A thematic constant in the narrative backbone of this chamber opera is the juxtaposition of incongruent religious traditions. In this story contrasting ideologies usually take the form of an opposition between the ethnically Eurasian Singaporean sub-group, and all other religious traditions evident in the other ethnic majorities in Singapore: the Contemporary Malays (Muslim), the Indigenous Malaccans (Animist) the Sub-Continentals (Hindu) and the Chinese (Buddhist).
In the podcast interviews we hear both story-tellers (interviewees) assert their faith with a number of self-affirming statements: "...we are catholic...", "...as catholics...", "...we don't believe in that because we are Christian"; inherent is a fundamental scepticism for other traditions of belief and ritual, though rather than being dismissive of the power of these alternate traditions, the story-tellers are attempting to show loyalty to their cultural group and avoid the scorn of their peers. This complex relationship with the religious institutions of the day, this life of multifaceted worship and religious mashup, this syncretism, is reflective of the Singaporean condition particularly in the 1960's and is a chief concern for the programmatic materials of this chamber opera.
As a direct homage to these complexities of religion, ritual and worship in Singapore, this next composition (working title "Motet") will embody the inner conflicts of a character who desires the social acceptance of the outwardly devout, though is altogether seduced by the healing and spiritual power of other religious traditions. The musically corollaries that exist between the "catholic" traditions and other such "pagan" or "foreign" rites is a rich trove of traditions that will offer much in the form of melodies, ornaments and other such musical structures.
In this "Motet" composition, the multi-text, multi-voiced, polyphonic paradigm will be explored in a number of ways, in order to explore this (uniquely Singaporean notion) of four ethnic majorities as represented by four distinct religious affiliations:
1. Christianity (Portuguese Catholicism)**
2. Islam (Malay Muslim Worship)
3. Shakyamuni Buddhism (Chinese Buddhism)
4. Animism (Malay Shamanism)*
*In the above list the pagan Animist religion is cited, with the Malay cultural connection listed twice, however there is no reference to the Indian/Hindu religion. This story is connected chiefly to symbols and concepts from Malay Animism, Islam, Christianity, and in smaller part, Buddhist rites and practice. Animism, as central to the narrative, though existing in the fringes of modern Malay society, replaces the Hindu religion as it is more relevant to this narrative and composition.
**The Kristang people (now known as Eurasians of Portuguese descent) is the exact ethnic lineage my family represents: institutionalised Catholics living amongst Portuguese missionaries, whom are the descendants of European sailors that took native Malaccan women as wives. This history of Singapore's catholic roots stretches back as far as the 16th Century, to a time when Christian fanaticism reached its height during the Protestant reformation. Late medieval polyphony seems perfectly poised to represent the musical linage of the 'Church' in Singapore's European history.
Furthermore, these aforementioned religious institutions can be symbolised by historically relevant traditions of chant and other such styles of vocal performance:
1. Plainchant/Polyphony (Medieval Christian Musical practice)
2. The Adhan (A Florid Melodious Call to prayer) ***
3. The Smot (A South East Asian Buddhist Chant tradition)****
4. Pagan Spoken word chant*****
*** The Adhan is already mentioned explicitly in the podcast interviews. The interviewees describe this call to prayer, not in terms of a vocalisation, but as a cacophony of 'wooden' noise and objects. This chorus of wooden objects, as a musical/sounding aesthetic, is to be explored in another composition in this chamber opera. For the purposes of a "motet" composition, the more common (and perhaps contemporary) vocalised Adhan (as a melismatic chant or vocal solo) will be used to colourize the melodic writing in this polyphonic work.
****Perhaps the weakest of the musical/programmatic associations for the representation of culture, the Buddist link has less to do with the narrative and more to do with the characters concerned. Particularly in the modern day, the general Western public sees Singapore as a largely Chinese national ethnicity; from the history we know of this city-state, Singapore is much more ethnically diverse. In truth the Chinese community in Singapore has been as actively involved in Catholic practice as the Eurasians themselves, and like those Singaporean's whose lineage is as mixed as their relationship with syncretic religious practice, these Chinese descendants would struggle personally with their connection to the rites of Buddhism and Catholicism. In Singapore, unions between Chinese and Eurasian citizens was less prohibitive than unions between Islamic Malays and non-Muslims, thus the Chinese connection to this story is interwoven in the characterisation, if nothing else.
*****Finally, as attested in the podcast interviews, little is known of the culture and religious traditions of the Bomoh (the namesake of this chamber opera). With this some creative thinking will be required. More research is required here, perhaps, and in the absence of a better musical realisation, the vocal line that represents the pagan rites of the Boyanese (Indigenous Malays from the Malaccan peninsula) will feature a mono-tonal intonation. This is a very base and simplistic metaphor for the polytheism and animistic beliefs of our pagan forebears, however, it is important to reach for communicable musical solutions for these programmatic concerns.
This composition, betrayed by its working title "motet", will exist as a multi-text polyphonic vocal work for four singers. At its core, it will seem as a motet of the polyphonic vocal tradition that the Catholic church of the medieval age can usually boast. In keeping with the thesis of this dissertation, the musical document for this composition will take a traditional media form and alter it with a variety of new media tools and techniques. New media concepts including: the "Mash-up", "data replacement/imputation" and of course "metamedia" (the reworking of old compositions using new media tropes) will be explored in the structure of this composition.
More simply, here is an example of a traditional media document in the style of 16th Century Portuguese Polyphony: http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/9/97/Clamabat_autem_mulier_Escobar.pdf
This "motet" will be a composition that will use an original medieval score as the source document from which inherent musical data will be replaced with information from conceptually relevant sources; a polyphonic score extracted from a shared Christian lineage will be re-imagined with the religious chant traditions of a number of other institutions, related to the theme and concept of this opera.
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