THE INTERPRETER
2021
Algo-rhythmic transformation
Like music, language also has an underlying rhythm. Yet different languages have different prosodic patterns. For example, English is stress-timed, which means some syllables are longer, others are shorter, whereas Cantonese is syllable-timed, which means syllables are of equal length. Therefore, the act of speaking itself creates a very interesting rhythm each and everytime. This sound installation is a device, like an interpreter between speech and music. It records the dialogue of 2 persons, and instead of translating it into another language, the computer algorithm of the device translates the dialogue into rhythm and tone, which is then played by a full kit of drum set. So, simply by talking to each other through this 'Interpreter', the two interlocutors are generating a new piece of rhythm.
A digital version of The Interpreter featuring the same algorithm is now live on
www.theinterpreter.live
Lost in translation
On first sight, The Interpreter looks to be a behemoth cut-up and arranged in an exploded view. Co-created by designer Chaklam Ng and linguist Dr. Jackie Lou, this machine strips speech of its symbolic meaning and transforms it into music.
The body: seven drums and six cymbals suspended in a chrome shell; the mind: a unique algorithm that is designed from the ground up with both musical and research applications in mind.
A multilingual person himself, Chaklam noticed that the lengths of syllables differ in Cantonese and English, thus the act of speaking invariably creates interesting rhythms.
With input from Jackie and programmer John Chau, the team was able to build an algorithm that harnesses features naturally occurring in everyday speech, such as pitch, duration and tonal change.
“Like music, language has underlying rhythms,”
Dr Jackie Jia Lou
First debuted at PMQ deTour 2021, The Interpreter invites two users to stand and speak into microphones mounted on two ends of the behemoth machine.
Watch as the exposed mechanisms go to work, translating the ebbs and flows of what was just said into hits on different drum pieces: do you hear what the other person is trying to say?
This is a playful twist on PMQ deTour 2021’s theme of “usefulness”: the machine recontextualises the use of language in music by removing its symbolic functions and amplifying the rhythms hidden within.
The Interpreter is yet another excursion into the interpenetrating boundaries of music and language by Chaklam, after building a sound collage machine, PRP.
He continues to work on The Interpreter for musical applications and refining its algorithm, also exploring its use as a tool for linguistics research.