This
all began when Jiang Li was working on the BBC World Service
signature logo project. The problems was that it is very difficult
to find Chinese musicians in the UK for recording. On the other
hand there are lot of professional Chinese traditional musicians
in China looking for work. Due to the geographical and the financial
costs involved in flying to China to do the recording and vice
versa, flying is not an option.
Being
a composer himself, Jiang Li works with music technology on
a day to day basis. He first came to the UK to study Music Technology
13 years ago and has been using the computer for composing ever
since. He first heard about a company called Rocket Network
who was doing research on digital audio recording through the
internet some years ago. Now the technology is fully functional
and intergrated with some leading musical software such as Steinberg
Cubase, Logic Audio and Pro Tools.
After
an initial research and tests on the softwareand some discussions
and consultations with East Midlands Arts, a proposal has been
outlined - to setup a new experimental project, using the help
of latest digital recording technology and the internet, to
complete a piece of music that joins up musicians from China
and the East Midlands in the UK. The final composition will
be completed in real time.
In
the year 2002, in the East Midlands region, the Arts Council
of England launches "The Big Idea", following national
emphasis on cultural diversity for that year. The bursaries
will contribute to a year of celebration ofrom the range of
cultures and communities in the East Midlands, helping artists
from all backgrounds and artforms to engage and exploit new
technologies. East Midlands Arts also anticipates there will
be opportunities to exhibit any work arising out of the bursaries
in the context of "The Big Idea".
The
"East Meets West Project" will have endless significance.
It will expand the horizon of collaborating between musicians
from different backgrounds, cultures, and distances. Open up
creative innovation and imagination for musicians and artists.
Just imagine all artists involved in the production of a piece
of music are from different countries and cultural backgrounds.
Through the internet, they can communicate with each other by
"Text Chat", record their parts and listen to others,
all this is done in real-time. They will also be able to look
for a someone in different styles that they want to work with
or set up new experiment projects.
This
technology will provide a revolutionary opportunity for artists
and musicians around the world to collaborate with each other
and achieve their creativity goals with no limitation.
Thanks
to East Midland Arts as the funder of this first project.
To
find out more about East Midlands Arts please visit our Funder
and Sponsors page.
