Description
Batubulan is a village in the south of Bali which is famous for its stone carvings: in English, Batubulan means ‘moon stone’. The immense carvings (mainly of gods and animals) line all of the roads like a huge, silent army. I was also influenced by the complex calendar of the Balinese (called Pawukon) which is made up of ten cycles, each comprising different numbers of days, which run concurrently. The musical events of my piece were organised in a manner which emulates the structure of the calendar, with static blocks of music organised in a cyclic form.
Batubulan was first performed by Jin Hyung Lim on 4th November 2015, in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York