For Archie
by Yan Pang

Recorded on September 28th, 2019 by the Desert Winds and John Seaton.

Grade 3.5 | 3:40 | © 2019

Musical elements of this piece come from Guizhou, Southwest China, where I lived in a rural area for three weeks to study the Dong way of making music. The work is inspired by the way the Dong ethnic minority sing and play the Sheng, a wind instrument. Their folk music has recently been listed as an intangible cultural heritage in 2009 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. During my study, there was no internet and very few 21st-century amenities. Singing and dancing is their entertainment. To me, this was a “raw” way of living. In this piece, I did not use any extended techniques and wanted to bring their aesthetic to the stage. Archie was a beloved dog who passed to a good place when I finished this piece. I named this piece after him and like to think he is continuing his pure, cheerful life in heaven.