Playful combination of jazz and gamelan

By Franki Raden

JAKARTA (JP): If you are a musician, you are used to recognizing the differences in pitch of various instruments. In an ensemble, the differences of pitch among instruments are to be avoided if you do not want the music to be out of tune.

This is the basic problem with fusing Javanese gamelan (using the slendro and pelog scales) with piano, saxophone, accordion and other Western instruments using the diatonic scale. Western musical instruments have had a standard pitch since the middle of the 19th century. Therefore, the pitch of a piano or a saxophone is always the same everywhere.

That is not the case with gamelan. Each gamelan set generally has a different pitch, meaning it is not standard. It is rare for one gamelan set to play at the same pitch as another, let alone with a piano, saxophone or accordion.

Thus it might be difficult to imagine what would happen if a composer combined gamelan with piano, saxophone and accordion, but this is what Indonesian gamelan composer Sapto Raharjo and French flutist Montanaro did in their show at the Gedung Wayang Orang Bharata on Wednesday.

In the third, fourth, sixth and ninth parts of their composition (their works bear no titles), Montanaro and the Sapto gamelan group each had a share in the work. One side played an improvisation of melodies, the other played a number of gamelan instruments with indefinite pitch to avoid a clash between Montanaro's diatonic scales and Sapto's slendro-pelog scales.

In another composition, the first, seventh and tenth parts, the clash was softened by Montanaro playing the pelog scale on his instrument. The difference in pitch remained audible, but in its great outline the music was harmonious. Another means used by Montanaro to "deceive" the audience's ears was to play flute noted distorted by strident and hushed sounds or brisk attacks.

Another method producing an attractive effect occurred when Montanaro played melody improvisations based on modal scales or drone elements, e.g. in the third and fourth compositions. In this piece the difference in pitch had the effect of captivating bitonality.

Montanaro's improvisational style was based on the insertion of folk music with strong ethnic elements and beautiful pastoral shadings. The most catchy example was when Montanaro used the flute to set a balance with Sapto and his group, who played a set of gambang bamboo instruments. The eighth, a standard traditional gendhing composition, did not fare well. When Montanaro made an effort to introduce his diatonal flute improvisation, the impression was one of ignorance and foolishness.

The same impression was perceptible in the fourth composition of the second part when Montanaro played the piano and Sapto used the gong and kempul. In the first part, where Montanaro's improvisational play was still based on an attractive drone, the music became chaotic when he diverted this improvisational base to the tonal music concept which relied on a conventional chord progression.

Here it was apparent in his chaotic handling of modulation elements that Montanaro has not mastered functional harmony. Nor was he familiar with piano playing techniques in a professional way. The second part of the composition went into disarray and Montanaro's playing was very amateurish.

Montanaro does not appear to be a composer in the professional sense. He is a flute player with tremendous virtuosity. In this respect Sapto has the same weakness. From the composition point of view their works look simplistic and lack imagination.

A musical meeting arranged merely by feelings of exoticism has never produced anything of depth. This is especially the case when the two musical cultures involved have developed for hundreds of years and reached an established esthetic.

However, a music performance does not always have to be serious in character. Performing playfully is also a healthy musical activity. In this case the performance by Montanaro and Sapto Raharjo and his group succeeded in entertaining the audience -- evident from the warm applause after each of their works.

Lucky were they who heard the performance in a non-analytical way.

The cooperation of Montanaro and Sapto Raharjo was very good. Sapto, with a background in gamelan and rock music, is an Indonesian composer sensitive to rhythmic elements in a composition. This was shown in his handling of rhythm in nearly all of the evening's compositions. Montanaro is an accomplished flute soloist.

The compositions of the evening were at their best when each contributed his individual strength, such as when Sapto got underway with his rhythms and Montanaro played his melodies. By applying this strategy, the problem of pitch and scale differences between gamelan and piano, accordion, flute or saxophone were avoided.