November 23, 2024
Cannon Chapel, Emory University
Atlanta, GA – USA
Instrument set: Paksi Kencana (“Sacred Eagle”) – Javanese
Emory Gamelan Ensemble, Darsono Hadiraharjo, director; Rianto, dancer.
Overture: Ketawang ‘Gendhing Alas Padhang’ Kethuk Loro Kerep; Minggah Ladrang ‘Kandha Manyura’ Laras Slendro, Pathet Manyura
Gangsaran; Ladrang ‘Semingin’ Laras Slendro, Pathet Nem
Ketawang ‘Tarupala’ Laras Slendro, Pathet Manyura
Gendhing ‘Majemuk Kebar’ Kethuk Loro Kerep; Minggah Sekawan Kalajengagen; Ladrang ‘Gonjing Miring’ Laras Slendro, Pathet Nem
Tari Klana Topeng (Mask Dance of King Klana)
Ketawang ‘Mijil Dhempel’ Laras Slendro, Pathet Sanga
Gendhing ‘Andhadha’ Kethuk Loro Kerep; Minggah; Ladrang ‘Panunggal’; Laras Slendro, Pathet Manyura
Lengger Lanang: ‘Eling-Eling Banyumasan’ (Lengger Lanang Dance)
Ladrang ‘Sigramangsah’ Laras Slendro, Pathet Manyura
Quotation marks: Enclose specific composition titles
Semicolon: Separate major structural sections or concepts
Comma: separates scale from modal system
Parentheses: encloses additional information about the piece
Jon Ciliberto | 6 DEC 2024
First hearing Indonesian gamelan music is like first experiencing art. It is a sudden wonder and direct facing of something immediately powerful and thus impossible to resist.
Some aspects stand out, even as one feels that most of what is happening is far beyond a first impression’s ability to plumb. While seemingly narrow, the sonic palette gradually expands as one listens and finds the mental space in which to listen. Rhythms are subtle in mystery, with both rigidity and fluidity in the same temporal frame.
Emory has had a gamelan ensemble since 1997, and the group’s performance on a quiet afternoon on campus was, as it always is, a welcoming, relaxed, humorous, but also very serious occasion.
The ensemble’s “aim is to disseminate the beauty and knowledge of gamelan performance arts, which include musical concerts, wayang (shadow puppet) shows, and traditional dances.”
An opportunity for Emory students to learn about gamelan and to perform, the ensemble is also open to community members. Many of its members have worked in the ensemble for years — even decades. The appreciation for the group in Atlanta is palpable.[1]
Several gamelan groups performed, led by Pak Darsono Hadiraharjo and Maho Ishiguro, who also directs the dance ensemble. A very special addition was performances by Lengger lanang dancer Rianto from Banyumas, Central Java, Indonesia. Lengger lanang is “a traditional cross-gender dance form from Banyumas which is performed as fertility rites and harvest celebration in villages [and] one of the most prominent dancers of Lengger lanang today, performing extensively around the world, and passing down the art form to younger generations in Indonesia.”[2]
Emory Gamelan Ensemble, led by drummer Pak Darsono (center), with Lengger lanang dancer Rianto at Emory University’s Cannon Chapel. (credit: Jon Ciliberto)
Gamelan is the ensemble of instruments, and its performance is an Indonesian social form, a part of religious rituals, festivals, theatre, and concerts. Gamelan is typically experienced outdoors, and one easily transports there. During Emory’s performance a soft buzz from one of the instruments repeatedly tricked me into thinking I was hearing insect night noise in the forest.
The “conductor” of the ensemble is the drummer, Pak Darsono, and the connection between this player and the entire performance was nicely shown as Rianto danced. One perceived the dialogue between the two not only through rhythmic exchange and communication but also in Darsono’s smiles and laughs at Rianto’s expressiveness.
Rianto’s dance had a powerful effect; the striking movement and postures were almost a spell cast on the audience (or me, at least). That said, Rianto engaged more informally with audience members at the afternoon’s conclusion, pulling them out of their seats to dance alongside.
The push and pull of tempo throughout the performance is a hallmark of gamelan and one of the challenges of leading an ensemble. I liken it to the modulating brightness of the moon as clouds drifted across it, and even inside Emory’s Cannon Chapel, the ensemble captured this ebb and flow.
Professor Ishiguro encouraged the audience to move about and find different places within Cannon Chapel to hear the music — each place revealing different tonal characteristics. For the later portions I climbed high above the ensemble, and the iridescence of sound there became nearly physical. ■
Enmory Galemlan Ensemble. (Notebook sketch by Jon Ciliberto)
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- [1] “A love letter to the Emory Gamelan Ensemble” – Cat Kerr | Atlanta Magazine, March 27, 2024
- [2] Program Booklet – Tommy Tomlinson | ISSUU, (published November 12, 2024)
- Emory Gamelan Ensemble: emorygamelan.org
- Pak Darsono: music.emory.edu/people/biography/Darsono-Gamelan%20Director.html
- Rianto: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rianto
Read more by Jon Ciliberto.
