“]  Gamelan Giri Mekar members Bill Ylitalo, Sue Pilla and Walt Farrell at the Red Hook Diner. [ Dion Ogust A growing phenomenon in the music world, Balinese gamelan was traditionally played at community gatherings connected to religious ritual, celebrations and special occasions for the royal court. Today it is heard in performance and as accompaniment to both traditional and modern dances, drama, theater and puppetry. Its introduction to the world stage, and in particular to communities in the US, has developed over the last 50 or so years, exposing more people to the exotic sounds of this ancient culture. There are now more than 100 gamelan ensembles in the country, with over a dozen on the East Coast.
The actual instruments used in gamelan are various sets of gongs, gong-chimes, metallophones, drums, flutes and bowed or plucked pieces. Players have the freedom to experience different instruments in the ensemble, eventually specializing on an instrument that most appeals to them. It’s not like being the first cellist in an orchestra; there are no individual stars in gamelan. Rather more democratic, a player might switch around and learn different parts playing what best serves the ensemble as a whole.
What’s more, a player does not necessarily have to be a trained musician to join an ensemble. Giri Mekar member Sue Pilla explains, “You may not have had musical experience, but if you have an ear, if you can keep a beat and memorize melody lines, you don’t have to have a musical background. It’s the willingness to learn that counts. What got me was listening to gamelan recordings: the underlying rhythmic structure of gongs – they center you – and in performance, the beautiful, vibrantly colorful costumes. It’s a very mesmerizing experience; it’s hypnotic.”
In Indonesian traditional thinking, the gamelan is sacred, believed to have supernatural power. For Pilla and others in the Hudson Valley ensemble, it’s a “hobby gone wild” with dedicated weekly practice – sometimes for marathons four hours long – and increasing performance opportunities. Giri Mekar member Bill Ylitalo discovered gamelan 30 years ago as a student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He notes the two major ensembles in New York City and in Washington, DC connected to the Indonesian consulates and surrounding communities. Non-Indonesian groups have typically formed in college communities where the instruments can be housed and where the interest in esoteric music forms is cultivated.
The Hudson Valley ensemble was started by Woodstock Chimes founder Garry Kvistad, who later approached Bard College to arrange for the collection of instruments to be housed there on indefinite loan, and to create a program open to the community at large and Bard college students as well. Now going into its twelfth year, the Bard gamelan program has enjoyed great success, with several students, like Reisnour, now pursuing a PhD in Ethnomusicology at Cornell University with a focus on Balinese music. Giri Mekar and Bard’s student gamelan Chandra Kanchana continue to share instruments and instructors: a collaboration that supports both groups.
Giri Mekar member Walt Farrell says that the Hudson Valley group’s instrument collection is nearly 30 years old. Constructed in Bali, it was first owned by a gamelan ensemble in San Francisco. He explains, “The instrument-maker tunes one of the instruments at a slightly higher pitch, giving it this shimmering interference effect. It makes the music more interesting to hear, and it helps the sound carry further (when performances take place outside, as is traditional). The experience of playing is almost a magical one. That might be true of any orchestral experience. I’ve never been in an ensemble before this one. All are being guided by a drummer, with abrupt tempo changes that happen in a totally unified way. I don’t know how it works; it’s amazingly complex and simple at the same time.”
While gamelan hasn’t yet invaded popular music as sounds of the Indian sitar did in the 1960s, moviegoers might listen for it in Eat, Pray, Love, set to be released in August. Meanwhile, the upcoming performance (and another scheduled at Bard in May) promises sheer auditory intoxication. Giri Mekar members performing at the Kleinert/James will include two Bard faculty members, professor Mercedes DuJunco and professor Richard Davis, feature Bard College students Jonathon DeWolf on djembai, Olivia Madden on cello, and Keenan Houser on electric guitar, and Giri Mekar members Julien Valenstein, Dorcinda Knauth, Bill Brovold, Chris Andersen, Kathleen Shay, Kate Collins-Faubion, Giri Mekar alum Mark Bernard, Farrell, Pilla and Ylitalo. Also assisting are Bard students Ian Barnett, Greg Backus, Kevin Kim and Gerasimos Livitsanos. Guest artist, scholar, ethnomusicologist and Balinese drummer Peter Steele and Balinese master musician and dancer Tjokorda Gde Arsa Artha will start the evening’s family-friendly performance with a special pre-concert talk including instrument and dance demonstrations at 7:15 p.m.
Tickets are $15 general admission, $10 for Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild members. For tickets and information contact the Guild at (845) 679-2079 or www.woodstockguild.org. For upcoming performances or to join gamelan Giri Mekar, email girimekar@gmail.com.
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