Fusion Music May 2012

 

Music(s) - fixed or changing?

Musics never stand still and any particular music is always becoming something else. For example, in the last century, jazz changed from being a club-based radical alternative to 'mainstream' (white) American music to being both 'serious' music for connoisseurs in hushed concert halls and background music for party-goers in bustling vineyard marquees.

 

What drives these musical changes? For 'music libertarians', this hardly matters, because for them, the essence of music is that it is always becoming something else. In contrast, 'music purists' regard change as a threat to what they describe as 'traditional', 'authentic' or 'folk music'. For them, such music is 'real' music, untainted by a search for mass audiences.

 

For example, music 'purists' at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival booed Bob Dylan off the stage for 'selling out' by 'going electric'.

 

Similarly, music 'purists' were horrified when Muddy Waters toured the UK in 1958 playing electrified Chicago blues - not the acoustic Mississippi blues as they’d expected. So, on his return to the UK in 1963, he played acoustic blues - shocking new fans of his electrified Chicago blues!

 

Fusing musics into 'fusion music'

There's a continuing tradition of deliberately creating musical change by fusing styles or types of music that were hitherto separate and different. Musical ‘purists’ are suspicious of these endeavours, of course. I've seen several of these fusions - some worked for me, others didn't!

 

The late 1960s and 1970s were good years for fusions! John Mayer's Indo-Jazz Fusions attempted to fuse Indian classical music and modern jazz. These two very different musics both emphasised improvisation by virtuosos, as did rock bands such as Cream and the Grateful Dead. Then, Miles Davis abandoned jazz's 'swing' in favour of rock's electric bass-based backbeat. English jazz-rock band Nucleus incorporated progressive and psychedelic rock en route to a funkier brass sound in the 1970s - as classical or progressive rock emerged in the form of bands such as Yes, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

 

Fusing or appropriating?

More recently, 'western' popular music - especially dance music - has been fused with various traditions of 'ethnic' music to become 'world music'. Music purists criticise this fusion as cultural imperialism. Rather than fusing the musics, they say, western dance music has appropriated 'ethnic' music to inject an exotic flavour to its often jaded products. The purists risk dismissing contemporary 'ethnic' music as a deviation from a culture’s 'real' and 'authentic' folk music - condemning its musicians to repeat the same music and never innovate.

 

In contrast, libertarians celebrate this such fusion as an example of music's continuing dynamic. However, their 'anything goes', attitude ignores the entertainment industry's power to shape our tastes and preferences.

 

Playlist

Fusing musics into 'fusion music'

There's a continuing tradition of deliberately creating musical change by fusing styles or types of music that were hitherto separate and different. Musical ‘purists’ are suspicious of these endeavours, of course. I've seen several of these fusions - some worked for me, others didn't!

 

The late 1960s and 1970s were good years for fusions! John Mayer's Indo-Jazz Fusions attempted to fuse Indian classical music and modern jazz. These two very different musics both emphasised improvisation by virtuosos, as did rock bands such as Cream and the Grateful Dead. Then, Miles Davis abandoned jazz's 'swing' in favour of rock's electric bass-based backbeat. English jazz-rock band Nucleus incorporated progressive and psychedelic rock en route to a funkier brass sound in the 1970s - as classical or progressive rock emerged in the form of bands such as Yes, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

 

Fusing or appropriating?

More recently, 'western' popular music - especially dance music - has been fused with various traditions of 'ethnic' music to become 'world music'. Music purists criticise this fusion as cultural imperialism. Rather than fusing the musics, they say, western dance music has appropriated 'ethnic' music to inject an exotic flavour to its often jaded products. The purists risk dismissing contemporary 'ethnic' music as a deviation from a culture’s 'real' and 'authentic' folk music - condemning its musicians to repeat the same music and never innovate.

 

In contrast, libertarians celebrate this such fusion as an example of music's continuing dynamic. However, their 'anything goes', attitude ignores the entertainment industry's power to shape our tastes and preferences.

 

ARAB FUNK

Traditional Arabic vocal inflections and complex percussion are fused with 'house'.

* Khaled (1982) "Didi" from Khaled CD. Universal Music. (Algeria)

* Rachid Taha (2000) "Barra Barra" from Made in Medina CD. Universal Music. (Algeria)

 

AFRICAN GROOVE

Fuses African dance music with electronica and hip-hop.

 

* Abavuki (2010?) "Johannesburg" from African Rhythms CD. Self-published.

* A Piece of Ebony (1994) "Vadzimu" from African Groove CD. Putumayo World Music.

 

CONTEMPORARY AFRICA

Fuses complex polyrhythmic songs with elements of various 'western' styles

 

* Busi Mhlongo (2005) "We Baba Omnicane" from UrbanZulu CD. MeltMusic

* Max Lässer & Madala Kunene (2006) "Unogwaja" (1 & 2) from Bafo CD. MeltMusic.

* Tinariwen (2011) "Aden Osamnat" from Tassili CD. V2 Music.

* Ali Farka Touré (2006) "Yer Bounda Fara" from Savane CD. World Circuit.

 

Sufi Music November 2010

Sufism - Islamic mysticism

Classical Sufi scholars have defined Sufism as a science that aims to focus the heart solely on God, to purify and beautify one’s inner self and to travel into the presence of God.

 

Some Muslims consider Sufism outside of Islam, but mainstream scholars of Islam argue that Sufism is Islamic Mysticism, in which Muslims seek direct personal experience of God (c.f. Christian Gnostics).

 

The esoteric teachings of Sufism have been passed on from teacher to student through the centuries - some summarized in texts, but most not. A Sufi Master diagnoses what is preventing a particular seeker from knowing and serving God, and prescribes an appropriate course of treatment. The seeker cannot diagnose themselves. A Sufi (or Dervish) is simply someone who practices this tradition¹.

 

Some shared foundations

The diverse approaches of Sufi masters, combined with the diverse characters of Sufi seekers have created a wide diversity of Sufi devotional practices.

 

However, they share some foundations. The Qur'an commands all Muslims to remember God through a specific devotional act ('dhikr' [pr. 'zikr']), such as repeating the names of god and excerpts from religious literature.

 

Love - not fear - of god is at the heart of Sufism and music and poetry are ways to achieve ecstasy by drawing closer to god.

 

Contemporary Sufi dhikr ceremonies include recitation, meditation & instrumental music; as well as trance-inducing singing

 

(e.g. the Qawwali music of the Indian sub-continent) and trance-inducing dance (e.g. the whirling of the Mevlevi Sufi order).

 

Sufism and geopolitics

Over a millennium, Sufism contributed to the spread of Islam across several continents and cultures - especially in Africa and Asia. At first its teachings were solely in Arabic, but then they were translated into more than a dozen other languages, including Persian and Turkish.

 

Between the 13th and 16th centuries, Sufism was a major influence on the  Ottoman² world and was part of a 'Golden Age' of Islam - a flourishing intellectual culture. More recently, Sufism was part of the resistance to European imperialism in North Africa and South Asia.

 

¹ The word Sufi is said to derive from 'suf' ('wool'), referring either to the simple cloaks of the early Muslim ascetics; or possibly to 'purity'.

2 The Ottoman empire (1300 to 1922) was at its height in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its capital was Constantinople (modern Istanbul).

 

SUFI MUSIC playlist

'TRADITIONAL' SUFI MUSIC

1. (Pakistan) Sain Zahoor (No title) From Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music of Islam DVD (World Music Network 2008) (6.19)

Sain Zahoor is a Sufi minstrel who sings in praise of god at Sufi shrines in Pakistan.

 

2. (Turkey) Mevlana Kultur Ve Sanat Vakfy Sanatcy Lary (2000) "Ferahfeza Peprev" from Gel/Come (CD). On The Rough Guide to Sufi Music CD (WMN 2001) (3.14)

A Takht Sharqi (traditional oriental ensemble) consists of a qânun (zither), an Ud (oriental lute), a Nay (reed flute) and a riqq (small tambourine with little cymbals).

 

3. (Pakistan) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1990) "Mustt Mustt" from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan CD (Real World Records)

A leading exponent of qawwali - a style of singing and a type of Sufi devotional song. "Mustt Mustt' is about a 13^th century Sufi 'saint' - Lal Shahbaaz Qalandar.¹

 

4. (Pakistan) Abida Paveen (n.d.) "Tere Ishq Nachaaya" from Songs of the Mystics CD. On The Rough Guide to Sufi Music CD (World Music Network 2001) (5.21)

Abida Paveen sings ghazals (Urdu love songs) and kafis (songs by Sufi poets).

 

5. (Senegal) Boubacar Diagne (n.d.) "Dembe" from Tabla Wolof: Sufi Drumming of Senegal CD. On The Rough Guide to Sufi Music CD (WMN 2001) (3.41)

The qadiriyyah tabla is a Sufi ceremonial drum played by the Wolof people of West Africa; and Dembe is Hausa ceremonial boxing accompanied by drumming.

 

6. (Syria) The Al Kindi Ensemble (n.d.) Untitled. Uploaded 2007. (3.15)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSrdFo-vNDY

7. (India) OSHO International Foundation. (Pune) (n.d.) "Sufi Whirling". Uploaded 2007 (2.35) www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jeca3isOoW4&feature=related

The 'multiversity' is the former ashram of Osho Rajneesh (aka Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), an influence on the 'New Age'.

 

8. (Syria) Sheikh Hamza Shakkûr and the Al Kindi Ensemble. The Whirling Dervishes of Damascus. Performance in Amsterdam in 1999. Uploaded 2007 (5.12)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFIQMM8bZQk&feature=related

 

CONTEMPORARY SUFI MUSIC

9. (Pakistan) Junoon (1997) "Sayoni" from Azadi CD. Uploaded 2007 (4.59)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQQLeB7efog

Junoon are leading exponents of 'Sufi Rock' (see also the Mekaal Hasan Band and Laal) and critics of traditional Pakistani society. www.junoon.com/

 

10. (Pakistan) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1990) "Mustt Mustt (Massive Attack remix)" from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan CD (Real World Records)

A club hit in the UK and the first song in Urdu to reach the British charts. Later, Coca Cola used it in an advert in India.

 

SUFI INFLUENCES IN WESTERN POP

11. Madonna (1994) "Bedtime Story" From Bedtime Stories (CD) (4.52)

The topic is achieving unconsciousness; the video features Arabic calligraphy and whirling dervishes.

(Loreena McKennitt [1994] "The Mystic's Dream" from The Mask and Mirror CD was influenced by Sufi music and poetry. Peter Gabriel and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan are on the soundtrack of Natural Born Killers [dir. Oliver Stone].)

 

¹ See live performances at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjROlQF-wpc (2.05)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLW1U0HGp7E&feature=related (7.51)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 See live performances at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjROlQF-wpc (2.05)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLW1U0HGp7E&feature=related (7.51)

Space: the final frontier for music. January 2009

 

Space: the final frontier for music. Thursday 15 January 2009

In April 1990, NASA launched the world's first space-based optical telescope - named after American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble. In late 2008, NASA launched the final maintenance mission in the telescope's 20 year life. So what better time to consider how western composers and musicians have sought to represent 'the universe' or 'the cosmos' or simply 'space'.   The Ancient Greeks (e.g. philosopher Aristotle) believed that the universe consists of a number of transparent, concentric spheres, each rotating at uniform speeds within each other. The outermost sphere is the unchanging heavens, while the intermediary spheres contained the various planets, with the Earth at the centre (See Diagram 1). Greek mathematician and astronomer Pythagoras (582-496 BC) believed that the rotating spheres are related by the whole-number ratios of pure musical intervals, creating a cosmos in constant motion and in perfect musical harmony - a state described as 'musica universalis' (lit. ‘music of the universe' or 'music of the spheres'). Each sphere emits a specific tone depending on its specific orbit, as a guitar string's tone depends on its length. This 'music' is not literally audible but expresses a mathematical or harmonic idea.   English philosopher Robert Fludd (1574-1637) devised a three octave celestial scale linking sub-planetary worlds to angelic choirs beyond the stars in a Great Chain of Being (See Diagram 2).
Musica universalis from Music of the Spheres by Mike Oldfield (Mercury Records, 2008)	More recently - in 2008 - English composer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield (of Tubular Bells fame) released an album called Music of the Spheres. The marketing material, states that The title refers to Oldfield's belief that music should aim to represent the spiritual or other-worldly elements of life - something beyond the mundane and everyday'. This isn't, of course, what everyone before him meant by the phrase!
Music of the Spheres from The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi by The Receiving End of Sirens (Triple Crown Records, 2007)	In the Middle Ages, western views of the universe underwent a revolution. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), a Polish astronomer and mathematician, posed the first scientifically based model of a heliocentric universe, which became the accepted view of the relationships between the sun and the planets.   However, the 'musica universalis' theory remained popular in medieval Europe. For example, the German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) believed that the Earth's tonal signature oscillates - mi, fa, mi on the scale - as it orbits the sun, in an endless cycle of misery (by which he meant emptiness) and famine (i.e. a desire for things). In 2007, Boston experimental rock band The Receiving End of Sirens released an album called The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi (Triple Crown Records). It includes an instrumental track called … 'Music of the Spheres'!
Kepler's work on planetary motion led to Isaac Newton's discoveries concerning dynamics and gravity. Newton's work survived into the late 19th century, when it began to show its limits at sub-atomic scales, prompting the emergence in the early 20th century of Quantum Theory and Relativity. Each offered opportunities to integrate the small world of sub-atomic particles with the big world of the universe.   As part of that tumult, American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble made two discoveries in the 1920s that changed how humanity thought about its place in the universe: first, our own Milky Way is but one of many galaxies in the universe; second, the universe is expanding - a notion that led to the currently accepted 'Big Bang' theory of how the universe originated.   So composers and musicians in the Twentieth Century faced perhaps the musical challenge - how to represent the infinity of space in and through music?
Neptune, the Mystic by Gustav Holst, from The Planets. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Herbert Von Karajan (Polygram, 1991).	English composer Gustav Holst's life (1874-1934) spanned the shift from Newtonian to post-Newtonian physics. The Planets is astrological, not astronomical (hence there is no 'Earth'): each movement illustrates how a planet influences the human psyche.   However, two movements would influence later composers of 'space' music: Neptune, the Mystic; and Jupiter, the bringer of Jollity. They expressed a tension that would dominate 'space' music for much of the rest of the century. Neptune, the Mystic represented infinite space through ethereal strings, a celestial choir … and lots of echo!
Jupiter, the bringer of Jollity by Gustav Holst, from The Planets. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Herbert Von Karajan (Polygram, 1991).	In the face of the literally awe-some, almost unthinkable idea of infinite space, humanity is insignificant, yet Jupiter, the bringer of Jollity is suffused with triumphalism (later justified as humanity took its first steps into space). It also features a contrasting sentimental (i.e. 'making a direct appeal to the emotions, especially to romantic feelings') theme as if to remind us that people are more than their triumphs. These contrasting ideas and tones will recur.
Theme from The Big Country by Jerome Moross. L'Orchestra Cinematique from Western Film Themes (Metro Music, 2007).	A more recent attempt to represent space musically is the theme tune of the US movie The Big Country (1958. Dir. William Wyler). Its horizon was closer - the wide open spaces of the American mid-west - but its representation of those wide open spaces combined, again the awe, triumph and sentiment that we heard in Neptune and Jupiter.
Wagons Ho! Theme from Wagon Train by Jerome Moross. From 100 Greatest TV Themes. Artists unknown.	There is one more influence to note. Jerome Moross - composer of the theme from The Big Country - also wrote the theme from the 1960s TV series Wagon Train. Gene Rodenberry presented the first series of Star Trek as Wagon Train in space!

 

Theme from Star Trek: The Next Generation by Alexander Courage and Jerry Goldsmith. Artists unknown. (GNP Crescendo, 1991)	Those, then, are the foundations and background to some late twentieth century attempts to represent space musically. All the music is from a television series or a movie, which may explain why it is almost exclusively orchestral. First, the theme from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which 'awesome space' precedes a triumphal shout!
Hansen's Message and Humanity Taken by Ron Jones. Artists unknown.	The second series of Next Generation included two episodes called The Best of Both Worlds (I and II). Here are two short pieces from those two episodes, each representing 'awesome space'.
Theme from Battlestar Galactica by Stu Phillips. From 100 Greatest TV Themes. Artists unknown.	One of Star Trek's many competitors (some would say copiers!) has been the Battlestar Galactica brand. The theme from the first television series has little time for awe - it jumps straight in with triumphalism!
The theme from Star Wars by John Williams. From 100 Greatest TV Themes. Artists unknown.	Battlestar Galactic continues to be very popular, but the only real competitor to Star Trek has been the Star Wars brand. The theme combines awe, triumph and sentiment, but keeps them quite distinct from each other.
The theme from Superman (1978) by John Williams. The BBC Orchestra, from The Greatest Film Scores.	The Superman movies aren't about space as such, but the theme tune is interesting because even though it moves from triumph to sentiment, the sentimental piece seems reluctant to discard the march-time of the fanfare.
The theme from Star Trek III (1998) by James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith and Leonard Rosenman. Artists unknown.	The composers of the theme from the third Star Trek movie handled sentiment very differently, building one crescendo after another.
Death is irrelevant by Ron Jones. Artists unknown. (GNP Crescendo, 1991)	The commercial availability of synthesizers in the early 1970s gave composers and performers of 'space' music a musical tool with a scope that was almost as big as their subject. The synthesizer not only produced sounds of awesome scope, it also offered new voices to critics of industrialism and mechanisation. This next piece by Ron Jones comes from The Best of Both Worlds (I and II) in the second series of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Galaxy Formation. Music composed and performed by David Jacopin. From Nebulas and Galaxies.	Finally, we return to our starting point - the Hubble Space Telescope. Here's a chance to see what a synthesizer can do when combined with pictures from Hubble, courtesy of the European Space Agency:

John Williams also wrote the score for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which - strangely - lacked a theme tune.

Gamelan February 2008

 

GAMELAN

 

In Bali, music-making is a collective activity, undertaken through a form of gamelan (‘gah-meh-lan’). Gamelan resembles the western ‘orchestra’, but a gamelan is an inseparable collection of instruments, not the people who gather to play those instruments. Outstanding players of particular instruments are certainly recognised and revered, but their playing remains part of the collective enterprise, rather than being singled-out through solos.

 

Most instruments in a gamelan are percussive – drums, gongs and cymbals of various sizes, together with several types of xylophone-like instruments normally made of bronze (‘metalophones’), but sometimes of bamboo. In specific gamelans, these instruments may be accompanied by bamboo flutes and by the rebab (‘r’bahb’), a two-string bowed instrument; and there is sometimes singing, too. In gamelan music, each instrument has its own specific musical function, but all of them play simultaneously, as in this piece by a gamelan pelegongan (‘p’ le-gong-an’) – the first of five forms of gamelan we shall hear tonight.

TRACK 1

Solo, by a gamelan pelegongang from Binoh in central Bali. (7 mts 56 secs)

(Track 5 on Michael Tenzer’s CD)

 

 

A prominent feature of Solo was the regular note of a large bronze gong – the gong ajung. Balinese music is cyclical, which means that a basic melody is repeated throughout a composition. The gong ajung is struck to mark the end of one cycle of the basic melody and the beginning of the next. Very often the last note of that basic melody is the same as its first note, thus creating a circle each time the melody is played. Some have argued the circularity of Balinese music expresses the Hindu belief in reincarnation and/or that it reflects the crop cycles that have supported Balinese life and culture for centuries[1].

 

Traditionally in Bali, the dances, dramas and music performed in ceremonies and rituals were considered acts of devotion to spirits, gods and ancestors that populate the complex world of Balinese spirituality[2]. This continues to be the case today, but many dances, dramas and music are also performed in specialised settings outside of everyday life – in hotels for tourists, in international concert halls and in recording studios for producers of CDs and DVDs.

 

This continuing change is evident in the wayang kulit – the shadow puppet theatre, where continually updated versions of old traditional stories - handed down between puppeteers – are told using leather puppets silhouetted on a back-lit screen. Accompanying wayang kulit performances is the second of the five forms of gamelan we shall hear tonight - the gamelan gender (‘gn-dare’) wayang. This gamelan has a different combination of instruments to the gamelan pelegongang we heard earlier - there are no drums or marking gong – so it sounds quite different, the melodies are more intricate and the pace is slower.

TRACK 2

Embombuan, by a gamelan gender wayang from eastern Bali. (7mts 39secs)

(Track 6 on Michael Tenzer’s CD.)

 

 

So far, we have heard two forms of gamelan, each consisting almost entirely of percussive instruments. In the third form -  gamelan gambuh (‘gam-boo’) - the focus is on the metre-long gambuh flutes, which are played with the bottom part resting on the ground and the player’s arms outstretched.

TRACK 3

Tabuh Gari, by a gamelan gambuh, from Pedungan in central Bali. (5mts11 secs)

(Track 4 on Michael Tenzer’s CD)

 

 

Tabuh gari often opens a theatrical performance, such as the topeng – a masked drama-dance featuring some of the stories enacted in a wayang kulit performance. A topeng is accompanied by our fourth form of gamelan – the gamelan gong kebyar (‘keb-yarr’). This became very popular during the 20^th century and is the form of gamelan that visitors to Bali are most likely to encounter. Like any gamelan, the gamelan gong kebyar plays a very simple melody, which is the foundation of musical structures of great complexity, to which each type of instrument – gongs, metalophones, drums - contributes in its own particular way.

 

The next track – Baris - shows how one such complex structure is created. It is introduced by a drum pattern, followed by a brief burst by the full gamelan playing. Then a gong agung and a medium gong – the kempur (‘k’m-poor’) - between them intone a basic structure, while a third, smaller gong – the kempli (‘k’m-plee’) – keeps rhythm like a dripping tap. Then, each type of instrument is introduced in turn on its own; and the piece ends in a ‘pyramid’, in which each type of instrument is introduced one on top of another until the full gamelan is playing. (See your sheets for the sequence.)

TRACK 4

Baris, by a gamelan gong kebyar from the College of the Performing Arts (STSI) in Denpasar. (5mts 05 secs)

(Track 1 on Michael Tenzer’s CD)

 

 

That was just a slowed-down version of Baris. Here’s what it would sound like in a proper performance.

TRACK 5

Baris, by a gamelan gong kebyar from the College of the Performing Arts (STSI) in Denpasar. (4mts 04 secs)

(Track 2 on Michael Tenzer’s CD)

 

Bamboo grows all over Bali, but in west Bali, it grows to enormous proportions, with stems up to 3 metres long and up to 65 centimeters in circumference. Local musicians have exploited this quirk of nature by creating our fifth form of gamelan - the gamelan jegog (‘j-gog’). This form consists entirely of bamboo xylophones – no other percussive instruments – and is confined to west Bali. The tubes are held in frames (like the metalophones but much bigger), but these can be so unwieldy that a pair of musicians sits on top of each frame to play them. When they’re in full flight, however, the result is described as ‘rolling thunder’ and, indeed, the lower notes are felt as much as they are heard. In a gamelan jegog, the basic melody is played by lower-register instruments and can be easier to hear than in performances by bronze gamalans.

TRACK 6

Tabuh jagra winungu, by a gamelan jegog from Werdi Sentana, in west Bali. (16 mts 39 secs)

(Track 1 on ‘Between heaven and earth’)

 

 

There is a variation of the gamelan jegog called the gamelan jogged, in which the instruments are tuned higher because the bamboo tubes are smaller.

TRACK 7

Camar kilang, by a gamelan jogged from Jembrana in west Bali. (5 mts 13 secs)

(Track 9 on Michael Tenzer’s CD)

 

 

The gamelans jegog and jogged lead us to our final track tonight, which is a bit of an oddity. It comes from a CD called ‘Bali meets Africa and Java’, which at times is just another awful ‘fusion’ record. Some tracks, however, are an interesting combination of tuned drums from southern Africa and a gamelan jogged.

 

TRACK 8

Bali meets Africa, by Ketut Suwentra and Djkango Mango. (3 mts 36 secs)

 

GAMELAN

Traditional (yet also contemporary) music of Bali and Java

 

 

TRACK 1 Solo, by a gamelan pelegongang from Binoh in central Bali.

 

TRACK 2 Embombuan, by a gamelan gender wayang from Padang Kertha, in east Bali. (Accompanies a wayang kulit or shadow puppet show.)

 

TRACK 3 Tabuh Gari, by a gamelan gambuh, from Pedungan in central Bali. (Opens theatrical performances, e.g. a topeng or masked drama-dance.)

 

TRACK 4 Baris, by a gamelan gong kebyar from the College of the Performing Arts (STSI) in Denpasar. (The demonstration version.)

 

TRACK 5 Baris. (The performance version.)

 

TRACK 6 Tabuh jagra winungu, by a gamelan jegog from Werdi Sentana, in west Bali.

 

TRACK 7 Camar kilang, by a gamelan jogged from Jembrana in west Bali.

 

TRACK 8 Bali meets Africa, from ‘Bali meets Africa and Java’, by Ketut Suwentra and Django Mango.

 

 

 

 

a.	Introduction	Drum, followed by full gamelan
b.	Basic (4-note) structure	Large gong and medium gong, plus a smaller gong to keep the rhythm
c.	Basic melody	Primary (lead) metalophone (gangsa ugal)
d.	First of two interlocking parts of the first layer of ornamentation	Middle-register metalophone (gangsa)
e.	Second of two interlocking parts of the first layer of ornamentation	Another middle-register metalophone
f.	Melody plus first layer of ornamentation	All the metalophones together (c, d, e)
g.	First of two highlights of the melody: middle-range core notes	Middle register metalophone (calung)
h.	Second of two highlighting of the melody: lower-range core notes	Low-toned metalophones (jegogang)
i.	First of two interlocking parts of the second layer of ornamentation	Row of tuned (in a scale) small gongs (reyong)
j.	Second of two interlocking parts of the second layer of ornamentation	Another row of tuned (in a scale) small gongs (reyong)
k.	First of two interlocking parts of the ornamentation of the rhythm	Cylindrical, two-headed drum (kendang)
l.	Second of two interlocking parts of the ornamentation of the rhythm	Another cylindrical, two-headed drum (kendang)
m.	Combined ornamentation of the rhythm	Both drums together (k, l)
n.	‘Pyramid’: jegogan, calung, ugal, gangsa, reyong, kendang
o.	Ending		Full gamelan

 

 

 

3rd FLOOR	SECOND 2-PART ORNAMENTATION (Tuned gongs)
2nd FLOOR	TWO HIGHLIGHTS (Metalophones)
1st FLOOR	FIRST 2-PART ORNAMENTATION (Metalophones)	2-PART ORNAMENTATION (Drums)
GROUND FLOOR	MELODY (Metalophone)	RHYTHM (Small gong)
FOUNDATION	STRUCTURE (Gongs)

 

 

---

[1] The circularity of Balinese music contrasts the linearity of much ‘western’ music – it states its themes, it elaborates them, then it re-stars them to end. Themes are just as likely to recur in a changed form as in their original form, which makes the music challenging and satisfying to hear. It could be that the linearity of ‘western’ music is expresses a view of the world in which everything develops and progresses.

 

[2] Ceremonies, rituals, dances and dramas – together with their musical accompaniments – are part of everyday life, rather than a separate sphere of life called ‘art’ or ‘culture’.