Chinese composer's soundtrack from track sounds

BEIJING, Oct 22 (Reuters) Anyone who has ever wondered what sound world champion Liu Xiang makes when he starts a high hurdles race will find out when Chinese composer Tan Dun's music for the Beijing Olympics is unveiled next year.

Hunan-born Tan, best known for his Oscar-winning score for the movie ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'', intends to incorporate sounds made by China's three best known Olympians in ''organic music'' he is composing for next August's Games.

''(I will use the) sounds of water splashes made by diver Guo Jingjing, balls hit by basketball player Yao Ming and the race start of hurdler Liu Xiang,'' Tan told Xinhua news agency at the 9th China Shanghai International Arts Festival.

Describing himself as ''just one of many'' Olympic volunteers planning the music for the opening and medal ceremonies, Tan said the sportsmen and women were not only great athletes but artists too.

''I can sense musical tempos in their movements,'' he added.

''They are natural sounds embodying sports passion, which are quite touching. I can see colours and hear music in the rhythm of their movement.'' Tan, 50, a leader of China's ''New Wave'' of composers, has often used natural sounds in his work, water in particular.

''I often think of the scene around the Liuyang River in my hometown, people washing clothes in the river and the musicality of the sounds of water never cease,'' Tan said.

REUTERS RAR AS1312