DALUY 2

2019 Performance by TUGMA (Manila)

DALUY (Flow) is a set of five movements composed by JONAS BAES in 1994, the year of the birth of his daughter Patricia, to whom this work is dedicated. It was composed in Freiburg (Germany) under the guidance of Mathias Spahlinger, and was to culminate his studies at the Musikhochschule Freiburg i. Br. in the 1990s.

In DALUY, the five separate movements are meant to be rendered separately within events like programmed performances, or in social forums. It is meant to frame the entire event into one integrated whole. The second movement (DALUY 2), which is featured in this video is written for five interlocking instruments, in this occasion, flat gongs or the 'gangsa. While the patterns of DALUY 2 invoke the traditional patterns of Kalingga music of Northern Philippines, in the composition, this pattern is subject to dissolution, which is symbolic of the cultural politics within a mode of production dominated by powerful stakeholders and institutionalized culture brokers.

Highly integral to the rendition is the resultant "melody", suklit; that only emerges when skilled players execute the pattern. Such a quality is demonstrated by these five very dynamic and highly skilled musicians who make up TUGMA...Tugtuging Musika Asiatika...a student performing troupe based at the University of the Philippines.

The audio and video recordings were made by Jean-David Caillouet.

March 2019