Tenzer gets word out about Balinese music abroad

Tenzer gets word out about Balinese music abroad

Maggie Tiojakin,
Contributor/Boston

In today's MTV era, where Britney Spears' on-again, off-again
romances often become the center of world attention, the
country's traditional music is about as popular as the textbooks
that mention it.

Outside of the country's national borders, however, Indonesian
traditional music has sparked an unexpectedly wide range of
international interest.

Hard to believe, but true.

Michael Tenzer, 47, who proudly holds a doctorate degree in
music composition from the University of California, Berkeley,
has been promoting Balinese music and the arts for over two
decades now. And from the looks of it, he is nowhere near
finished.

Tenzer, whose resume alone takes up several pages, is a man
with many reputations. Aside from being a skilled composer,
performer and educator, he is also a scholar whose writing on
ethnomusicology has filled the pages of many scholarly
publications.

Currently, he can be found wandering around the corridors of
the School of Music of the University of British Columbia in
Vancouver, Canada, where he teaches music composition, theory and
gamelan traditional orchestra performance.

Two of his books -- Balinese Music (University of Washington
Press, 1991) and Gamelan Gong Kebyar: The Art of Twentieth
Century Balinese Music (Chicago Press, 2000) -- won much critical
acclaim. His compositions, particularly one that was commissioned
for a chamber work, Sources of Current, were hailed by the New
York Times as "deft, sophisticated, and inventive".

Nevertheless, Tenzer's extensive love affair with Balinese
music and arts began in 1976, when he incidentally overheard a
friend's conversation involving gamelan music. Unable to contain
his curiosity, Tenzer immediately purchased his first gamelan
record.

"Within 10 minutes (of listening to the record) I had made a
pact with myself to go to Bali and learn how to make the
beautiful and challenging sounds that were rushing out of the
speakers," wrote Tenzer in the preface to his book, Balinese
Music.

He wasn't kidding.

A year later, soon after he turned 20, Tenzer found himself
crossing from Banyuwangi, East Java, to Gilimanuk, West Bali, on
a ferry. Already delirious from a number of illnesses as a result
of the three-day trip, he wrote, "I remember how the (temple)
gate seemed to welcome me".

Upon his arrival, Tenzer settled in Peliatan village and took
residency with a Balinese painter, Ketut Madra. His first lessons
began at the National High School of Music and Dance (formerly
KOKAR) in Denpasar, Bali.

"I started on three instruments at the same time: drum,
metallophone and gong row."

He remembered that during his six-month stay in Peliatan
village, he would conveniently travel by bemo (public
transportation) to school for his daily lessons. "It was a
wonderful experience," added Tenzer, "and I learned a lot."

One of his first teachers at the school was a musician named
Nyoman Sumandhi who, according to Tenzer, treated him like a
member of the family. "(Sumandhi) took me all over Bali on the
back of his Honda."

At the end of his stay, Tenzer came back to the U.S. and
continued his studies at Yale. Then, after receiving his
bachelor's degree, Tenzer launched his next journey to the
University of California, Berkeley, where he started graduate
school in Western Music.

It was there, in 1979, that he co-founded Gamelan Sekar Jaya
(GSJ) together with two fellow musicians: Rachel Cooper and I
Wayan Suweca, a Balinese drummer.

"We modeled ourselves on the community-based musical clubs of
Bali and attracted many enthusiastic members," said Tenzer.

Even so, the road ahead was not easy. The biggest challenge in
organizing a community-based gamelan group, said Tenzer, was the
sense of "getting the technique and feeling to rise above a
certain level at which [the group] tends to stagnate".

The group has since performed in front of a live audience in
Bali, wowing even the most prominent Balinese performers. In
2000, GSJ was presented with the Dharma Kusuma award by the
Balinese government for its distinguished cultural service.

For a man who has spent 27 years of his life immersing himself
in a culture that he was not born into, Tenzer projects a great
amount of love and perseverance of his adopted homeland.

A native of New York, Tenzer often finds himself at a
crossroads among a variety of cultures, thanks to all the
traveling he does. Though he did not come from a strong musical
background, Tenzer proves that the love of music alone can take
you places.

"You just need to want to understand and listen closely," said
Tenzer, who has also taken up an interest in sub-Saharan music.

Tenzer said that he didn't have any particular bond with music
until he turned 12 -- at which time he became caught up with jazz
and ragtime music.

Asked whether there was a certain musician out there whom he
idolizes, Tenzer replied tersely, "You can't make me choose".

Regardless, he did convey that throughout his career, he
continues to look for mentors. "I have had many mentors, but
right now I'm without one."

His most recent mentor was Jose Maceda, whom Tenzer described
as "a unique person with an amazing life". Maceda was a Filipino
musician who gained international acclaim in his effort to blend
traditional music, particularly Indonesian and Filipino.

Like Tenzer, Maceda, who died last may at age 87, was a
prominent figure in the field of ethnomusicology, and was named
the National Artist of the Philippines in 1997.

Over the years, whether it is in Bali or overseas, Tenzer has
only good things to say regarding his experiences of working
alongside Balinese musicians, of which there are too many to
mention.

"I have had overall extremely positive interaction and learned
from all of [these musicians]," said Tenzer. "In return, I have
worked hard to promote their music and help others get access to
it."

Today, Tenzer is happily married to Pamela Hetrick, an
elementary music teacher, with whom he has fathered two children:
Molly, 14, and Maya, 10. Both of his daughters are very musical,
said Tenzer, for "they love music and sing in choirs".

The fact that he is often wrapped up in countless activities
and projects, including the upcoming volume of Analytical Studies
in World Music, doesn't mean he is missing out on quality time
with his family.

"I cook dinner every night and help the kids with their
homework," said Tenzer humbly. The rest of the time he spends
reviewing and preparing his classes, or do something fun for
himself. "I'm a professor, so I think this is a normal kind of
life in that profession."

And the weekly eight-hour gamelan practice?

"Except that," he answered.

Despite the increasing number of people in the international
community interested in Balinese music, Tenzer argues that
gamelan music will never turn into a trend-setting popular music.

"Which is good," he said, "because I like it just the way it
is."