Our Son Is Not Coming Home To Dinner

a train passing, wait a bit (prelude)
Silvergrass
kok kok kyang, sandalwood chanting (interlude 1)
My Vegetarian Sutra-chanting Grandmother
he dreamt of you (interlude 2)
Turtle Island
we do not wait for you (interlude 3)
Guojun Is Not Coming Home to Dinner
but save a seat, save a seat (postlude)

Our Son Is Not Coming Home To Dinner is a twenty-seven minute, multimedia, cello concerto written by composer Shih-Hui Chen and staged by director Doug Fitch with a video assemblage by Tommy Nguyen. Just upstage of a small triangular reflecting pool, on a central dais surrounded by Silvergrass the solo cellist is seated. Behind her is a translucent projection screen on which shifting imagery plays like a still-life in motion. An ensemble of sixteen players* fills out the stage, all illuminated by an intricate lighting by Nicholas Houfek, designed to set the drama visually and move the storyline forward.

The central structure of this work is four movements of abstract music, inspired by four poems by the Taiwanese writer Chunming Huang: Silvergrass, My Vegetarian Sutra- chanting Grandmother, Turtle Island, and Guojun Is Not Coming Home to Dinner. The four poems are typical of Huang’s passion for depicting working-class lives and mundane daily activities in Taiwan, and they share depictions of devotional duties: The silvergrass' dutiful annual sweeping of the sky; the grandmother’s daily chanting and vegetarian observances; a traveler whose emotion is tied to home, who changes the sheep-counting chant to words about home; and the parents who keep a seat for their child, who will never return. While the first three poems are cheerful, even child-like, the last poem introduces a profound sadness, conveying the grief of Huang and his wife over their son’s tragic death at age thirty.

Our Son Not Coming Home to Dinner is infused with universal themes of nostalgia and loss. This multimedia, cross-cultural, storytelling work is an attempt to reach out to a diverse audience, inviting them to hear and see the imagery of changing moods and shifting times. This works is commissioned by and dedicated to Sophie Shao.

*It is possible to use a small string orchestra (4-4-3-3-2).

Silvergrass

On this day of every year
The silvergrass never forgets to come
To sweep the sky

During daytime
The silvergrass stands by the streams
Sweeping the sky blue
It stands on tiptoes on mountaintops
Sweeping the sky high
Then it calls the sky that is swept blue and high
Autumn

At night
The silvergrass
Stands by the streams
Dusting the stars bright
It stands on tiptoes on mountaintops
Dusting the stars far
Then it calls the stars that are dusted bright and far
The Milky Way

An old farmer
Uses the sky-sweeping and star-dusting silvergrass
To make brooms
And goes to the city to hawk them
When the women surrounding him express doubt
He just tells them to take a look up
At the sky

My Vegetarian and Sutra-chanting Grandmother

Old Grandma has a Buddhist prayer hall decorated all in red
The adults say it is not a place where we kids can play
Often, the hall overflows with the humming of Grandma’s incantation of the sutras
Out wafts the hum of incantation and the sharp scent of sandalwood
Out comes the drone of incantation accompanied by the kok kok kyang, of the temple block and copper bell
A vegetarian, Grandma incants the sutras and performs good deeds
She says the Buddha forbids killing
The Buddha forbids this and forbids that
Namo Amitabha kok kok kyang
kok kok kok kok kyang

Grandma has a Buddhist prayer hall decorated all in red
Inside is a red table
On it sits a stack of sutras in leather covers with red and gold embossed characters
When she chants, she starts at the top of the stack with the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra
And works her way down
Until she reaches the Diamond Sutra
Grandma chants
Namo Amitabha kok kok kyang
kok kok kok kok kyang,

When Grandma finishes incanting the Diamond Sutra
She begins all over again, with the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra And she keeps chanting, working her way down
Namo Amitabha kok kok kyang

Turtle Island

Turtle Island
Whenever this child of Lanyang takes the train to go faraway Whenever he gazes upon you from the distance
He can never tell whether the sadness in the air
Belongs to you or him

Turtle Island
On the days this child of Lanyang was away from his hometown
A multitude of dreams caused insomnia
He dreamt of the Turbid River1
He dreamt of Typhoons Pamela and Beth
He dreamt of you, Turtle Island
The doctor in the strange place that he does not call home
Taught him to count sheep
One sheep, two sheep, three sheep
Four Turbid River, five typhoon
Six Turtle Island

Ah Turtle Island
Whenever this child of Lanyang takes the train home
He can never tell whether the happiness in the air
Belongs to you or him

Guojun Is Not Coming Home to Dinner

Guojun, I know you are not coming home to dinner, so I ate first. Your mom always says, wait a bit.
Because she ends up waiting too long, she does not want to eat. That bag of rice is still full a great many days after we opened it. It even gained some weevils.

Since mom knows that you are not coming home to dinner,
she no longer wants to cook.
She and the Tatung rice cooker have both forgotten how many cups of water go with a cup of rice.
Only now have I realized that mom was born to cook for you.
Now that you do not come home to dinner, she has nothing left to do.
She does not feel like doing anything, not even eating.

Guojun, it has been a year—you have not come home to dinner.
I have stir-fried rice noodles a few times to invite your friends over. Some of your best friends came, but Zhesheng, like you, also
no longer goes home to dinner.
Since we know you are not coming home to dinner,
we do not wait for you, and we do not talk about you,
but we will always save a seat for you.

Translated by Tze-lan Deborah Sang

國峻不回來吃飯

火車開過，等一等 (前奏)
菅芒花
喀喀鏗、檀香 (間奏一)
吃齋唸佛的老奶奶
他 在我夢中 (間奏二)
龜山島
不再等你 (間奏三)
國峻不回來吃飯
....留住你，就留住你 (後奏)

〈國峻不回來吃飯〉由作曲家陳士惠與國際知名導演 Doug Fitch、視覺藝術家Tommy Nguyen共同合作，是一首27分鐘的多媒體大提琴協奏曲。

作品的視覺從舞台正前方的倒三角型小池塘向周邊展開。池邊一排柔而直挺、密而透光的菅芒花，似舞者，既迎向沉浸樂曲演奏的大提琴家，也倒映在三角池中凝思傾聽。大提琴家後方，一面半透明的螢幕似故事牆，正隨著樂曲的情意變化著它的風貌；16名樂團*從舞台兩側散開來，讓樂音伴隨著Nicholas Houfek 精心設計的燈光，推動著故事情節的展演。

這首曲子的創作靈感來自黃春明先生的四首詩 :〈菅芒花 〉、〈吃齋唸佛的老奶奶〉、〈龜山島〉、〈國峻不回來吃飯〉。這些詩都有他慣常描寫日常生活點滴、小人物的堅持與無私奉獻的細膩筆法，例如：菅芒花固定在每年某日來打掃天空、一直唸佛經吃齋的老奶奶、心裡掛牽故鄉不斷地數著回家日子的遊子、總是等著兒子回家吃飯的父母。前三首詩溫和親切，甚至帶有童詩的味道，而最後一首〈國峻不回來吃飯〉，描述父母失去兒子的悲痛，則相當沉重。

懷舊、不捨失去，是我們共有的經驗，也是這首曲子想描述的意境，同時更企圖藉由這首曲子來呈現21世紀跨界的表演藝術，進而引發不同層次觀眾的共鳴，邀請大家聽到、 看到我們多樣的情感世界及世間的無常。感謝美國著名的大提琴家邵欣玲的委托，僅以〈國峻不回來吃飯〉這首作品，獻給邵欣玲。

* 可用小的弦樂團(如4-4-3-3-2)

〈菅芒花 〉

每一年的這一天，菅芒花
總不會忘記來打掃天空
白天
菅芒花站在水邊
把天空掃得藍藍的
菅芒花墊腳山巔
把天空掃得高高的
然後把這掃得
藍藍又高高的天空
取個名字叫
秋天

夜晚
菅芒花站在水邊
把星星撢得亮亮的
菅芒花墊腳山巔
把星星撢得遠遠的
然後把這撢得
亮亮又遠遠的星星
取個名字叫
星空

老農夫
把掃過天空、撢過星星的菅芒花
編成一把一把的掃把
帶到城裡叫賣
當圍觀的婦女表示懷疑
老農夫就叫人抬頭看看
天空

〈吃齋唸佛的老奶奶〉

奶奶有一間紅紅的經堂
大人說，那不是小孩子玩耍的地方
經常早晚傳出奶奶誦經聲喃喃
誦經聲喃喃，飄出撲鼻的檀香
誦經聲喃喃，帶著木魚銅鐘喀喀鏗
喀喀喀喀鏗

奶奶吃齋唸佛勸行善
她說，佛說不許殺生
她說，佛說不許那樣和這樣
南無阿彌陀佛喀喀鏗
喀喀喀喀鏗

奶奶有一間紅紅的經堂
紅紅的經堂有一張紅紅的經案
經案上有一疊紅金燙皮的佛經
奶奶從上面的波羅蜜多經
一直唸，一直唸
一直唸到下方的金剛經
奶奶的誦經聲喃喃
南無阿彌陀佛喀喀鏗
喀喀喀喀鏗

奶奶唸完金剛經
在從頭翻開波羅蜜多經
一直唸，一直唸
南無阿彌陀佛喀喀鏗

〈龜山島〉

龜山島
每當蘭陽的孩子搭火車外出
當他從車窗望著你時
總是分不清空氣中的哀愁
到底是你的，或是他的

龜山島
蘭陽的孩子在外鄉的日子
多夢是他失眠的原因
他夢見濁水溪
他夢見颱風波蜜拉，貝絲
他夢見你，龜山島
外地的醫生教他數羊
ㄧ隻羊、兩隻羊、三隻羊
四隻濁水溪、五隻颱風
六隻龜山島

龜山島
每當蘭陽的孩子搭火車回來
當他從車窗望見你時
總是分不清空氣中的喜悅
到底是你的，或是他的

〈國峻不回來吃飯〉

國峻，我知道你不回來吃晚飯，
我就先吃了，
媽媽總是說等一下，
等久了，她就不吃了，
那包米吃了好久了，還是那麼多，
還多了一些象鼻蟲。

媽媽知道你不回來吃飯，她就不想燒飯了，
她和大同電鍋也都忘了，到底多少米要加多少水？
我到今天才知道，媽媽生下來就是為你燒飯的，
現在你不回來吃飯，媽媽什麼事都沒了，
媽媽什麼事都不想做，連吃飯也不想。

國峻，一年了，你都沒有回來吃飯
我在家炒過幾次米粉請你的好友, 
來了一些你的好友，但是哲生也跟你一樣, 
他也不回家吃飯了。

我們知道你不回來吃飯；
就沒有等你，也故意不談你, 
可是你的位子永遠在那裡。