When Javanese gamelan meets jazz

When Javanese gamelan meets jazz

By Gus Kairupan

JAKARTA (JP): A gamelan ensemble of more than 20 pieces, a
saxophonist-cum-clarinetist and an electric guitarist...would it
work? Well, everything, they say, is in the eye of the beholder,
or, in this case, the ear of the listener, and judging from what
the ear of this listener caught, it will take a long time before
the combination of Javanese gamelan and jazz becomes an
established form of music. It is, of course, not the first time
attempts have been made to mix jazz with other non-Western
musical forms of expression, and one would, at first, think that
it would pose little complication -- what with jazz itself being
a mixture of a number of widely different types of music.

It was curiosity more than the expectation of a musical treat
that made me go to the event at Taman Ismail Marzuki last
Wednesday where the event, Du gamelan dans le Jazz, was held. The
musicians were French saxophonist and clarinetist Andre Jaume and
guitarist Remi Charmasson, while the gamelan ensemble included
Sapto Raharjo, Sonny Suprapto, Poernomo Nugroho, Gatot Djuwito
and Setyaji Dewanto.

Now, I'm the first to admit that I know very little about
gamelan music, unlike Western music in which I've enjoyed a bit
of grounding. Though I like gamelan immensely (especially
Sundanese), the appreciation stems from listening rather than
from a thorough study of it. But even that is enough to perceive
the differences between these two forms of music, including
differences that may not pertain of music per se.

First, there's the matter of blending which in gamelan seems
to be the desideratum. This leaves very little room for
individualism, i.e. solo work, which more than anything is the
backbone of jazz. Hence, whereas gamelan strives for harmony
among the instruments, the emphasis in Western music is contrast.
Second, the diatonic versus the pentatonic system, with the
former often playing the decisive role in directing the course of
a tune, while the latter depends heavily on melodic lines. Third,
gamelan instruments are predominantly percussive, while in jazz
music you can mix practically everything: percussion, wind,
piano, strings -- whatever. But though percussive and quite able
to produce loud sounds, gamelan instruments -- especially
Javanese -- are practically always tapped, never beaten. The
mallets used are made of wood which are padded or tightly wrapped
in cloth and these soften the tones considerably (in Balinese
gamelan, however, instruments are struck with small-hammer like
tools which produce louder and brighter tones).

Considering all these contrasting elements, what was the
performance like? Tonal systems (diatonic and pentatonic) perhaps
matter little because a lot of music of this part of the 20th
century has done a away with these as well as conventional
rhythmic patterns. This has often been referred to as liberated
music (never mind esthetic values) but that applies mostly to
Western music, jazz as well as classical. Gamelan music has yet
to free itself from whatever practitioners like Sapto Raharjo and
his ensemble perceive as the strictures of formality. If he,
Raharjo, intends to do more of the things he did that evening --
i.e. involve gamelan in jazz -- a thorough study of that art is
of prime importance. On the other hand, jazz artists like Andre
Jaume and Remi Charmasson would do well if they had delved a bit
deeper into gamelan music and why it is the way it is. Gamelan
could perhaps be described like this: a performance of many
acting as one, and not one making oneself stand out in a solo
passage.

The concert, then, was an exercise in how to marry these two
different styles of musical expression in which Jaume and
Charmasson were quite obviously in search of different colors,
while Raharjo and ensemble appeared to be looking for ways to
achieve something akin to individuality. It didn't always work,
though there were some interesting parts, like the piece the jazz
artists shared with four rebabs (bowed string instruments), and
some passages in which Raharjo stood out a little, like -- in the
opening number -- beating (not tapping) the gongs everywhere but
on the knob in the center.

Disregarding tonal systems and rhythmic structures, the one
remaining element would be coloring. Personally, I found much of
the sax and clarinet work rather harsh and grating on the
eardrums when juxtaposed with the sounds of the gamelan. Javanese
gamelan, that is. I must say that the guitar blended better, but
could still not help wondering how it would be if Jaume and
Charmasson had combined with a Balinese gamelan.

Thus, the concert was rather a jazz-based experiment in music
which of course has its merits. The course of the West's music is
rife with experiments and it could be through just such
cooperation that gamelan may one day enter a musical sphere with
wider horizons.