Ancient Dance for Ancestors for Tenor, Bb Clarinet, and Percussion
Ancient Dance for Ancestors for Tenor, Bb Clarinet, and Percussion is an original composition by Dr. Chaipruck Mekara (Assist. Prof. Dr., College of Music, Payap University). The work was conceived to explore the cross-cultural dialogue between Lanna — the cultural heritage of Northern Thailand — and the Western contemporary music tradition.
Throughout the composition, the composer demonstrates how inspiration and raw material drawn from ancestral dance traditions are applied and transformed through Western compositional techniques. The result is a work that presents multiple interpretations of dances associated with ancestor spirits, rendered through the distinctive combination of solo tenor voice, Bb clarinet, and percussion.
A full analytical study of the compositional processes employed in this work has been published in the peer-reviewed Veridian E-Journal, Silpakorn University, Vol. 11, No. 4 (January–June 2018): Read the full article
Keywords: New Music Composition · Ancient Dance · New Music Ensemble
