Julian Tjon Sack Kie is an intuitive composer and musician who is moving between the worlds of contemporary classical, jazz and electronic music. For Julian, composing is a way of communicating topics such as nature, non-Western philosophies, and spiritual practices. Or personal stories such as his Surinamese roots, navigating through a Western society, and the dialogues with his inner self.
At the Gaudeamus Festival, he presents a new composition for cello and electronics based on the concept of Tidalectics by the Barbadian poet and historian Kamau Brathwaite. This concept challenges the Western obsession with solidity and certainty, contrasting it with the fluidity of water, the tides, and the rhythmic action of waves. Through a spatial speaker system, this oceanic movement is translated into a musical language. The work aims not only to create awareness of the ocean but also to use the ocean as a metaphor for contemplating life.
