Kerry Yong
Statistics: Kerry Yong
Angle: obtuse (since even my friends sometimes don't know what i'm talking about), but perhaps acute, if you've seen my build.
Standard practice: this used to be playing the piano. now nothing seems standard anymore.
Height: 6 foot, IC5 male.
Nested irrationals: can make you dizzy at first. some of the time they are worthwhile when you can understand why the composer had to use them. irrationals are simply irritating and irrelevant in other contexts - they encourage cheating and fraud.
Frequency: i can be a bit omnivorous - i like most of them in moderation and excess. oh, i like prime numbers.
Sustenance: i'm genetically chinese. we eat most things and are pretty obsessed with food. i generally prefer savoury to sweet and big meals to snacks but i probably break the rule. music is also sustenance. and the sacrement of bread and wine.
Time: being a 'last-minute-person' i could always do with more. time always seems to pass too quickly.
Bonus: i got one once when i worked in the office of a film music composer.
Omar Johnsen (Casiokids) interviews Kerry Yong
Q How did you come to use Casio keyboards in contemporary music settings?
A It came slightly by accident and is still quite a new project: I was booked to play in a new series called Kämmer Klang in East London that experiments with performing ‘serious’ new music in different settings – like bars. The venue had a piano there on the day the organiser visited it. But then the piano disappeared – the venue hadn’t made it clear that it wasn’t always there. Rather than withdraw, I thought of a crazy substitute. Although these works were originally for piano with electronics, Aitsi by Scelsi also existed as a string quartet and I always wondered if it could work on electric guitars. And Stockhausen’s Klavierstuck XVI allows for the inclusion of electronic synthesizers and samplers. At the same time, a friend had lent me his Casio keyboard (an MT-210), which we were using to make lo-fi retro-sounding music at church. So the experiment of retro-adapting works for an 80s Casiotone began: the project COVER ME CASIO was born.
Q What do think about Walter/Wendy Carlos (with the use of Moog synthesizers on "Switched on Bach") or other people performing or recording music from the classical world with so called non-traditional instruments?
A I have a generally positive view of adapting music for new forces. I LOVE the Wendy Carlos’s Switched on Bach: they bring out aspects of the music that are killed by a certain seriousness and preciousness in classical performance. And the thing is, great performances of Bach will still continue – it’s very robust music and the diversity is refreshing and illuminating. As for performing or adapting music that isn’t your mother-tongue – I see great value in it: sometimes it will work, sometimes it won’t. But it’s worth giving it a go. And even if the result has a somewhat limited shelf-life, you still learn and experience something new from both musics. And it’s a kind of dare too – the risk is actually quite fun!
Q What are are the reactions like to your casio-oriented performances?
A It certainly depends who you ask. So far, I’ve been fortunate enough to receive only positive reactions, a few baffled but curious ones, but mostly very enthusiastic. However, I did receive one negative reaction to the performance of one work: that it was ‘totally wrong’. I try to take this in the best possible light…
Q I know you are familiar with the Bergen-based composer Knut Vaage. What fascinates you about his work?
A Knut Vaage has an excellent imagination for colour and drama. The Electra pieces (which I will newly adapt for the Festival) have a wonderful palette of colour, noise and space, and a great sense for pacing and action.
Q Which Casio sound (preset) is your favourite?
A But there are twenty delightful ones to choose from – not including the beats and accompaniments! I’ll try to name my top four: vibraphone, ‘funny’, synth guitar and jazz organ. But I want to include more!