","tag-soundtrack","tag-yasmin-ahmad","tag-zalila-lee","language-inggeris","writer-ch-loh-ms"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27556"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38888,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27556\/revisions\/38888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27556"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=27556"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writer?post=27556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}