The Immersive Sound Journey

A Song Within Us is a sound-interactive experience, with Ambisonic audio. During the experience, viewers will watch a linear, 360- degree 3D film, without wearing earphones in the Ambisonic dome. Our goal is to create an experience that encourages viewers to become involved in the Taiwanese aboriginal fantasy ritual.

Written and Directed by

Fangas Nayaw, an Amis from Taitung, he graduated from the Department of Drama and Theatre at National Taiwan University, and received his master degree in the acting discipline from the Graduate Institute of Theater Arts and Create at Taipei National University of the Arts. Now an aboriginal performance artist and creator, he has made his presence in acting, playwriting, and directing in recent years, with experiences in cross-disciplinary image production, theater and dance, earning him the nickname “Creative Monster” Having a child-like pureness underneath his mature face, his modern performance vocabulary continues to exude the soul and heritage of tradition. Honoring his aboriginal background, he moves fluidly in between contemporary and traditional, consistently asking questions and letting his voices heard. Always having people second guessing his next creative move, he attempts to probe into and share the tendencies and movements of “people”, as he constantly looks to nature, his mentor, for inspirations. He is heading to Cité Internationale des Arts in France in 2018 on the Artist in Residence Grants from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. His performing works have been nominated by the Taishin Arts Awards and invited to play in numerous art festivals. He has received many accolades for his recent directorial works, including the Pulima Art Award, Ministry of Cultural Affairs My First Show Program initiative, recipient of Cloud Gate Dance-LO Man-Fei Dance Scholarship in 2015 and 2017.

Director’s Statement

With “A Song Within Us”, cultural scenes of traditional dance and music of aboriginal tribes turn into immersive visual movement. By experiencing music and dance with the mediums, VR and Ambisonic, participants get a more comprehensive understanding about traditional culture. Aboriginal music and dance are the bridge that connects ancestors and nature. Such cultural practice exists also annual ceremonies and ballads in daily life, with physical reactions to natural environment and labor. The connections among people get closer during ceremonies. By watching and experiencing in VR, the participant can get multiple points of view, instead of a single narration. The action of putting the headset on and launching the Ambisonic device also turns the medium, VR, into a ritual, by which we can be virtualized into a soul and peek at the rendition of various aboriginal cultural precepts.

Ambisonics

A SONG WITHIN US combines virtual reality and sound interaction with ambisonic system.

Singing Recognition & Interactive

We had developed a singing recognition system. We used pitch detection approach to recognize the singing from viewers. The system can then process the audio signal to estimate the pitch that the participant makes. The pitch is determined by the fundamental frequency of the sound.