Collections of themed recordings curated by John Noise Manis
INDONESIAN COMPOSERS FOR GAMELAN
Track 1 – Gumrining by Wahyu Thoyyib Pambayun is a composition for the Javanese Gender Barung and Gender Panerus.
This composition is inspired by the sound of raindrops falling on the ground. In order to achieve the impression of that particular sound, the composer explored the instruments by modifying traditional gamelan techniques and patterns, and combining the gamelan tuning systems, slendro and pelog.
By exploring the techniques and combining tuning system, Gumrining offers something unique to enhance and enrich the language of Javanese gamelan music expression.
Performers are: Atmaja Dita Emhar and Hamdan Fathusani.
Wahyu Thoyyib Pambayun is a musician, composer and gamelan lecturer at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Surakarta. As a composer, he composes music for concert, dance, theater and films. His music reflects his knowledge and practice of Javanese gamelan traditions and reflects his in-depth research on the expansion of the musical language of Javanese gamelan.
Track 2 – Nabuh Bareng by Aris Daryono explores the idioms of the traditional gamelan music that exist in the Gender Barung and Gender Panerus, both in the techniques of playing and the use of pathets (modes).
Through the exploration of these gamelan elements, the composition was written as a reflection of the kotekan game (the playing of interlocking rhythms) which was the composer’s childhood musical experience when banging on anything that could produce sounds with his friends in a small village in Java.
Aris Daryono, Indonesian-born, is a Javanese gamelan musician and teacher living in London. He studied classical guitar, composition, and gamelan in Central Java. He gained his masters in composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London under the guidance of Andrew Schultz and Malcolm Singer. He completed his PhD in composition at the University of York, researching new works for gamelan, western instruments and electronics under the supervision of Dr. Neil Sorrell.
Daryono’s compositions reflect his background as a Javanese gamelan musician and his knowledge of western classical music. He has been exploring and developing his unique musical language for years by blending the elements of gamelan music and western music to express his musical identity. He uses western instruments, gamelan instruments, and computer, exploring all aspects of sound, microtones, effects (ombak), and the combination of tuning systems (diatonic, slendro, pelog). He also explores the concept of gamelan music.
Daryono’s activities include some concerts in collaborations with computer programmer, visual artist, contemporary dance, shadow puppeteer, and folk music band.
Recent highlighted collaborations include the production of the monologue ‘Phaedra’ with the Australian actor Brett Brown under the direction of Andrew Visnevsky of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, a collaboration with the Berlin-based band 17 Hippies, a collaboration with the prominent Indonesian jazz musician Dwiki Darmawan, and a ‘composer in residence’ at the Snape Malting, Suffolk, UK.
Aris is also a founder and director of the Gamelan Composers’ Forum, an organisation that has been successfully running the international event ‘Concert and Discussion of New Music for Gamelan’ at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK since 2013.
Nabuh Bareng is performed by Gamelane SJ Ensemble:
Track 3 – Keplithet by Setyawan Jayantoro is a composition for four musicians using demung, saron barung,saron panerus, slenthem, gender, kemodong, kempul, and gong. This piece reflects any difficult situations and problems in life that we have to get through and overcome such as feeling of suppressed, restricted, and constrained.
Technically, through this composition the composer developed the concept of ‘pithetan’ (dampening technique in playing gamelan music) to expand the traditional gamelan technique and to emphasize the spirit of liberating gamelan resonance toward broader communication.
Performers: Atmaja Dita Emhar, Hamdan Fathusani, Bagas Surya Muhammad, Dhimas Sadam Saputro.
Setyawan Jayantoro is a musician who has a background in Javanese traditional arts (gamelan, dance and shadow puppetry) based in Yogyakarta and Surakarta.
He was also trained in western classical music by pursuing to study viola and violin instruments. Since 2015, he has been an active lecturer in violin and musicology at the Department of Music, Indonesian Art Institute Yogyakarta. As a composer, he is specialising in innovating a new concept of collaborative music between traditional music, western, electronic, pop, and contemporary music. He has collaborated with several well-known artists such as Rahayu Supanggah, Garin Nugroho, Ian Grandage, Eko Supriyanto, Peni Candra Rini, and Christopher Schaub. He founded the SJ Musike Foundation, a contemporary gamelan ensemble – Gamelane SJ, and the SJ String Orchestra.
Gumrining, Nabuh Bareng, and Keplithet
were performed in August 2022 in Surakarta during a Concert and Discussion of New Music for Gamelan of the Gamelan Composers’ Forum.
Track 4 – Geganjur by Anon Suneko is a composition that develops variations on the two-note ancient theme Kodok Ngorek.
Track 5 – Udan Mas Rineka by Trustho is a composition that develops variations on the five-note theme Udan Mas.
Trustho and Anon (father and son) are two distinguished musicians of Yogyakarta. The two compositions were commissioned by Yantra and performed in June 2010 at ISI Surakarta by musicians of Yogyakarta (Anon, Trustho) and Surakarta (Al Suwardi, Joko Purwanto, Rasita Satriana, Singgih Prabancara, Sugiyanto, Sukamso, Supardi).
YANTRA PRODUCTIONS
john.noise.manis@gmail.com