From the magic of gamelan to the sounds of Latin America

From the magic of gamelan to the sounds of Latin America

By Franki Raden

JAKARTA (JP): A very stimulating music event is in the offing
-- an international percussion festival on July 10 and 11 at the
Jakarta Fair Grounds in Central Jakarta.

The participants will be arriving from countries like Brazil,
represented by Brazilian Beats; the Netherlands will be
represented by Resonans, South Korea by Samulnori, Australia by
Tokakros, while Indonesia will be represented by Harry Roesli
from Bandung, Kahanan from Jakarta-Banyuwangi and Bungbang from
Bali.

The coming event gives rise to some questions, though: "Why
percussion music? Why a drum festival in Indonesia? What will the
event mean to the Indonesian music scene?"

Music is a time symbol, a flow of energy which moves people to
a direct response, stimulating social communication.

The main element in music to provoke a direct response is the
rhythm. Percussion is energy. Through percussion, music can be
transformed into a dynamic sound that affects people emotionally.

In ancient cultures we can observe nature's mystery in music.
So, if we witness a percussion group, unraveling a mystery of
nature, we should regard ourselves as blessed.

Percussion is one of the oldest music forms. In Africa and
China, there are percussion instruments made of stone.

In Aceh, the human body is a unique percussion instrument.

Indonesia has the gamelan too, one of the few music orchestras
consisting of mainly percussion instruments. It is, therefore,
not surprising the outside world has come to know Indonesian
music through gamelan.

Traditional gamelan music is not only found in Java and Bali.
Sumatra, Kalimantan and the eastern part of the archipelago also
have gamelan. Indonesia has an abundance of percussion
instruments. This does not stop with traditional music, its
predominance is evident in contemporary music. Take, for
instance, the works of Harry Roesli, Inisisri and Embie C. Noer.
This influence is most pronounced in composers whose backgrounds
are in gamelan with voice accompaniment, as performed in
Surakarta (Solo), Yogyakarta, Bandung, Denpasar and Padang
Panjang.

Indonesia's staging of a world performance percussion groups
is justified.

Last year, a Japanese percussionist, Leonard Eto, at the
Indonesian International Drum Festival in Ancol, North Jakarta
said, "If in the 20th century people associated percussion music
with Africa, in the next century the music will be tied up with
Asia."

If this is true, Indonesia is going to be quite an authority
in the field. But that can not be achieved without seriously
trying to raise Indonesian percussion music to international
levels. Initiating a forum for Jakarta percussionists in 1996 is
just one way to do that.

Percussion elements exist in almost any music variety, whether
this may be jazz, rock, or even contemporary music.

French composer Claude Debussy heard a Javanese gamelan for
the first time in 1889 at a Paris exposition. Debussy realized
then that in comparing classical percussion music from Europe
with gamelan, the latter produced more "civilized" sounds than
the percussion sounds of the West.

Gamelan inspired Debussy to incorporate percussion into his
music, giving his work poetic quality. Since Debussy, percussion
instruments made great strides in the classical music of the 20th
century. In 1931 a music piece was created that is seen as this
century's percussion masterpiece. This piece, called Ionization,
was written by French composer Edgar Varese, who later went to
live in the United States.

In the States, composers were already acquainted with the
gamelan; it was introduced by Henry Cowell, a composer who
studied ethnic music.

Because of Cowell, John Cage, an important music authority in
this age, came to know gamelan. From this relationship an
interesting idea arose -- to construct a piano producing gamelan
sounds, a prepared piano. Cages' work for prepared piano entitled
Three Dances sounds much like Balinese gamelan.

There is also the American Harry Partch. Partch made his name
as a composer using homemade musical instruments, mainly
percussion instruments. In his orchestra, the influence of
gamelan is unmistakable.

It is interesting that while Cage and Partch tried to simulate
the sounds of gamelan on their own invented instruments, another
American, Lou Harrison, simply set up a traditional gamelan
orchestra.

Harrison got instruction from Pak Tjokro, an authority in the
field of gamelan. Now gamelan has been integrated into
contemporary percussion ensembles.

The influence of gamelan is not limited to the John Cages,
Harry Partches and Lou Harrisons of this century, it will be
passed on to the next generation.

One of the new Turks, Steve Reich, has already earned himself
a name in contemporary music for his combination of Balinese
gamelan and African beats. Steve Reich is a pioneer of
minimalism. In 1971 Reich wrote a piece for drums called Drumming
which will be performed by the Resonans of the Netherlands at the
coming festival.

If gamelan is a phenomenon in contemporary music, Latin
American beat is recognizable in jazz and rock. In the 40s, Count
Basie tried to use Latin drum beats in his big band. At the
recent Santana concert here, the percussionist was the star of
the show.