Listen to mp3s, look at scores and learn more about the music of Dirk Johan Stromberg - Composer, Performer, Musician, Educator, Technologist and Copyist.

Tropendrift (spring 2004 - summer 2005)

Dirk Johan Stromberg's recent album, Tropendrift, is now available internationally. Released last year in the Netherlands by publishing firm In De Knipscheer (http://www.indeknipscheer.nl) and the album is now available through CD Baby (http://www.cdbaby.co/dirkjohan - USA, EU, ASIA, Australia and South America), Bruna - EU or directly from In De Knipscheer. Indulge your curiosity, support the arts or try something new and get your copy today!

This is a work many years in the making with the poetry of Albert Hagenaars and the translation of John Irons. A work that explores South-East Asia sonically and poetically. Below you will find a couple of texts to get an idea of the work and some mp3s. Check out the book as well it is a fascinating read.

audio snippets from the CD

Kuala Lumpur

Dance of the Monkey's II

More about the Project

I first read Tropendrift / Tropical Drift in December 2004. I was immediately attracted to it because of its sexuality, longing and beauty. Inspired by Tropendrift, I dropped my plans to move to Europe and set off on a three-month trip to Asia to try and gain a better understanding of the aesthetics underlying the book.

My perception of the poetry changed greatly during this trip. The work began to assume the rhythms that friends sang to me, the time of the locations and the new world of sounds that had enveloped me – those of tuk-tuks, wet markets and a language that sang in a melodious monotone.

Financially exhausted by my trip, I headed off to play on a cruise ship in Mexico in order to finance my work on Tropendrift.

After a few months on the ship, I returned to NYC to finish translating the sketches into a composition and to record.

During the recording process, I was amazed at the depth of the book. So many layers of meaning and sub-currents surfaced that I had not seen or clearly realized before as I completed the sessions – over a year after first having delved deeply into the book. After a couple of months, the work was on hard disk and I took it with me to be mastered in the Philippines, the country of origin of my wife Sheryl.

When finishing the recording during monsoon rain at the Taal volcano, I realized the work had finally come home.

Tropendrift includes only 18 of the 48 spectacular poems of the book. The poems have been selected on the basis of my own personal experiences and the desire to retain the flow and form of the book.

The work consists of two parts, each with three movements, which in turn comprise three subsections. Any movement of the work can either stand independently or play its role in the larger context of the composition, as the listener desires.

The author of the poetry prefers to have the subsections of the movements that deal with the same theme segued together – such as the Goddess of Love and Dance of the Monkeys.

The work is meant for a performance with all parts performed life with the addition of some looping, automated diffusion and artificial intelligence.

Dirk Johan Stromberg, 2005

contents of the CD

part 1

movement 1 - Thailand

Bangkok R & R

Chieng Mai: The Fortune-Teller

Mae Sai: The Border

movement 2 - Malaysia

Georgetown

Kuala Lumpur

Jahore Baru

movement 3 - Singapore

Singapore I: 8 Dec. 1942. 04:15AM.

Singapore II: POW

Singapore III: Bugis Street

part 2

movement 1

The Goddess of Love I

The Goddess of Love II

The Goddess of Love III

movement 2

Dance of the Monkeys I

Dance of the Monkeys II

Dance of the Monkeys III

movement 3

Singapore I: The Strait

Singapore II: The Plantation

Singapore III: Kranji Memorial

Dedications

For Mona, as promised, once...

For Sirirak Palasak; the timing, pulse and sound world is that you showed me

Narrator: Douglas Cohen

Flute and Piccolo: Andrea La Rose

Saxophones and Flute: Christopher Bacas

Guitar: Alfredo Marin

Bass: Andrew Livingston

Computer: Dirk Johan Stromberg and Artificial Intelligence

Recorded and Engineered by Dirk Johan Stromberg, NYC 2005 (Nuhn Recording)

Mastered and Produced by Dirk Johan Stromberg, Philippines 2005

Music Composed Spring 2004-Spring 2005 in The Netherlands, United States, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and Mexico

Special thanks: George Brunner, Sheryl Stromberg, my friends/performers, family, Albert Hagenaars, John Irons and...

The musical influences for this work run the gamut and I feel they should be mentioned for their profound influence on this work. Laurie Anderson (Big Science), Radiohead (no surprises, let down), Paul Lansky, Mahler (symphony nr. 9), Nirvana (live at University of Washington, Seattle), Tobias Picker (Encantadas), Amnon Wolman (Dangerous Bends), Philip Glass (Einstein on the Beach, Kundun), Robert Ashley (Improvements), Leadbelly, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson, and my own works from The Paint They Left on My Lips.