photo courtesy of dan asia Dan Asia's electroacoustic composition "Sacred and Profane" comes to Crowder Hall as part of a celebration of the UA composer's 50th birthday. The performance is Sunday at 7:30 p.m. It is $20 for admission and a CD.

UA composer digitizes God

Sure, digitally manipulated voice samples implying the presence of God sound amazing, but can you dance to them?

Composer Daniel Asia, professor of music and head of the UA's composition program, thinks you can. As part of a celebration of Asia's 50th birthday, he's presenting his electroacoustic composition, "Sacred and Profane," in a new way.

Asia will be a part of other concerts celebrating his work in New York City, Cleveland, Seattle and Salt Lake City this year, and the BBC will record his March 31 performance in London.

"Sacred and Profane" is a complex yet strangely accessible work. Despite the layers of what sound like robotic dogs barking backwards, sheet metal falling on water and various other computer-generated effects, there is the presence of something categorically musical.

"My music is highly American," said Asia. "I grew up playing jazz trombone and guitar, listening to classical music and Miles Davis."

The term "electroacoustic" refers to music made by taking acoustic sounds - basically anything generated outside of a computer, like the sound of water or a voice - and manipulating the medium on which they are recorded. In other words, the sounds themselves stay fundamentally the same but can come out sounding radically different.

It's no surprise, then, that some composers find the process more engrossing than the product. This can lead to compositions that, while fascinating to read about, are torturous to listen to. Not so with Asia.

"I like to say, 'Here's something you can listen to and really dig.' I don't have to talk about the process," he said. "You don't have to know about the structure to enjoy it. Composers want to engage the mind and let (listeners) think about things as well."

This particular performance is a special one for Asia. "Sacred and Profane" was a collaboration with Kip Haaheim, who

co-wrote the music and spoke the words. The words were culled from the writings of Rabbi Nachman, a Hassidic writer of the 18th century, as the raw materials for the composition.

In the upcoming performance, the music will be accompanied by video from visual artist Janet Davidson-Hues.

"The colors and imagery are absolutely exquisite," said Asia. "We did (the video segment) a couple years ago for 'Sacred' movements and used dance for the 'Profane' movements."

This time, though, the video segments will play throughout the entire piece, which alternates between "Sacred" - characterized by music based on Haaheim's readings of Nachman - and "Profane" - music created entirely on computers.

"It's an incredibly hip thing that's just very unusual," said Asia.

As an added bonus, the price of the ticket includes a copy of "Sacred and Profane" that contains an otherwise unavailable dance mix of the piece.

The performance of "Sacred and Profane" will hit Crowder Hall Sunday at 7:30 p.m. and will be followed by a question-and-answer session with Asia, Haaheim and Davidson-Hues. Tickets are $20.