JARIANGTRUA for String Orchestra: An Artistic Exploration of Intercultural Sonic Identity

JARIANGTRUA for string orchestra is an artistic research composition that investigates the formation of sonic identity through intercultural processes of sound transformation, drawing particularly on musical materials inspired by Southern Isan “Jariang” traditions within Thailand. Rather than directly quoting or stylizing existing cultural idioms, the work abstracts, fragments, and reconfigures selected sonic gestures through spectral transformation, temporal displacement, and timbral expansion. In this framework, sonic identity is not treated as a fixed or representational essence, but as an emergent and processual condition produced through compositional negotiation among heterogeneous sound materials.

 

The composition employs extended string techniques, layered temporal structures, and non-linear formal strategies to construct a dynamic sonic field in which diverse materials interact without hierarchical resolution. The string orchestra becomes an artistic laboratory where intercultural sonic elements are continuously destabilized, reassembled, and recontextualized through compositional intervention and embodied performance practice.

 

Methodologically, the research is grounded in creative practice-based inquiry, integrating score analysis, cultural and musical study, expert consultation, and workshop-based reading sessions. These processes inform both the development of the composition and its analytical reflection as artistic research output.

 

The resulting work, approximately 10 minutes in duration, contributes to contemporary discourse on cross-cultural composition by repositioning interculturality as a generative methodology rather than a representational outcome. It also reflects broader concerns of cultural sustainability, highlighting how traditional Thai and Isan sonic heritage can be reactivated within contemporary global musical practices, while expanding perspectives on identity, sound perception, and orchestral writing in the 21st century.