with the Cornell Gamelan Ensemble
and gamelan-indie-rock sensation Twin Court

Friday, May 10, 8pm
Lincoln Hall B20

For the last two months, Ithaca’s gamelan community has benefited tremendously from the presence of Indonesian musician Gondrong Gunarto. Mas Gondrong’s reputation rests first and foremost on the way he infuses elements of gamelan and other traditional Indonesian musics into a wide range of contemporary forms. He’s worked with a who’s who of Indonesian choreographers and playwrights. Internationally, he made his mark through his collaboration with UK-based singer Susheela Ramen on the album Ghost Gamelan. It was on the basis of this work that I invited Mas Gondrong to Cornell to co-teach a new course called Collaborative Creativity, the fruits of which can be heard in a showcase of student work, prior to the concert, and also in Lincoln Hall B20, at 5pm.

While Gondrong’s path diverged from those who have dedicated themselves to the intricacies of classical Javanese repertoire, he is nonetheless an accomplished gamelan player with a deep connection to the tradition, gained by growing up in a family of artists and refined through formal study. In his short time at Cornell, he has infused fresh energy into the weekly rehearsals of the Cornell Gamelan Ensemble, leading us to explore the livelier side of performance practice in our interpretation of standard pieces. We’ll play five of these in the first half of the program.

Mas Gondrong’s creative brilliance will shine most brightly in the program’s second half. He joins forces with Twin Court, the gamelan-indie-rock band that a number of my students formed two years ago, who are now putting the finishing touches on their first album. They’ll play selections from the album, as well as new songs inspired by their interaction with Mas Gondrong that feature his contributions. In turn, Twin Court and I will fill out parts on the centerpiece of the concert: a performance of Mas Gondrong’s piece Panca Indera. On this he plays his favored instrument, the Sundanese zither kecapi. In adapting it from a related yet distinct tradition from the Javanese one he grew up with, Mas Gondrong has devised his own tuning and cultivated his own style—a model of the very kind of cross-cultural exploration that his residency at Cornell has so effectively encouraged.