Indonesian Gamelan Ensemble

Date: 19 March 2013 19:30 - 19 March 2013 21:30
Location: Beethoven Room, Rhodes Department of Music & Musicology
Organiser: Jared Lang (Phone 046 603 8490)
Event Type: Public Lecture

Event:       Concert – Gamelan Ensemble

Venue:      Beethoven Room, Rhodes Department of Music & Musicology

Date:        Tuesday 19 March 2013

Time:        Concert: 19h30

                Workshop: 14h15

Admission: R50, R20 concessions (Workshop at 14h15 is free)

Gamelan reers to a set of instruments unified by their tuning and often by their decorative carving and painting. Gamelan also refers to musical groups, which often feature metal slab instruments, tuned knobbed gongs, flutes, drums, string and other instruments. Gamelan ensembles are found on the islands of Java, Bali, Lombok and Kalimantan. Although there is evidence of the ensemble existing at least since the eighth century AD there is a belief in Javanese myths that the ensemble was created by a god king called Sang Hyang Guru in AD 230.

Gamelan instruments are considered to have great spiritual power. Stepping over the instruments and touching them with one's feet are forbidden. Such actions are considered disrespectful to the spirits of the instruments and carries potential danger for the offending individual or other ensemble members. Offerings of various kinds, including incense and flowers, are often made before a gamelan piece is played.

Over the years the performance practices of the gamelan have undergone some transformation. Traditionally they are used in religious contexts, as accompaniment to rituals, customary practices, ceremonies, puppet theatre and dancing. In recent times gamelan music is used moreover to accompany secular events, including tourist and concert performances, government functions and educational demonstrations. Ever since pioneering Ethnomusicologists such as Mantle Hood in the mid-1950s, and composers in the west, such as Claude Debussy and Lou Harrison realized the beauty and complexity of the gamelan from the late 1800s onward, gamelan music has become globally appealing. Many colleges, universities and other educational institutions around the world own gamelan ensembles and present public performances, and the ensemble is also used in music therapy in the UK.

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