a r t i s t : VA
t i t l e : Gamelan Semar Pegulingan: Gamelan of the Love God
d a t e : 2003
l a b e l : Nonesuch Explorer
g e n r e : Ethnic
r l s. d a t e : Jul/2006
t r a c k s : 06
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 63,6 MB
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The first release in NonesuchÆs Explorer Series, back in 1967,
was a volume of Balinese gamelan and traditional music called
Music From the Morning of the World. Though the label had been
releasing so-called ôworld musicö prior to that, this one LP
inspired an entire series that, by the time it had run its
course, comprised 94 titles from nearly every non-American
region of the world. Upon listening to the gamelan and other
Indonesian musics heard on the original title and all the
others from the Indonesian portion of the Explorer Series,
itÆs not hard to understand why these recordings spurred such
fervor for pressing such un-commercial music. But among the
many jewels of the Indonesian seriesÆ chronicles of gamelan
music in Bali and Java, none shine brighter than Gamelan Semar
Pegulingan.
This album is a document of a very specific (and very rare)
form of gamelan performance that fell out of favor in Bali in
the early 1900s, partly due to Western influence and partly
due merely to an evolution of local tastes and customs. In
Bali in the 1970s, when these recordings were made, the
dominant form of gamelan was known as gamelan gong kebjar, a
style characterized by fast, aggressive playing and rapid
shifts in volume and intensity, and best heard on NonesuchÆs
Golden Rain album. In contrast, the older form heard on this
album, ôgamelan of the love god,ö is much subtler, more
textured -- though still very dynamic. The semar pegulingan
ensemble recorded here is somewhat reminiscent of the more
stately gamelan style of Java (as heard on The Jasmine Isle
and the Court Gamelan series), though the Balinese players
also seem informed by their own islandÆs newer gong kebjar
style. Maintained almost artificially in a few Indonesian
villages by Western ethnomusicologists and Balinese
enthusiasts of the style, the gamelan heard here is nothing
short of stunning.
One listen to the opening song, ôTabuh Gariö -- a very popular
gamelan composition -- reveals just how special this music is.
As its pulsating metallic beats and haunting melodies shimmer
into life from a tentative opening, itÆs hard not to be swept
up in the emotion and evocative imagery of the piece. In
comparison to the brief excerpt of a harsher, more minimal
take on this piece on NonesuchÆs Music for the Shadow Play
album, this version is filled with detail and vibrant splashes
of color. The multiple parts, if they could be isolated,
mostly seem relatively simple, but the arrangement of each
playerÆs role within the larger ensemble results in a
perfectly correlated performance that makes impossibly
complicated and fragile textures float through the air.
The intricate, ethereal beauty of the gamelan orchestra
emerges from this deft weaving of the many different elements
into an interlocking whole. There are a wide array of
xylophone-like keyed instruments, which provide the
distinctive metallic rhythms and shimmering melodies that are
the foundation of gamelan music. In addition, bamboo flutes --
called suling -- add a ghostly, subtle melodic backbone to the
more intricate interplay on the keyed instruments. Coupled
with hand drum patterns that provide a constantly shifting
rhythmic basis to each composition and gongs that delineate
major movements, the gamelan orchestra becomes a complex and
mysteriously working creature, summoning great beauty from the
convergence of its components.
ItÆs not hard to hear, in these dense compositions, the
foundations for the rhythmic minimalism of Steve Reich and
other Western composers who were vastly influenced by the
first recordings leaking out of Indonesia and the rest of the
world throughout the first half of the 20th Century. This
influence is probably why, listened to today, this album
sounds utterly accessible and absolutely gorgeous, not nearly
as exotic as it must have seemed thirty years ago, but none
the worse for its increased familiarity. The six songs on this
album were recorded by one of the only surviving gamelan semar
pegulingan groups in Bali at the time, combining the older
traditional form with some comparatively modern elements. The
result is certainly the best of the Explorer SeriesÆ gamelan
albums, providing a fascinating overview of this lovely form
of music, as well as an excellent informational background on
the gamelan in the liner notes.
(http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=1106)
labelsite has no infos on that one
(http://www.nonesuch.com/Hi_Band/explorer_home.html)
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01-Tabuh Gari [06:23]
02-Gambang [03:12]
03-Tabuh Pisan [05:30]
04-Barong [05:36]
05-Sinom Ladrang [06:27]
06-LΦgong Kraton: Playon [14:03]
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41:11 min