Kecak!
Work Overview
Instrumentation: mixed a cappella choir
Commission: Pacific Mozart Ensemble
Premiere: April 20, 2004 San Francisco, CA, Pacific Mozart Ensemble, Richard Grant, conductor
Duration: 4 minutes
Program Note
Kecak! is based on the Indonesian monkey dance of the same name. The origin of kecak can be traced back to trance dances in which a choir of young men call rapid cak-ka-cak rhythms to put into a trance young girls who have been selected to keep misfortune and evil from the village. The main purpose of the kecak choir was to use sharp staccato cries in interlocking style. I have replaced an all male choir with a mixed choir and modified the use of the fast interlocking rhythms. The resultant piece still maintains the intensity and drive of an original kecak dance, but is rethought as my own original composition.
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