This work is an eight minutes orchestral tone poem inspired by the Hakka folk song “Hunched Back”《匍背》. The music describes a young person’s childhood memories of the grandmother – a reminiscence of a hard working elderly woman, the striking image of this grandmother with hunched back carrying a heavy load of vegetables, working days and nights trying to make enough money to send her grandchild to university.
Throughout the composition, music captures snaps of the Hakka folk song with new harmonies and orchestration. The essence of folk singing are portrayed by warm instrumental dialogues in the winds and strings. Sliding winds and microtonal string effects accompanied by the rhythmic percussion are used to evoke sounds of traditional Chinese instruments. There are also theatrical moments with optional dramatic narration (in group or solo) quoted from the original folk song’s lyrics to tell the story.
My intention is to create an original composition that honors the hardship of Hakka people from the countryside, caring for the ones and striving to make a good life for their next generations, at the same time focus on the poetic and nostalgic context, presenting a personalised music journey to capture the spirit the Hakka village people – their praise of love and sacrifice.
Instrumentation: 2222 2211 2 percussion timpani harp strings
