June 1st, 三声万乐 @ Enlightening Live house, Guangzhou
July 13th, A Trip To Nowhere @High Seas Bar, Lijiang
August 8th, You and Me Festival @Beijing
August 10th, 虫宫 @原料酒吧, Beijing
Upcoming shows Jun-Aug, 2024
Empty Valley | Field Recording Workshop and Performance
Empty Valley | Sound collection workshop and performance is Mute Sound Art Festival 哑声音艺术节 in 2023, initiated and curated by musician DAO. Three days of field recording in Yangshuo and an immersive music listening and sharing session in a cave near Yangshuo town on the last day.
空谷 | 声音采集工作坊与现场，是由音乐人DAO发起和策划的哑声音艺术节在2023的第一场演出。为期三天在阳朔山间的田野采集并在最后一天在一个山洞中进行了一个全黑沉浸式的音乐聆听会。
On the first day of field recording , I collected the sounds of insects and birds chirping on the hills because the road in the mountains is very close, the recorder also picked up the sounds of cars and airplanes flying over.
在采集声音的第一天，我采集到小山上虫鸣和鸟叫的声音，因为山里公路很近，同时又收录到了车路和天空中飞机飞过的声音。
On the third day of the performance, we moved the equipment into the cave. The sound in the cave was not as wet as expected, and the quietness made the high-frequency sounds particularly crisp. Every drop of water dripping from the stalactites is particularly clear. The first musician played the shakuhachi, which formed a duet with the sound of dripping water. The following performances were all electronic music. There was no light except for music equipment and laptops. The audience sat down on the floor and some lay down, we spent three hours immersed in the sounds.
第三天的演出，和同行的音乐人我们将设备搬进了洞里，洞里的声响并没有想象的那么浑浊，因为极其的安静让高频的声音特别清脆。钟乳石上滴下来的每一滴水滴都特别清晰，第一位演出的音乐人吹奏了尺八，和滴水的声音俨然成了一个静动交织的二重奏。后面的演出都是电子音乐，除了音乐设备和电脑，没有任何光亮，听众们席地坐下或躺下，很沉浸地度过了3小时。
My performance is an improvisation performance of voice and electronic music. During the rehearsal, I found that the chopped loop of voice was particularly similar to the insect sounds collected on the hill. This also coincided with the sound workshop. In the cave, there was a very primitive atmosphere pushing me, so at the end of the part, I naturally burst out with a kind of distant call. This sound was wild but intense. Some listeners asked me if it was a kind of ritual singing.
我的演出是人声和电子音乐的即兴演出，在排练的时候发现由人声的切碎的loop和在小山上采集的虫鸣声特别像，这也刚好和声音工作坊呼应了所以没有再使用这两天采集的素材。在山洞中，有一种很原始氛围在推进着我，所以在结束段落我自然而然迸发出一种类似遥远的呼叫，这种声音很野也很激烈，还有听众问我是不是一种祭祀的唱腔。
There was not much conversation between people, the three-day journey was very quiet compare with my dailyl life, but it was extremely fulfilling.
三天的旅程没有说太多话和我平时的生活有很大的反差却格外的充实。
Post-Oblivion Quadrophonic Sound System Listening
A mini concert held in my daughter’s Inspirational Kindergarten, Post-Oblivion（ 泯默集） is my latest EP, It’s a session to share the background of the creation of Post Oblivion with the audiences, and experience the charm of the natural sound of Post-Oblivion in the surround sound system.
Release: Post-Oblivion 泯默集
I am very happy to announce my New EP just released in Dusty Ballz
September 2019, during a residency exchange programme curated by the Lijiang Studio, Chunyang Yao set foot in Shiraoi, a town in Hokkaido historically populated by Japan’s indigenous people, the Ainu. A peculiar sense of inversion struck her. Being a Naxi artist emerging from the southwestern city of Lijiang, Yao had become accustomed to performing under a certain exotic gaze in China. Yet, dipping into the arcane, almost bygone lifeworld of the Ainu, for the first time she found herself to be the curious spectator upon another ethnic group, in whom she saw, with profound ambivalence, the shadow of her own people. This moment of entanglement reverberates on, slowly translating into a delicate resonance between two ethnic minority traditions, both struggling for the right to remembrance on the margins of modernity. If memory is audible, does forgetting make a sound? This question drove the making of Post-Oblivion.
Unlike what the title suggests, listening to Post-Oblivion demands emotion. Side A of the cassette contains a composition in five movements, which is based on field recordings collected during Yao’s stay in Hokkaido; Side B presents a long-form improvisation of voice, noise samples, and synthesisers, the track gets its title “AyuDabuya” from the babbling of Yao’s daughter after she heard the recording. Respectively, the two sides showcase Yao’s unique artistic sensibility as a composer and as a vocal/electronics improviser. Together they also present an intricate landscape of sound, cut across by her multiple, overlapping identities: as a contemporary artist, a mother, a Naxi descendent, and a traveller in a foreign land.
The Ainu and the Naxi share a pantheistic vision of nature, through which religion and culture are embedded in their environmental surroundings. In the Naxi Dongba script, to say “without a sound” takes four glyphs: a lead stone, a pair of horns, a waning moon, and quark. Likewise, instead of recording directly with the Ainu community, Yao gathered musical cues from Hokkaido’s natural soundscape — onshore breezes, a raging geyser, cries of the seagulls, and crows hovering above the seaside town of Tomakomai. She stitched them with a fragmented chant of the ancient Naxi proverb: “All food and clothing arise from the soil”, which weaves in and out just like her own wandering presence on the island. Post-Oblivion, as such, sings about loss but also perpetuity. Through nature’s own rhythm and harmony, it channels a roaring silence confronting colonial pasts and the politics of cultural memories.
《泯默集》选录了姚春旸近年的创作，主题关于遗忘，也关于守望。磁带的A面是一套基于田野录音的组曲，其中的声音素材在2019年的丽江/北海道交流驻地项目中成形，B面则是一轨人声、合成器与噪音采样的即兴长篇，曲名“AyuDabuya”是拟音，来自女儿听后的牙牙学语。这张专辑中，姚春旸是当代作曲家，是纳西后裔，是母亲，也是跨越国界的旅者——这些身份倒影在声响的编织中浮显、交叠，相互映照，呈现出一种蜿蜒险峻的听觉地形学。
作为从云南丽江走出的纳西族艺术家，民族性一直是姚春旸的创作母题，也不免将她推向被凝视者的相位；而踏进阿伊努人聚居的白老町，她意识到自己成了那个观看的人。在这意外的对倒中，边缘族裔的情感回响逐渐清晰。作为北海道的原住民，阿伊努人相信万物有灵，而纳西东巴教亦奉自然为神祇；近代以降，阿伊努族世代传承的文化记忆在长期的殖民同化制度下渐归湮没，更让她心有戚戚 。 “一切吃穿皆从土地里来”，她将这句纳西古谚裁切揉碎，洒在北海道的自然音景中。时空的褶皱在人声吟哦中渐次荡开，有怒涛惊啸、鸥鸟凄鸣，有乌鸦在海街上空盘旋。岛屿的咏叹亘古不变，冷漠而深情。
在象形表意的东巴文中，“泯默” 呈现为四个字符的组合序列：铅块、兽角、缺月与奶渣；而这卷歌哭绵延的声音地图里，泯默是在自然的热望与包容之间奏出一个文明的休止符，是一念物哀中的寂美永恒。大地心脉搏动，遗忘坼裂无声。
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Dusty Ballz is a London-based label that releases Chinese underground music on cassette tapes. The term originates in an old Soviet joke, which somehow still speaks to the situation today.
在历史悠久的长沙方言中，“蛋蛋沾灰”一词形容儿童玩伴之间亲密与共的珍贵情谊。Dusty Ballz致力于通过磁带介质呈现中国地下之声，在欣欣向荣的新常态下描画人类命运共同体的美好愿景。
released February 19, 2023
创作于广州，2020年（A面）与2021年（B面）
Created in 2020 (Side A) and 2021 (Side B) in Guangzhou, China
田野录音素材采集于北海道登别（A2）与苫小牧市（A3、A4），2019年9月
Field recordings captured in September 2019 at Noboribetsu (A2) and Tomakomai (A3, A4) in Hokkaido, Japan
人声、田野录音、制作：姚春旸
Vocal, Field-recordings, and Production by Chunyang Yao
混音、母带：Annalisa Vetrugno
Mixed and Mastered by Annalisa Vetrugno
木刻：铁梅
Woodcut by Tiemei
东巴文字翻译：王世英
Translation (Dongba Script) by Wang Shiying
感谢：丽江工作室、正杰、森永泰弘
Thanks to Lijiang Studio, Jay Brown, Yasuhiro Morinaga
Review: Chinese female musicians in New music Scene
A review wrote by Fanfu Wu (吴凡夫）lately published in VersOne Distro.
This review covers three time periods, introducing and commenting on the works of representative female musicians in the three eras. Excerpt from Wu’s comment on AyuDAbuya
Listen AyuDAbuya
“Yao Chunyang, an experimental musician/sound improviser from the Naxi minority in Yunnan. It is an extremely rare combination of Naxi characteristics with electronic atmosphere, noise, sound art, and concrete electronic music. Yao Chunyang is not well-known to many domestic avant-garde music fans because of her ‘living in a safe and inner corner’ . The highly influential and legendary British avant-garde music magazine Wire had a report on her.
Although Yao Chunyang was with music academic background (Shanghai Conservatory of Music), in her music works, there is actually an ‘anti-academic’ aesthetic. At the same time, what is rare is that her music reveals awe of nature and wild yearning. Yao Chunyang’s pioneering temperament has a kind of wild fairy spirit.
This AyuDAbuya is actually her latest single album, only one but very long. In it, her unique Naxi voice is improvised, which is both natural and crackling with electric noise. In Yao Chunyang’s music, sometimes electricity and noise are part of nature. Although they are artificially produced, they flow freely without any affectation. After a long song, I can’t help but rush to the deep God Realm of the colorful cloud city – Yunnan.
云南纳西族出身的实验音乐家/声音即兴家姚春旸。是极为罕见的把纳西族特色和电子氛围，噪音，声音艺术，具体音乐这些类型相结合的奇人。姚春旸因为“偏安一隅”，并不为许多国内先锋乐迷所熟知。英国极具影响力的传奇前卫音乐杂志《Wire》对她有过专门的报道。
姚春旸虽然是科班出身（上海音乐学院），但在她的音乐作品里，实际上有一种“反科班”的美学。同时少见的是她的音乐里透出着对大自然的敬畏和野生式的向往，姚春旸的先锋气质里有一种野生的仙气。
这张《AyuDAbuya》其实是她最新发行的一个单曲式专辑，只有一首但时间很长。里面她独特的纳西族嗓音即兴，既天籁于自然之境，又交汇于电噪噼啪作响之中。在姚春旸的音乐里，有时电流，噪音也是自然的一部分，虽为人工制造，却流淌自在，毫无半分矫揉造作。一首长曲下来，不由得心神驰往彩云之滇的深处神域。
Music Post-Oblivion Contributed in Cecilia Vicuña: Brain Forest Quipu
My new work Post-Oblivion participated in a installation art exhibition by Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña in TATE Modern, London. The sound component of the exhibition curated by musician Ricardo Gallo.
Brain Forest Quipu is a contemporary art installation created by the Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña. The work was first presented at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans and has since been featured in several international exhibitions.
The installation is comprised of various elements, including sculptures, wall hangings, and sound recordings. These works are inspired by the ancient Inca quipus, which were a system of knotted strings used to record information. Vicuña’s work plays with the idea of memory and how it is recorded and transmitted across cultures and time periods.
The audio component of Brain Forest Quipu was curated by Colombian musician Ricardo Gallo. It features contributions from 23 musicians from around the world who were invited to create works that were played continuously for eight hours over four sets of stereo tracks.
Overall, Brain Forest Quipu is a thought-provoking and multi-layered installation that combines traditional techniques with contemporary artistic concepts. It invites viewers to contemplate the intersection of history, memory, and culture in our rapidly changing world.
作品《民默集》Post-Oblivion参与了智利艺术家Cecilia Vicuña的装置艺术展，这个展览的声音由音乐家Ricardo Gallo策划，邀请了来自全世界各地的23位音乐家贡献出他们的作品在4组立体声音轨中持续播放8个小时。
Cecilia Vicuña是智利的一位跨媒体艺术家和诗人，作品关注于语言、地理、历史和生态。她通过文字、织物、绘画、录像和装置等多种媒介表达自己对于原住民文化、环境问题和政治权利的关注。
Vicuña的Brain Forest Quipu作品是一件非常著名的装置艺术作品，它由一系列的绳索组成，每个绳索上缠绕着不同颜色的丝线和羽毛等材料，形成了一个巨大的、类似于脑结构的结构体。这个作品寓意着人类与大海和自然的关系，同时又传达了对于南美印第安人的遗产和文化的呼吁。
Release: AyuDAbuya (single)
Half a year before, I was invited by Thy Audio Visual Lab for the “bewitching noise” project of six Chinese female musicians. This was a new recording which my improvising voice was the main material, accompanied with noise and synthesizer. It played in the Lab’s audio-visual room on November 13. “AyuDAbuya” without any meaning, it came from my daughter casually said ayudabuya (folio) after hearing this recording. It release now in Bandcamp and NetEase Cloud Music
年中应Thy画廊“bewitching noise”六位中国女性音乐人作品演播项目邀约，特录制了一首新作。这是一首有人声为主要材料、噪音和合成器的一个即兴录音，昨天已在画廊的视听室演播。标题没有含义，是女儿在听到录音后随口说 AyuDAbuya （拟音）是它的歌名。今日在在Bandcamp、网易云音乐发布。
Review: Anthology Of Experimental Music From China
Read full article on zine Densidad 20.25
“Chunyang Yao emits melismas and screams that multiply creating a ghostly polyphony, while accompanied by field recordings and manipulated timbres in an excellent introductory cut. “Stranded” makes use of traditional instruments and electronic effects, creating a fusion of folklore and avant-garde, by taking advantage of, and highlighting, each of its instruments’ resonance (we can hear strings, cymbals and flutes).”
姚春旸通过melismas(“唱颂法”-在音乐中指的是一种技术，会把一个音节的歌词拉长，分配给多个音符，用来达到更加复杂和情感上丰富的效果）和尖叫声来创造出幽灵般的多声部效果，同时采样录音和设计音色的合奏下，呈现出一首极佳的序言般的曲目。“困住般地”运用传统乐器和电子效果，打造出民俗与前卫的融合作品，并凸显了每个乐器的共鸣音效（我们可以听到弦乐、铜钹以及管乐器等声音）。”
Video: Invisible Wounds
Head to The Wire website to view an exclusive new video work by me, featuring a movement performance and footage of Boashan Stone Village near my southwest China hometown of Lijiang.
Plus, Read Josh Feola’s interview with me inside the current issue of The Wire.
The music of this work will release on my bandcamp at Friday, stay tuned!
2018年美国教育部赞助的Found Sound China项目支持，我和摄影师阿云，老狗在宝山石头城进行采风。当时我们采集了大量的航拍素材，惊叹于村落与大自然之间的博弈。心心念着这些素材不断构思、尝试、否定到最后定稿，历时4年，终于于4月完成了这个音乐视频作品，并在The Wire Magazine发布。
宝山石头城，位于云南丽江城北110公里的金沙江峡谷中，因百余户人家聚居在一座独立的蘑菇状巨石之上而得名。这个村庄的奇特是山和河流塑造出了它的外墙，以俯视的角度观望它，它在大自然苛刻的条件下，强扭着驻扎了下来，它的状体扭曲并顽固，石头上的每户人家都有他们的故事，特别是那些艰辛与痛苦渐渐磨出属于这个村落特有的痕迹。
人，未尝不是如此，在复杂的社会环境中，存在，观察，挣扎，扭曲，放弃，治愈。每个个体都因来自身体或着精神的痛苦的洗刷磨出了自己的伤痕。它们不可见，不可说。
此作品音乐部分，将在本周五在bandcamp发布，敬请关注！
Interview by Josh Feola, published in The Wire
I knew Josh when I attended a Project Found Sound China in 2018, after my Sound Theatre work Her/e published online, and also live streamed by IKLECTIK Art Space, Josh was invited by the Wire to wrote a short story about me.
The location of this photo took is a abandoned warehouse by photographer Cherry Au in Changzhou Island (长洲岛), Guangzhou.
Head to the Wire to subscribe the magazine to get more detail about this article.