Gamelan
My good friend Giles is a dedicated student at the Conservatorium in Amsterdam. Trained as a classical baritone, he loves his Bach and his Dvorák.
As a side course he’s learning to play the gamelan, a traditional Indonesian percussion instrument. Or rather, a collection of instruments of drums, gongs, xylophones, vibraphones and a set of what I can only describe as copper pots (pictured left) with an amazing, heavenly sound.
Tonight he and his group from the Conservatorium gave a beautiful concert at music center Rasa in Utrecht.
Now, Indonesia is a vast country so there is an equivalent diversity in the built and use of the gamelan. This particular one was Javanese, which has a more meditative sound, unlike the Balinese, which is more funky.
I liked the music for its basic melody with subtle variations, not unlike Steve Reich. The progress of the melody and the basic rhythms of the pieces, written by composers at the courts of Javanese princes and lasting 5 to 10 minutes, was mathematical and structured according to deceitfully simple algorithms.
