Dark Sky (Tee O O)  天黑黑

This humorous traditional song depicts an old couple’s quarrel over how to prepare an eel dish. The dark sky and the arrival of a storm symbolize the disagreement between the two over whether the eel should be prepared with more or less salt. In the end, the frying pan is damaged and the dish is lost.

 

Fabian Müller‘s commentary: Taiwan’s food culture is absolutely overwhelming and omnipresent in everyday life. I enjoy it very much every time I am there. No wonder that you’ll encounter food even in folk songs!The dance-like rhythm of this amusing song prompted me to use a wide range of orchestral percussion instruments such as timpani, tom-toms, cymbals and the xylophone to express a certain irony and to convey the dispute with musical textures resembling a thunderstorm. Right at the beginning, the approaching storm is depicted by the sounds of thunder and lightning. The breakdown in the percussion instruments indicates the breaking of the pan at the end of the song.