Nenneko Pantsu (2019-2021)

日本語：ねんねこパンツ

for glowing soprano saxophone and installation

Commissioned by Yui Sakagoshi (Japan)

ca. 10 min.​

Purchase PDF score (USD20) HERE

   For Centuries, humans have pondered the meanings of dreams. When we enter a dream, we are able to witness emotions, desires, and memories buried deep within us. Fragments of ourselves, which does not align with the cultural and the social expectations of the world and therefore must be concealed while awake, can emerge in diverse shapes and forms in our dreams.

  Modern scientists are yet unable to bring to light on how dreams function in our lives. It is not rare for one to have felt a genuine experience of an authentic self in a dream, free from all social restrains and handcuffs. Nenneko Pantsu aims to recreate and explore the worlds of dreams we experience while we sleep, while posing the questions: Are we trapped in a small box made of what society expect us to think and act while we are awake? Are we freer to genuinely think, act, and subconsciously create and express our worlds in our dreams?

  Nenneko Pantsu was commissioned by saxophonist Yui Sakagoshi in 2019, and was composed during the pandemic. The music video was shot in April 2021 in Room 405 at Hôtel Graffalgar in Strasbourg, France. The composition can be performed with a live video projection, as indicated in the score.

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  The central theme and question explored in this composition is whether individuals have more freedom in their awakened state or in their dream state. In our awakened state, people often suppress their true feelings in order to avoid conflict or judgment from their community. They may hide their trauma, shame, guilt, and desires in order to conform to societal norms. Similarly, in our dreams, individuals might also "act" in a way that conceals their true selves, but in dreams, the concept of "I" extends beyond the first-person perspective character and encompasses the entire dream world. Consequently, emotions and desires that are deeply buried within us may manifest in unexpected ways within the dream world.

  The music video for Nenneko Pantsu begins with the opening of an elevator door and the individual stepping out of the elevator box, symbolizing the entrance into a dream. Throughout the video, underwear is highlighted in unexpected places, serving as a symbol for the hidden feelings and desires that people often conceal in their awakened state. Finally, at the end of the music video, the individual returns to the elevator, and the door closes, symbolizing that our awakened state may, in fact, be confined within a small, claustrophobic box, limited by societal constraints. This composition and its accompanying video explore the contrast between the freedom to express oneself in dreams and the constraints of societal expectations in the awakened state.

April 22, 2021 (World Premiere)

Nenneko Pantsu

[Video Archive]

Hôtel Graffalgar, Strasbroug, France

Yui Sakagoshi (saxophone)

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May 4, 2021 (Online)

Framing the Normal

Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts, Antwerp, Brussels

Yui Sakagoshi (saxophone)​

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June 1, 2021 (Russia Premiere)

reMusik.org

St. Petersburg, Russia

Serafima Verkholat (saxophone)

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Oct. 13, 2021 (Online)

Festival Expresiones Contemporáneas

[Video Archive]

Puebla City, Mexico

Yui Sakagoshi (saxophone)

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Oct. 21, 2022

Festival POTE "Éblouie"

Besançon, France

Yui Sakagoshi (saxophone)

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July 19, 2023 (Japan Premiere)

空間におけるサクソフォンと身体の相乗効果

Kunitachi College of Music, Tokyo, Japan

Yui Sakagoshi (saxophone)

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July 29 & 30, 2023

繭 - MAYU

JITSUZAISEI, Osaka, Japan

Yui Sakagoshi (saxophone)