“Mikrokosmos” is a series of quadrophonic compositions that combine nature soundscape archives and instruments from various cultures, including Javanese Gamelan, Korean Daegeum, piano, and synthesizer.
This composition was created during the Odyssée Residency 2023 in Abbaye de Noirlac, supported by Association des Centres Cultures de Recontre (ACCR) Europe and the French Ministry of Culture.
Gardika Gigih composed Mikrokosmos 1 and 2, using the nature soundscape archive around Noirlac, recorded by renowned French audio-naturalist Fernand Deroussen, as the basic structure. Starting with birds, insects, water, and frogs sounds. Then, the instrument part was composed, in collaboration with his friend Nanang Bayu Aji, a Gamelan musician from Kasunanan Palace Surakarta, and Hye-Ohn Park, a Daegeum musician and lecturer at Ewha Women University and Gugak Center Seoul, and Gardika himself, playing the synthesizer.
This composition premiered at Abbaye de Noirlac, France, in October 2023
For betontonton 2024, Mikrokosmos 1 and 2 is presented in stereo format.
“Mikrokosmos” is a reflection of our current climate crisis and is also escalated tension in global geopolitics. How do we deal with this and create a better future for humanity and nature?
Composed by Gardika Gigih
In collaboration with:
Fernand Deroussen (audio-naturalist)
Nanang Bayu Aji (Javanese Gamelan)
Hye-Ohn Park (Daegeum)
Soundscape, piano and synthesizer was recorded at Noirlac, France,
Gamelan was recorded at Indonesian Institute of Arts, Surakarta, Indonesia, by Victor Pradipta and Karolus Kerubim
Daegeum was recorded at TSP Studio, Seoul, Korea
Audio Mixed and Mastered by Victor Pradipta at Ruangbunyi
This work would not have been possible without the generous support of the Abbaye de Noirlac Team
Director: Elisabeth Sanson
Administrator: Elsa Guillot
Artistic Project Manager: Marine Pallares
Artistic Production Assistant: Audrey Germain
Technical Director: Maxence Cornu
Stage manager: Alan Guénin
Communications manager: Karine Poussard
Administration & Residences at the ACCR-Europe: Illinca Martorell
Gardika Gigih Pradipta
is an Indonesian composer, pianist, and soundscape researcher. After studying composition at the Indonesian Institute of Arts, Gardika’s interest in the intersection of music, society, and culture led him to pursue a Masters Degree in Cultural Anthropology. His works span numerous genres, from concerts to contemporary improvisation, film scoring, and sound ethnography.
In 2019, Gardika received a fellowship from The Japan Foundation Asia Center to conduct soundscape research as cultural narratives in Southeast Asia and Japan. This research has been published in www.lostinsound.art
From January to June 2023, he is staying in New York as an Asian Cultural Council Fellow to study cultural diversity and multicultural collaboration in the New York music scene.
Last May at the British Library, his composition “Mimpi Owa: A Duet with Javanese Gibbons” won the “Sound of the Year Awards” for the Composed with Sound category, initiated by the BBC Radiophonic Institute and the Museum of Sounds.
He is continuing to develop new compositions and electroacoustic works inspired by his global research.
https://www.asianculturalcouncil.org/about-acc/stories/a-conversation-with-gardika-gigih-pradipta