CC3.0 photo Samuel Wantman, Wikipedia.
I must admit that the first time I came across a gamelan orchestra I thought the group that was booked was out and someone had raided the kitchen seizing all the pots and pans they could to make a racket. The only thing missing in my untrained eye, and ear, was a few overturned Tupperware.
This is not, of course.
Actually, "Like many other music with a largely cyclical approach to melodic and rhythmic organization, Balinese gamelan music of the court or tribunal traditions derived based on symmetries of one sort or another for the structural coherence. Gamelan kinds Balinese from other historical or cultural contexts have different, often asymmetrical kinds of organizational principles. (Where) a set of Balinese concepts of melodic movement are used to develop a useful theory to analyze the variety of symmetric and asymmetric structures obvious through the directory. "
Not my words but the words of a man who fell in love with the haunting strains of gamelan in the 1970s when the world was taken in hand with teenagers with spiky hair and spitting at passers calling themselves punk rockers.
Michael Tenzer is now a professor of music at the University of British Columbia. Born in 1957 in New York City, Tenzer was involved Balinese gamelan since 1977. Since then, he has conducted research in music, books written and received the title as the first western composer to write for Balinese sets, surrounding himself, as he says, in a cocoon of Balinese music.
His eclectic production is its own influences; traditional Balinese fusion sounds with Indian and European elements.
1n 1979 Tenzer made his passion a step further when he formed his own group. He teamed with I Wayan Suweca, his former teacher, and Rachael Cooper who had taught English in Indonesia in the early 1980s before joining the company in Asia and is now Director of Global Performing Arts and special cultural initiatives.
Gamelan Sekar Jaya (translated as Victorious Flower), was described as "the most beautiful Balinese gamelan together outside of Indonesia" by Tempo magazine and presented gamelan gong kebyar gamelan angklung gender wayang and gamelan Jegog in its performance portfolio.
Populated by local enthusiasts, the group has performed throughout the United States and have also toured Bali itself; along the way to choose the prestigious Dharma Kusuma for the cultural department of the local government of the island.
His journey in what would have been a strange new world of sounds, for a youth who grew up with the soundtrack accompanying the war hippies and Vietnam began in 1976 when he heard the word " gamelan " accompanied by a bunch of superlatives.
The excited musical curiosity, he went to the music store (note to readers aged under 25; before MP3 and ITunes we had to drag ourselves physically down for dedicated stores that sold pre-packed music). Within 10 minutes to put the vinyl on the turntable, he was hooked and looked Bali on the map.
20 years old with a handful of letters of introduction, he went to Bali; and still relatively untouched by the hordes of tourists waiting at the corner. Reading between the lines of his preface to the first edition of Balinese Gamelan Music , it flew in Jakarta; took the train along the east coast to Banyuwangi where he took a ferry across the Strait of Bali itself and a love story that continues to this day.
There must have been some contact list. While most visitors for the first time made do with a book Lonely Planet guide and a cheap losmen by Bemo Corner, Tenzer headed to the village of puppet making Peliatan where he crashed with painter Ketut Madra.
Instead of hitting the beach during the day and bars during the evening, Tenzer enrolled in Kökar School of Music and Dance where he studied under the tutelage of Nyoman Sumandhi. Become familiar with the melody, ornamentation and drums, he would learn twice daily, while also showed the island to the rear of the bike to his teacher.
It would have been a Bali as the likes of Colin McPhee and Walter Spies would have recognized. In Bali, where research on a green sawah would be nothing more than open the door meant; Tenzer a point of referring as he wrote the introduction to the third edition of his book. Recalling how he had written the first edition in the same place, he writes: "The pondok is faded and worn, and the rice fields fell behind multi-storey buildings, reducing much of the creature choir ", which pretty much sums up how Bali succumbed to concrete; in fact a preview of sawah often now need a long trip along the narrow roads that others flock to see the same show, they traveled thousands of miles for.
that first six months in Bali decided about his future career. He was fascinated by what he learned and what he saw ;. "My years of experience with this music have transformed me into an enthusiastic propagator in respect of this artistic tradition and people and culture who possess it"
He continues "No other music in the world can corner the market on beauty, sophistication, subtlety or other aesthetic identity but Balinese music did have a singular mixture of orchestral complexity and a strong commitment to group interaction that is a source of 'inspiration. "
Tenzer now spends most of his time pacing the corridors of the university, but you can be sure that your iPod is filled to bursting with pipes and drums of his beloved Bali.
For more information on Michael Tenzer and Balinese gamelan , see his book Balinese gamelan Music which comes with an accompanying CD and go the details about the music and its subtleties and its role in Balinese society.
Otherwise, see www.michaeltenzer.com its website.