Chris Palmer

Balassagyarmat, Hungary

Lang Long's Dream

Classical

Behind the Music

When I joined The Outlaw Ocean Music Project, my goal was to create music that listeners would find appropriate to the theme of The Outlaw Ocean book. Rather than background music or a soundtrack, I aimed to produce full-fledged neo-classical music that stands on its own. When I read the book, the story of the sea slave, Lang Long, captured me emotionally, which is why Lang Long's Dream became the central part of my three-movement piece. The central theme of the movement is based on the chanting of Cambodian fishermen.

I am aware that, based on current trends, the Earth is heading towards a slow, ecological catastrophe and there is a heroic struggle to stop or, at least, slow down this process.

I was also aware of slavery and piracy on the high seas. The strength of the storytelling of The Outlaw Ocean, however, is that it puts all of these problems in a physical situation. I felt like I could almost become a character in the book. Hopefully, the stories will motivate readers to change and take action.

If there are many more books like Ian's that inspire composers, then there is definitely a future for melding music with journalism.

Chris Palmer
About Chris Palmer

Chris Palmer aka Krisztian Palmai, is an independent music composer from Hungary.  A synthesizer teacher in his hometown, Balassagyarmat, he also plays bass in the jazz band Latte Maffiato. His music is featured in more than eight thousand Spotify playlists.

Winner of the 2021 Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Innovation in Journalism

The Journalism behind the Music

All music in this project is based on The Outlaw Ocean, a New York Times Best-Selling book by Ian Urbina that chronicles lawlessness at sea around the world. This reporting touches on a diversity of abuses ranging from illegal and overfishing, arms trafficking at sea, human slavery, gun running, intentional dumping, murder of stowaways, thievery of ships and other topics.

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