Javanese Gamelan Music

frozenman on 4/4/2010 at 04:55

Quote Posted by Aerothorn

My father attended Wesleyan, which at the time had one of only three full gamelan orchestras in the USA, if I recall

Cool! I sometimes head to klenengan's (all night playing parties, generally get drunk) and play at the Wesleyan gamelan which is insanely nice. Do you go to UMASS Amherst Aerothon? I think there might be a balinese gamelan there?

Aerothorn on 4/4/2010 at 13:45

Hampshire College, but we get to take UMASS classes (I'm in an Anime/Manga one right now). Unfortunately it's my last semester of a full courseload and there is no way the gamelan is counting as my Advanced Learning Activity next semester. Someday, though!

Noidypoos on 5/4/2010 at 18:20

This owns, of course I had first concious exposure through the track "Kaneda" on the Akira soundtrack which is just ridiculous. The timbres some of these instruments produce are insane, and there's a lot of interesting rhythmic changes. Froz can you reccommend any disc sets of decent gamelans, particularily anything energetic or composed in a modern style a la Geinoh Yamashirogumi, shits off the hook

frozenman on 5/4/2010 at 19:15

Energetic and modern style I don't know a terrible amount of, but it sounds like you'd be slightly more interested in balinese style? There is a group based at MIT called Gamelan Galak Tika (clever dudes), like everything at MIT they tend to just add robots into the mix and everyone calls it visionary. But from what I gather they often eschew the traditional forms of gamelan pieces i.e. adding shit like synthesizers and robots. (http://www.galaktika.org/) Their website and a (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqH_L7uZkqA) you tube video

I've downloaded a balinese disc called (http://www.amazon.com/Bali-Gamelan-Semar-Pegulingan-Love/dp/B00007M57G) Bali: Gamelan Semar Pegulingan (Gamelan The God of Love) which is a mouthful to say pegulingan pegulingan

Now having played both, Javanese gamelan isn't nearly as accessible as balinese to western ears. Balinese is like a vicious knife fight in several dimensions, or as if the Balinese people have borderline schizophrenic attention deficit disorder where they look at a gamelan and go BWARRR lets play it like THIS 1232323123232455432555566532, and lets make it so fast that each player actually plays only 1 of 4 notes, add them all up we have the piece, finally let's detune half of the instruments so that there's a constant beat of about 4 hz and make us space out more.

Javanese feels richer and deeper- like an enormous tree that blooms throughout the piece, or a huge bicycle-like mechanism with gears within gears slowly turning throughout the piece, or even lava spewing out into the ocean, always with the flaming orange core but also always cooling down and curling off. But asides from my drug-induced metaphors, there are actually concrete and hugely complex ideas of mode (pathet) and melody that have been really eye-opening to someone who has heard equal temperament all their life. I mostly listen to Javanese recordings online as my instructor has given me access to an enormous and I mean fucking huge collection of recordings- PM me noidy if you want and Ill try to find a few and download them etc

frozenman on 21/4/2010 at 17:13

I just wanted to make a post for anyone who is slightly interested- we recently had our semester's performance and some videos have made it onto youtube that are of better quality than the one I linked in my OP.

Here are 2 minute clips from the first 2 pieces

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei7uMurvmAE) Puspawarna - in this piece i'm playing the really high pitched instrument- I'm in black looking all pissed cause I have to play this irritating instrument

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xlAcSIj-XY) Kagok - in this piece I am the one with my back to the audience playing bonang panerus, which is very difficult to pick out in the audio but it's there.

These two are also a good example of the different tuning systems- the first is in slendro and the second in pelog. Kagok is a fascinating piece- in normal pieces there is a balungan (skeletal melody, literally what is written on the page for notation) that is played directly by the primary saron section (the big xylophones). In Kagok, about half way through the piece everything sort of fragments, everyone is playing interlocking interpretations of the balungan- in fact no one is playing what's written on the sheet.

Enjoy!

Noidypoos on 24/4/2010 at 02:39

Ah, I thought it was pelag throughout. Obviously these low quality recordings are terrible but the second one is dope, what's the deep gong that sounds every now and then; and more importantly, the vocals, are they delivered by each performer as they play their individual instrument, or is there a select group of vocalists who do that work while the rest focus on the ryth

frozenman on 24/4/2010 at 04:17

That deep gong sound every now and then...yup is in fact a gong

The singing is done by specific people in the group, not the players at other instruments. There are female singing parts (psindhen), which are the two ladies sitting way up front, and a male chorus (gerongan) which are the 7 or 8 bros at the back right. Some other fun facts about the singing: the psindhen is kind of given overly preferential treatment- rarely are the performers names listed at a gamelan performance, but if they are it is the psindhen. I think this is a Javanese over compensation for the fact that almost entirely men play the gamelan. The lyrics to the songs seem to be largely based on elaborate puns that come out of the fucking crazy javanese language- for example the name of this gamelan, this set of instruments, is Rinennga Sih Tentrem which both means 'Enhanced by Serenity' and 'Made by Tentrem' (the gongsmith who made all the instruments). Finally in lower beat densities the male singers will begin a really awesome interlocking clapping- half clap on the beat, half off, and if there are more than 2 people it'll get subdivided further.

frozenman on 20/11/2010 at 13:32

Its that time of year again- this year our concert is being webcast for some reason, so the whole world can check it out. Tuft's is having a virtual music festival this weekend, and gamelan is featured amongst GOSPEL CHOIR, symphony orchestra, and chorus, smooooth.

Here's the link- (http://as.tufts.edu/music/mediaGamelanNov20-2010.htm)

If you happen to be around from 3pm to 5pm EST please check it out I'd be curious to hear how the sound quality came out.

ZymeAddict on 23/11/2010 at 02:19

Quote Posted by frozenman

Now, on one hand I slightly and instinctually resent the urge to sample gamelan instruments, and when the phrase 'gamelan-style' is used in music reviews to describe some western music, but on the other hand I know I am just as guilty so I won't rant too viciously. Gamelan music is enormously complex, has a long history, and I can't help but feel it's a slight disservice to say 'Hm that's a cool sound lemme use it in a western context I don't like it in it's original state.' This is just my opinion though, sample away! (thanks scumble I've already downloaded them)

You may "resent" it, but it's been very common over the past 100 years or so. Everyone from (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjBrR7mc44Q) Debussy to (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc3-C7Lnzh0) Cage has experimented with "gamelan-influenced" music.

java neo on 24/2/2012 at 12:35

Quote Posted by frozenman

Gendhing ketawang puspawarna was created by Mangkunegoro IV ,ruling from 1853-1881,this gendhing ,too,was included in the Voyager`s Golden Record sent to outer space in 1970`s :thumb: