Uncle / Nephew: Where to stay

My nephew: "Uncle An, why don't you want to stay at our place?"
Me: "It's not that I don't want to... but there isn't much room..."
My nephew: "You could sleep in the living room with Eastwood! (the dog)"
Me: "Eastwood would keep me warm, for sure... but I'm not certain that is a very good idea..."
My nephew: "You could sleep with your brother!"
Me: "... and where would your mother sleep?"
My nephew: "With Eastwood!!!"

Post / in / out / cloud / soon

One glance on my left and I see big fields of clouds. I never get tired of contemplating them. Unexplored territories, ever changing, like our imagination.

I'm flying to Hanoi from where a car will drive me to Ninh Bình, where they're filming Between Shadow and Soul. I need to immerse myself in the landscape of what they call the Ha Long Bay on land. Not enough time to give much thought to the film. Only a few musical sketches that quickly passed my mind without leaving a very deep imprint. I feel slightly nervous, naturally, as the project is the first real long feature film I will be scoring for. The four previous ones I did in Taiwan didn't lead to much: one film which was never completed, much less released, three made-for-TV films, two of them directed by Jay Chern. But I saw them as good practice. I know what to do, and what not to do. 

 Now Ninh Bình... And also to see Thọ again. He was the force that supported me during the past weeks of hardship with Sébastien and that woman Sylvie, as we were tirelessly working on the [FEEL] in/out 2016 event. Just knowing that Thọ was thinking of me and eager to see me again was enough of a thought to soothe my mind and boost my perseverance. Just a few hours before we lie in bed together again and drink each other's presence.

Between shadow and...

I just came back from Ninh Bình, a small town in the north of Vietnam. It is past midnight now in Saigon. A GrabBike has just dropped me in front of 75 Trần Quốc Thảo, where I have been staying for a little more than a week. I feel contented, hopeful and resolute, confident that things are now going to be great again and end 2016 on a hopeful and brighter note.

A few days ago, I met with the producer of a new long feature film called Giữa bóng tối và tâm hồn (Between Shadow and Soul) that is currently being shot in Vietnam. As I read the first email she sent to me, I was surprised to learn that it was Trần Anh Hùng who suggested that she contacted me. 

He apparently is supporting the project and his wife, Yên Khê is playing one of the leading female roles. A film supported by them could not be a bad one!
The first encounter went very well. I felt like stepping through that door. The story, about a fourteen-year-old young bride who has to face premature adulthood and married life deeply struck a chord in me. Ngọc, the producer suggested that I took a day or two and come meet the director, Phương Anh, who goes by the name of Ash, as well as the whole team. It didn't take long before I accepted the offer. We had not really started anything for the [FEEL] in/out event in Saigon. I had time. 

Called the Ha Long Bay on land, Ninh Bình  is breathtaking. I think I have found the place where I will spend my older years.

Just two days to meet Ash, the director, the whole film crew, the actors. They had been filming for about three weeks already. I was driven to a hotel by a road. I had been dozing on and off on the way from Hanoi, occasionally waking up to see an eye catching landscape, a small village, rice fields or mountains in the background...
Large hotel, fairly new, looking like so many hastily built hotels to accommodate a growing number of tourists. 
"We will meet at three to go to the site. There will be a ceremony because Tina, the assistant director saw the ghost of a little girl sitting on the bed in one of the houses where we will be filming tomorrow..."

A perfect way to start...

And I'm also happy I found the time to pay dear old Tim a visit at the hospital. I really feared for his life and was glad to see he made it through, even if his state of health if far from stable. 
That man is really an adventurer. From Australia which he hates, to years in Hong Kong, and now in Hanoi with this young lad...

Ninh Bình.

It seems that the giant outdoor karaoke in the hotel courtyard will last the whole night, although at this rate, with all this off-key yelling, their vocal chords will perhaps beg for mercy very soon. Despite that, I find this youthful ebullient joie de vivre very charming.
What is less charming is to get up early tomorrow for a shooting at 5:45 a.m. ...

  

Up Down Suite

Roller-coaster. I had just finished a studio session for the SILK x 21 project. We recorded the vocals and strings, cello and violin, for Spirit, one of the fourteen pieces that now compose the entire project, then the spoken vocals on four other tracks. The session was conducted by Micky Yang, whom I had not properly seen since his wedding, some seven years ago. We worked together on the recording of the musical Auntie, and the experience was a joyous one. The studio was located in the Neihu, an area I genuinely detest, on the fifth floor of an industrial building near the freeway. 

I went there in advance with James, who was to do the spoken vocals. Micky was preparing the microphones. The room was large and comfortable. During all these years I had been working whether at home with my old and now defunct computer and my little ZOOM recorder, or at a friend's who has a room in his flat turned into a mini studio. Never in such comfortable conditions. I enjoyed every single second of the full afternoon I spent there, enjoying it as a night in a five star hotel after years in dodgy motel rooms.
Shandy came to meet the musicians and meet Micky who will also do the mixing of the music. She looked radiant and happy to be there.
"This movement, Spirit is one of my favourite!" she exclaimed. "I felt connected to it as soon as you played it to me, remember?"
I wrote Spirit twenty years ago, as I was touring with Michèle Atlani. The melody, with its Slavic and nearly religious tone came to me one day in Marseilles. Nothing was done with it until the wedding of my brother. I harmonised it for 5 voices and added a cello part. We performed it as a part of a short mass I composed for the occasion in the church near my parents' house in Saint Maur during the ceremony. It was then that it took its full shape. When I started writing more music for Silk x 21, it struck me that it would find its right place in the musical journey I was bringing to life.

We decided to postpone the mixing of the music to December. I was going to go to Vietnam in November, my computer was dead, and it would take me some time to find a way to retrieve all the work that is stored in its hard disks. The unfortunate demise of my dear old computer is perhaps a blessing in disguise as it now compels me to move on to the next level and upgrade my life. How it will is another question, but I will soon find out.

The day ended on a totally different note. I received a short message from Jan announcing the passing of his father. The piece of news was like burning coal in my hands. I didn't know what to do of it.
Multiple images rushed past my mind. My first time at Jan's place in Pforzheim, Germany, when I was seventeen. Our trips across the Black Forest. The lively talks during dinners, their elaborate and witty word plays, his hearty and communicative laughs, engaging and warm personality, the way he and his wife Ursula woke up and startled Jan out of his sleep one morning to sing him a birthday song on the guitar...
Jan's father, Manfred was like a second father to me. He welcomed me into his own family without any question. Spending time at their place was always a joyful feast.  
He passed away in his sleep. Exhaustion, heart failure. His wife realised it during the night. Then I recalled that I thought of Jan and his family earlier in the morning: I was doing my laundry and suddenly my head got stuck with the image of Maren, Jan's sister, then Jan, then his parents. I didn't make much of it. We had mentioned the possibility to spend one last Christmas all together before they would sell their house beautiful in Pforzheim, and rejoiced at the idea.

I was sitting in one of the armchairs of the studio, torn between the joyfulness I had felt during the day and the saddening news. 2016 has given a lot of its bittersweet fruits. Too much of them.

The Ton That and Stümke families in Paris - 2014

A peaceful afternoon at the Lin An Tai Ancestral House. Apparently, one of the oldest residence in Taipei. That said, it has been heavily renovated to the point of looking like a period drama film set. Nevermind, as this beautiful place really has given me lots of inspiration for a short film or a music video... Let's see what comes out of it. Better visit it during the week days. And it's not far away from my flat. Temples, parks, museum, river... It may not be fancy for people who like to go to shopping malls, bars and designers' stores. But that is totally fine with me. I like low-key local vibe of it. So lucky was I when I found this flat! Now many friends want to find a place to rent in the neighborhood.

 Photo of the day: my father and a Buddhist monk.