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(the​.​whole​.​picture)

by haknam

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1.
---- Found texts from the original field recording, in Mandarin and in English ---- 請排隊 請排 (Please stand in line Please stand…) 咪噠miniK採用專業 (Mida miniK’s professional features) 1P 玩家 請看 (Player 1 please look…!) It’s like a karaoke bar 麥克風 (microphone) are you gonna sing? I don't... are you gonna sing? I don't know how to sing it oh if you're not gonna sing I cannot… 是廣州愛美網絡科 (Is GuangZhou AIMEI internet technology) shh I don't know, ok we'll... nå-OK! they're falling now ok ok that's that's cool nå-OK! it's like transposed it's killing my brain! I don't hear a thing! it's like transposed it's killing my brain! killing my brain! hoo hoo! you missed them all! we are not competitive are we not?
2.
II (island) 15:31
---- Found texts from the original field recording, in Mandarin and local language ---- (In Mandarin) 因為思念時光走得匆匆 月光輕輕 把夢帶走 所有失眠的夜想你夠不夠 看雲水漂流 看著落葉被帶走 淚濕的枕頭 枕乾潮濕的溫柔 等到下一個春秋 等到秋葉被紅透 讓那指針慢慢走 停在花開的時候 不是因為寂寞才想你 只是因為想你才寂寞 當淚流下的時候 所有風景都沈默 (Because of longing, time flies by The moonlight gently takes away the dream, will my sleepless nights missing you be enough Watching the clouds and water drifting, watching the fallen leaves being taken away The tear-wet pillow, the pillow daps the tears tenderly Wait until the next spring and autumn, wait until the autumn leaves are completely red Let the pointer move slowly and stop when the flowers bloom I miss you not because I'm lonely I'm lonely just because I miss you When tears flow down, all the scenery is silent) 呃, 好冷 (erh, so cold!) 嘿,等一下 (hey, wait!) 基本上都會這樣啊 (that’s how it is in general…) 回不回去,回不回去他(她)還不是一樣,就是來了又走了 (Whether to go back or not, whether to go back or not it will be the same for him/her, he/she just comes and goes) 換我怎能心甘 (How can I be willing to change) (in local language) 重某? 什麼? (Is it heavy? what?) (In Mandarin) 也是貴的要命, 哈哈哈哈 對唄,少一千二十。哈哈哈哈 (It’s also expensive, hahahaha That's right, one thousand and twenty less. hahahah) 八點,還可以啦 (Eight o'clock, okay) (in local language) 多一隻哇,等陣7點鐘開門係某? 係 (One more, do you open at 7 o'clock? Yes) 以某試試白斬鴨喂,白斬鴨 (Why don’t you try the poached Duck, the poached Duck) 正常某有十蚊子一斤肉啊? (Isn’t it normally ten yuan for half a kilogram of meat?) 家下返佢了。 家下返佢啦? 關門啊 (I am going home You going home? Close the door.) 哎呀,好生意吶! (Oh, good business!) (In Mandarin) 搭車嗎?帥哥 (do you need a ride, mate?)
3.
III (church) 05:02
is it always the last place that you look? would you rather still go on searching just in case? was it cut into pieces? was it all-in-one? what's it like to see it all from the inside from the outside does it feel like you? does it feel like then? does it feel like it could be true? from the inside from the outside is it always the last place that you look? would you rather still go on searching just in case? was it cut into two, three, maybe four pieces? or was it all-in-one?
4.
IV (bund) 07:49
(Text in Cantonese, Catalan and Italian) 那天夜晚, 我哋喺灘边 Eravamo sul fiume quella notte 上百 上千 人 aquella nit 我哋都喺嗰度 等着 a la vora del riu 某件事發生 ---- (we were by the river that night us two and hundreds of thousands of other people and we were all there waiting for something to happen) ---- era soffocante l’assenza di spazio, il contatto di vestiti il sudore e la pelle di sconosciuti che spingevano attraverso la folla polizia militare ad ogni angolo sense parpellejar senza battere ciglio montagne di gente oceani di gente 人海 come si suol dire 正如佢哋所講 ---- (it was suffocating: the lack of space the touch of textile the sweat and skin of strangers pushing through the crowd military police in every corner not blinking a single time people-mountain people-sea as they say) ---- al nostre costat edificis art deco a l’altre costat 摩天大樓 gratacels en mig, el riu una frontera o una frontissa o un ponte tra il passato ed il futuro entre el passat i el futur ---- (on our side of the river: art deco buildings on the other side: skyscrapers the river in between: either a border or a bridge between the past and the future) ---- “quina hora és?” mires el mòbil les onze i cincuanta-set ---- (“what time is it?” You look at your phone eleven fifty-seven) ---- 后来 再醍唛时间 已经過咗1分鐘 ma niente è cambiato 但一切都某改變 centenars 上百 de milers, 上千 人 推過人群 試圖得到個好嘅視野 去醍嗰会发生嘅事 ---- (the next time that either of us checks the time again it’s already 1 minute past but nothing had changed just hundreds, of thousands, of people pushing through the crowd trying to get a good view of whatever that was supposed to be happening) ---- dos minuts més tard i un grup sembla adonar-se de que l’Any Nou fa ja tres minuts que ha arribat així que treuen els mòbils per a compartir-ho i celebrar-ho amb el món come se stesse succedendo proprio lì com si estigués passant 系囖 en aquell precís moment 边嗰知啧? qui se’n podria adonar? deu 十 dieci nou nove 九 vuit otto 八 七 set sette ... ---- (a couple minutes later a small group seems to realise that the New Year had been with us for some good three minutes so they take their phones out to share and celebrate with the world as if it were happening right then how would anyone else know? ten nine eight seven ...) ---- sei 六 sis mezzanotte e sei minuti e qualche timido fascio di luce da entrambi i lati del fiume per un paio di minuti a seguire ---- (six minutes past midnight and a few lights flash timidly on either sides of the river, for the next couple minutes) ---- i... això va ser tot ---- (and that was all there was) ---- 失望 我哋返返酒店 路上同其他人一起 上百 上千 人 都意識到 che nient’altro sarebbe successo, 就係巩啦 嚒也都某 嚒也都, 唔会发生 係時候 返返去了 a allà d’on haguessin vingut 各自嘅归处 ---- (disappointed we go back to the hotel around the same time as other hundreds of thousands of people that also realised that that was it that there was nothing else to see that nothing else was going to happen and that it was time to go back to wherever they came from) ---- uns dies després vam veure el vídeo oficial que les autoritats locals havien distribuït als canals de televisió internacionals documentant el que deien que va passar aquella nit: hi havia milers de drones sobrevolant el riu fent formes i coses facendo coreografie un home caminant en mig de l’aire i d'altres coses impressionants de les quals ja ni m’enrecordo 发唔发生过 fins a quin punt és rellevant que fos realitat o ficció? è importante se è successo veramente o no? ---- (a few days later we saw the official video that the local authorities had distributed to TV networks around the world documenting what they said happened that night: there were thousands of drones flying over the river making shapes and stuff a man walking on air and some other flashy things I already forgot about does it make a difference whether it actually happened or not?) ---- 當然 我哋唔係 唯一注意到的人 謠言開始流傳 ---- (of course, we were not the only ones who noticed, and rumours started circulating) ---- le autorità hanno risposto alle accuse 话 dicendo che i video pregravat fossero di una prova pre-registrata due giorni prima di capodanno e che sarebbe dovuto essere così 預先錄製嘅 perchè non volevano rischiare che centinaia di migliaia di persone si sarebbero agitate s’excitessin massa e che sarebbe potuto succedere qualcosa di pericoloso come già era successo durante gli ultimi minuti del 2014 ---- (the authorities responded to those claims saying that the video was from a rehearsal prerecorded two days before New Year’s eve and that it had to be that way because they didn’t want to risk that hundreds of thousands of people would get too excited and something dangerous could happen like it did during the last minutes of 2014) ---- 但我有嗰疑问 如果視頻確實來自排練 点解會某人睇到? 在城市嗰中间 数百万人居住嘅地方 呢度 上百 hi passen cada dia 上千 人 每一日 来来往往 点做得到 某人知觉 攞出手機 分享上 社交媒體 condividendo sui social media o quant’altro ---- (I wonder though if the video was indeed from a rehearsal how come this could go unnoticed in the middle of a city where millions live and where hundreds of thousands walk through that spot every single day how could this be done without anyone noticing and taking out their phones and sharing it on Social Media or whatever) ---- ripensando a questo episodio le centinaia di migliaia di sconosciuti le deludenti luci di Capodanno l’incredibile storia e tutto il resto sembra lentamente scomparire dalla mia memoria diventando una “storia” che racconterò ai miei amici lasciando la gente interessata a cose che più condivido e meno sento mie ---- (looking back at this whole episode the hundreds of thousands of strangers the underwhelming New Year light show the incredible story and everything else seem to slowly fade out from my memory it became a “story” that I would tell my friends getting other people’s interest in things that the more I share, the less I feel mine) ---- el que encara recordo és el que em vaig guardar per a mi 新年, la teva mà, 悄無聲息地, agafant-se a la meva 降臨到我哋身边 mentre l’Any Nou va arribar en silenci ---- (what I still remember is what I kept to myself: your hand holding mine as the New Year came silently upon us)

about

Digital liner notes:
haknam.dk/twp.html

"During the Christmas holidays in 2019, I went on a trip to China with Fei, my life partner. We visited her hometown Beihai and its surroundings in the Guanxi province, as well as Shanghai. I brought a sound recorder with me and did some field recordings during the trip.

I decided I would make a piece based on those field recordings, where the music is built upon the original sound instead of silence. Like painting on top of an existing picture.

These recordings had become precious memories for me and when I shared them with my friends from haknam, they became like little stories. I wanted them to tell those stories back at me with their instruments, in guided semi-improvised sessions. My composition process would be then to rearrange and build upon their sounds in a way I would see fit. And then, finally, each musician would retranscribe the final piece in their own way in a shared graphical score. I wanted it to feel like everything should come from each musician’s own voice.

You cannot tell someone else’s story. When you do, it’s already your own."

Xavier Bonfill

credits

released January 6, 2023

Concept, artistic direction: Xavier Bonfill
I, II: music by Xavier Bonfill & haknam
III, IV: music and text by Xavier Bonfill
IV: translations by haknam

Producer, Mixing: Xavier Bonfill
Mastering: Mikael Tobias
Artwork: Antonio Martinez
Transcription of found texts: Fei Nie

Performed by haknam:

Fei Nie: op1 (I, II), Lyra-8 (II), voice (IV)

Lorenzo Colombo: assorted percussion & found objects (I, II), boppad midi controller (I, II), eurorack modular (II), voice (IV)

Xavier Bonfill: field recordings (I, II, III), eurorack modular (I, II, III, IV), MPC2500 (I), Roland R5 (I), voice (II, III, IV), organelle/Pure-Data (II, III), Yamaha TX802 (II), Yamaha FB-01 (II, III), Lyra-8 (III), Nord Rack 2X (III), The Pipe (III)

Additional musicians:

Anja Nedremo: The Pipe (I, II)
Kalle Hakosalo: eurorack modular (II)

With support from KODA's cultural funds.

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haknam Copenhagen, Denmark

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