Hsia Yu is a legendary poet in Taiwan. For decades, she has been one of the most influential figures of the youth subculture. Under several pen names such as Li Gedi, she is also one of the top lyrics writers in the Mandarin pop music scene. She publishes her poetry herself and mostly steers away from public events. But she is paid dueful respect now via this release by Beijing-based sound artist Yan Jun on his own label Sub Jam
In the same style and format as the book 23 Formes en Elastique(with Lionel Marchetti), this is again a beautiful publication, a hardcover book with a CD, 49 pages. This series of conceptual publications is called Miji which, in translation, means “dense, concentrated. . From the outset, it focused on physical embodiment
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Voice: Hsia Yu
Voice and environment sound recorded by: Hsia Yu and Yan Jun in Taipei and Paris, 2011-2012
Other sound materials played and recorded by: Yan Jun.
mastered by: Taku Unami in Tokyo, 2015
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By the way the Tinnitus in the title is all over the place, so don’t expect some sweet laid-back soundtrack okay? okay!
yan jun, a musician and poet based in beijing.
he works on experimental music and improvised music. he uses noise, field recording, body and concept as materials.
sometimes he goes to audience’s home for playing a plastic bag.
“i wish i was a piece of field recording.”
yanjun.org
For this event, Yuko will read this poem by her mum, Kazuko Shiraishi, called ‘ bus stop'. This is the English translation of it:
BUS STOP
On top of the shifting sand a
Shadow is seeping in like a dot
It is a bus stop
No sign telling from where to where
There is no one
To answer all the questions
Like purpose and what then or
Why
Even what is called meaning
Has worn out and. in the old dictionary
Now gritty and sticking out a stone tongue just laughs
(Even the little room inside the brain
The wind has flown off somewhere
So . . .)
Saying so
I go out get on my bike but even though I get on
I don't have a destination but to go back
Inside, too
That place also is a destination that doesn't exist
Maybe the bus stop. has come to the door
And might be building a fire
Maybe the bus stop with a huge ancient eye
Like an iguana might be watching. passengers
There might be an angel lying face down like a puppy
Pretending to be asleep
There is Sister Maria who became
A green birthmark simply because she was afraid of committing adultery
Also sweat-soaked deserters
In dirty combat boots who can't even become devils. or. lazy angels
The bus stop may be watching them
Smudging. in the color of sand
Around the eyes with the shifting sand
Something that is a dot
On the shifting sand!
Certainly existing that
Phantom existence!
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from ‘Let Those Who Appear’, Kazuko Shiraishi
New Directions Publishing
Translated by Samuel Grolmes & Yumiko Tsumura
