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Bellbird, Korimako, Makomako - Anthornis melanura (male)
Endemic and fairly common throughout New Zealand, except for a few areas where it declined in the 19th century.
Plant is New Zealand Flax (Harakeke, Phormium tenax), very popular with bellbirds and Tui.
A Maori guide told us that if a person has a good singing voice, they are compared to a Bellbird. I found a good quote online about this:
"Of a fluent, graceful speaker, or an admired singer the Maori would say: He rite ki te kopara e ko nei i te ata. (It is like the bell-bird singing at dawn.)"
- Forest Lore of the Maori nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BesFore-t1-body-d2-...
- New Zealand Birds Online nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/bellbird
- Robertson et al. The Hand Guide to the Birds of New Zealand (Penguin Random House New Zealand, 2015), plate 77
Originally from Minneapolis, Jose is a vocalist that truly feel at home performing any style of music. After attending the New School in New York City, he started performing with Chico Hamilton. Since then he has worked with Flying Lotus, Basement Jaxx, Jazzanova, Giles Peterson and Mc Coy Tyner. This was shot at Harlem Stage using Illford Pan F 50 with strobes.
Madonna & Graham Norton
The original Queen of Pop Madonna brought her Rebel Heart tour to London's O2 Arena for the first of two nights in support of her 13th studio album. Putting her dramatic on-stage tumble at the same venue earlier this year during a Brit Awards performance behind her, she ruled the East London venue with the sheer tour de force for the live show she is so renowned for.
Giving Rebel Heart a good airing, the 57-year-old opened the show with new album track Iconic, appearing in steel cage while dancers paraded around dressed as medieval executioners in gold and black outfits carrying large gold pikes, following a video introduction featuring guest vocalist Mike Tyson. This was quickly followed up with Bitch I’m Madonna before the crowd were treated to her second single, 1983 track Burning Up, with the star playing a black Flying-V guitar.
After an acoustic rendition of Devil Pray, the Michigan-native disappeared for the first of a few times during the show where the crowd were left with backing dancers performing and a video playing as she changed outfits for the next segment of the show.
The scene was then changed as Madonna appeared on the hood of a 1965 Ford Falcon for new album track Body Shop, the stage was set up as a 1950’s automotive workshop, adorned with tires, her dancers looking like they’d stepped out of a production of Grease. The crowd cheered ecstatically as she took up position centre-stage playing a ukulele for an acoustic rendition of 1986 hit True Blue.
The audience towards the rear of the arena were treated next as a spiral staircase descended onto the stage with Madonna duelling with a dancer for HeartBreakCity which featured snippets of Miles Gregory’s Love Don't Live Here Anymore.
A Spanish theme followed as the Vogue hit-maker donned a bullfighter’s outfit for 1987 hit La Isla Bonita. The crowd were then treated to a medley of some of her earlier hits in a matching flamenco style including Dress You Up, Into the Groove and Lucky Star, hopes of extensive cuts from her “Immaculate Collection” dashed.
Taking a seat at her “Heart” stage at the end of a long catwalk running up the centre of the arena floor, she said “It’s nice to sit down for a while. Sometimes I outdo myself, even I admit that.”
“I wish someone would give me a spanking, but I never do anything wrong” she said, enticing a roar from the crowd.
Referring to the unusual shape of the stage, she continued her risqué banter: “Usually when I get down to the head of the penis, things get pretty heated up. That’s what I call this area. It’s funny how a heart and a penis have a similar shape, God’s infinite plan for my happiness.”
She made the London crowd feel extra special, recounting a story of how she would steal money from an early bar job to fund a trip to the British capital, a city she called home for some years in later life when she married English film director Guy Ritchie. “London, I love you. I’ve played so many amazing places from Wembley to Hyde Park, Brixton Academy, The O2 Centre, wherever you’ll have me. And thank you for having me.”
The star then made an emotional speech recognising World Aids Day she mentioned the family of her adopted son David who had all succumbed to the disease before stating "It is not a disease that had gone away. We need to remember that. Let's acknowledge all the people who have passed, and those who have fought to raise awareness. We shall overcome one day." In a break from the standard Rebel Heart tour setlist, she then broke into solo rendition of 1989 hit single Like A Prayer.
A 1920s theme closed out the main set with the best-selling female recording artist of all time treating her longer-standing fans with Music and Material Girl from her extensive back catalogue before taking up position on a raised mini-stage in the centre of her cross-shaped stage for a rendition of Édith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose, the star once again taking up the ukulele.
TV host Graham Norton was pulled on onto the stage from somewhere or other to join her with some rather erratic dancing during Unapologetic Bitch, some slightly tired innuendo surrounding a banana adding more humour to the night before both Norton and Madonna disappeared and the vast arena was thrown into darkness.
Madonna returned in a American flag-inspired star top and draped in a British Union flag for an upbeat close to the show with her third single Holiday.
While the crowd in attendance seemed to react differently to the mixed set played, the boys upfront going nuts to the dancier new material from Rebel Heart while those towards the back of the arena cheering more for Madonna’s older material, what was unquestionable was the star’s staying power, agility and passion. Even though she’s been hitting up arenas and stadiums around the world for three decades, tonight didn’t feel like a chore for her.
Her Blonde Ambition tour in 1990 set a precedent for the modern pop spectacle we have all come to expect of arena pop tours. 25 years on, Madonna proves she can still innovate, gyrate and contend with even the newest of today’s pop superstars, with big screens, huge set pieces, unique stage setups and incredible dancers juxtaposed with filling a capacity arena with just her voice accompanied by a ukulele.
Madonna plays a second show at the O2 Arena on December 2nd and heads out to Amsterdam, Paris and Zurich before returning to British shores for shows in Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow to close out the year.
African Blues Vocalist Lady Performing Live at The Limpopo Club the Africa Centre Covent Garden London October 2001
Skard band, Rock n Roll, Skard rock band Harley, Harley-Davidson, Bike, Biker, Music, Skard 4 Life, Sturgis North, Skard4Life, guitar drums drummer vocal vocalist rock star Ady, Freedom, Fender, On The Highway, Marshall Amplification, CANADA, SKARD Vanco
Emerging from Mediterranean shores, multi-faceted vocalist and awarded songwriter
Elina Laivera has come to deliver a brand new musical sensation.
As her fans put it...
''...the phaenomenal siren showcases vocal strength & versatility
that matches that of powerhouse singers such as Beyonce and Jessie J,
as well as possesses a tone so ethereal and yet rich and soothing
that reminds that of a Leona Lewis in her prime''.
Yet she remains ''unmistakably Elina''
with that unique soul that sets her apart
& an extremely flexible range of nearly 4 octaves.
Laivera has been working professionally as a singer/songwriter for the past 15 years.
She started studying on music since the age of 7 learning to play the piano,
classical orchestra flute, saz and sharpening her knowledge on
European and Byzantine Music Theory, Solfege, Kinesiology and Stage Performance.
For 11 years she was a protathlete in rythmic gymnastics.
Aged 14 she toured for the first time and since then she took the one challenge after the other; touring with various professional voice ensembles usually as the youngest member, singing lead roles in musicals such as Mary Magdalene (Jesus Christ Superstar)
and Christine (The Phantom of the Opera), gracing some of the biggest stages
in her homeland Greece and abroad, recording several albums with bands and projects. Teenage life was anything but boring for Elina.
She has studied classical and modern singing (National Conservatory / State Conservatory / Orfeion Conservatory, Athens, Greece), World Music (James Cook University, Australia) and since 2017 is a Certified Specialist on Vocal Styles (Berklee College of Music, Boston, USA).
Elina has studied with some of the best mentors including Jeff Ramsey (Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion), Adriana Balic (Pink), Nikos Spanatis, Cari Cole, Jan Shapiro and others.
She is also a Certified Meditation Teacher holding a fully accredited Certification as a Meditation Teacher by CTAA (Complementary Therapists Accredited Association) in the UK.
Laivera was already having a highly praised career in the female-fronted-metal genre for nearly 10 years, counting 12 releases worldwide, 3 signed band projects & numerous tours across Europe when she decided to swap the hard sound for more pop ventures.
In May 2018 she debuted her new music with the vastly orchestral power ballad ''ONE''
introducing herself this time also as co-producer next to German multi-instrumentalist & producer Jovan Ducret with whom she also collaborated on her next single,
''HAUNTED'' and eventually on her debut solo album ''Alchemy''.
Elina's debut solo album ''ALCHEMY'' is out now.
Cam (Camaron Ochs) performs at the Moody Theater on March 19, 2016 during the SXSW 2016 Music Festival in Austin, Texas, USA
Skard band, Rock n Roll, Skard rock band Harley, Harley-Davidson, Bike, Biker, Music, Skard 4 Life, Sturgis North, Skard4Life, guitar drums drummer vocal vocalist rock star Ady, Freedom, Fender, On The Highway, Marshall Amplification, CANADA, Vancouver
Whitney Rose performs at Threadgill's on March 19, 2016 during the SXSW 2016 Music Festival in Austin, Texas, USA
The lead vocalist of Call band.
Live in concert.
© AvidDuo - The Cutting-Edge Photo/Video artistry is a Trademark of Farrukh Pitafi.
Gayle Moran is a vocalist, keyboard player (piano, organ, and synthesizer), and songwriter. She was a member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the mid-1970s,[1] appearing on Apocalypse (1974) and Visions of the Emerald Beyond (1975).
She later appeared on recordings by Return to Forever's 1977 album Musicmagic and the Chick Corea solo albums The Leprechaun (1975), My Spanish Heart (1976), The Mad Hatter (1978), Secret Agent (1978) and Touchstone (1982). She also had a part in the making of a song titled "Afterlife" in the 2007 film War starring Jet Li and Jason Statham.
Other guest vocal appearances include "The Gracious Core", on Mark Isham's album Castalia, and the title track from the 1976 David Sancious & Tone release, "Transformation (The Speed of Love).
She released one album in her own name, I Loved You Then ... I Love You Now (1979). She has been married to the jazz musician Chick Corea since 1972. ~ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayle_Moran
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ƒ1.4 50mm 1/80 500
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Born Bernard Stanley "Acker" Bilk MBE in Pensford, Somerset. He was an English clarinettist and vocalist, billed as Mr. Acker Bilk on many of his recordings. He was known for his trademark goatee, bowler hat, striped waistcoat and breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register clarinet style.
Bilk's 1962 instrumental tune "Stranger on the Shore" became the UK's biggest selling single of 1962 where it remained in the UK charts for more than 50 weeks, peaking at number two, and was the first No. 1 single in the United States by a British artist in the era of the modern Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.
He undertook his 18 months national service with the Royal Engineers in the Suez Canal Zone. Bilk learnt the clarinet there after his sapper friend John A. Britten gave him one that he had bought at a bazaar and for which he had no use. The clarinet had no reed and Britten fashioned a makeshift reed for the instrument out of some scrap wood. He then borrowed a better instrument from the Army, which he kept with him on demobilisation.
On return home, he joined his uncle's blacksmith business, and qualified in the trade.
During the evenings he played with friends on the Bristol jazz circuit. In 1951 he moved to London to play with Ken Colyer's band. But disliking London, he returned west and formed his own band in Pensford called the Chew Valley Jazzmen, which was renamed the Bristol Paramount Jazz Band when they moved to London in 1951. Their agent then got them a six-month gig in Düsseldorf, Germany, playing in a beer bar seven hours a night, seven nights a week where Bilk and the band developed their distinctive style and appearance, complete with striped-waistcoats and bowler hats.
In 1960, their single "Summer Set" (a pun on their home county), co-written by Bilk and pianist Dave Collett, reached number five in the UK Singles Chart and began a run of eleven chart hit singles. In 1961 "Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band" appeared at the Royal Variety Performance.
Bilk was not internationally known musician until an experiment with a string ensemble and a composition of his own as its keynote piece made him one in 1962.
Upon the birth of his daughter, he composed and dedicated a melody entitled "Jenny" (her name). He was approached by a British television series for permission to use that melody, but to change the title to "Stranger on the Shore". He went on to record it as the title track of a new album in which his signature deep, quavering clarinet was backed by the Leon Young String Chorale. The single was not only a big hit in the United Kingdom, where it stayed on the charts for 55 weeks, gaining a second wind after Bilk was the subject of the TV show This Is Your Life, but also shot to the top of the American charts at a time when the American pop charts and radio playlists were open to almost anything in just about any style.
"Stranger on the Shore" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The album was also highlighted by a striking interpretation of Bunny Berigan's legendary hit "I Can't Get Started." At the height of his career, Bilk's public relations workers were known as the "Bilk Marketing Board", a pun/play on the then Milk Marketing Board.
Acker was awarded the M.B.E in 2001.
A great Traditional Jazz artists who, now sadly missed ,has left a legacy of great music that will keep his memory alive for a lifetime.
Beyond Broadway Productions presents "Guys Sing Dolls" starring: Tim Newman (Memphis, Grease, All the Fun of the Fair, Footloose), Drew Gowland (Murderous Instincts, Principal Vocalist QM2), Gerard Bentall (Les Miserables, Jesus Christ Superstar, Fame) and Anton Stephans (X Factor Finalist and Backing Singer for Tina Turner). Backing by Sonny Grieveson & Kieran Cooper. Musical Director - Neil Metcalfe.
Created by Murray Grant
The all male cast perform the greatest female songs of musical theatre, movies and pop/rock fame,
presented from a completely different perspective.
Photo from the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Production - Ghillie Dhu, Rutland Place, Edinburgh
I was able to get a prior to sound check interview with R&B vocalist Lalah Hathaway in Atlanta at the Fox Theater
Beyond Broadway Productions presents "Guys Sing Dolls" starring: Tim Newman (Memphis, Grease, All the Fun of the Fair, Footloose), Drew Gowland (Murderous Instincts, Principal Vocalist QM2), Gerard Bentall (Les Miserables, Jesus Christ Superstar, Fame) and Anton Stephans (X Factor Finalist and Backing Singer for Tina Turner). Backing by Sonny Grieveson & Kieran Cooper. Musical Director - Neil Metcalfe.
Created by Murray Grant
The all male cast perform the greatest female songs of musical theatre, movies and pop/rock fame,
presented from a completely different perspective.
Photo from the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Production - Ghillie Dhu, Rutland Place, Edinburgh
Gamelan is traditional ensemble music of Java and Bali in Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. The most common instruments are metallophones played by mallets as well as a set of hand played drums called kendhang which register the beat. Other instruments include xylophones, bamboo flutes, bowed instrument called rebab, and even vocalists called sindhen.
Although the popularity of gamelan has declined since the introduction of pop music, gamelan is still commonly played in formal occasions and in many traditional Indonesian ceremonies. For most Indonesians, gamelan is an integral part of Indonesian culture.
TERMINOLOGY
The word gamelan comes from the low Javanese word gamel, which may refer to a type of mallet used to strike instruments or the act of striking with a mallet. The term karawitan refers to the playing of gamelan instruments, and comes from the word rawit, meaning 'intricate' or 'finely worked'. The word derives from the Javanese word of Sanskrit origin, rawit, which refers to the sense of smoothness and elegance idealized in Javanese music. Another word from this root, pangrawit, means a person with such sense, and is used as an honorific when discussing esteemed gamelan musicians. The high Javanese word for gamelan is gangsa, formed either from the words tembaga and rejasa referring to the materials used in bronze gamelan construction (copper and tin), or tiga and sedasa referring to their proportions (three and ten).
HISTORY
The gamelan predates the Hindu-Buddhist culture that dominated Indonesia in its earliest records and instead represents a native art form. The instruments developed into their current form during the Majapahit Empire. In contrast to the heavy Indian influence in other art forms, the only obvious Indian influence in gamelan music is in the Javanese style of singing, and in the themes of the Wayang kulit (shadow puppet plays).
In Javanese mythology, the gamelan was created by Sang Hyang Guru in Saka era 167 (c. AD 230), the god who ruled as king of all Java from a palace on the Maendra mountain in Medang Kamulan (now Mount Lawu). He needed a signal to summon the gods and thus invented the gong. For more complex messages, he invented two other gongs, thus forming the original gamelan set.
The earliest image of a musical ensemble is found on the 8th century Borobudur temple, Central Java. Musical instruments such as the bamboo flute, bells, drums in various sizes, lute, and bowed and plucked string instruments were identified in this image. However it lacks metallophones and xylophones. Nevertheless, the image of this musical ensemble is suggested to be the ancient form of the gamelan.
In the palaces of Java are the oldest known ensembles, the Munggang and Kodokngorek gamelans, apparently from the 12th century. These formed the basis of a "loud style". A different, "soft style" developed out of the kemanak tradition and is related to the traditions of singing Javanese poetry, in a manner which is often believed to be similar to performance of modern bedhaya dance. In the 17th century, these loud and soft styles mixed, and to a large extent the variety of modern gamelan styles of Bali, Java, and Sunda resulted from different ways of mixing these elements. Thus, despite the seeming diversity of styles, many of the same theoretical concepts, instruments, and techniques are shared between the styles.
INSTRUMENTS
A gamelan is primarily constituted from metallophones while other instruments such as flute (suling) and zither (celempung) are discretionary. Hand played drums called kendhang however is essential despite not being a metallophone as it control the tempo and rhythm of pieces as well as the transitions from one section to another.
VARIETIES
They are distinguished by their collection of instruments and use of voice, tunings, repertoire, style, and cultural context. In general, no two gamelan ensembles are the same, and those that arose in prestigious courts are often considered to have their own style. Certain styles may also be shared by nearby ensembles, leading to a regional style.
The varieties are generally grouped geographically, with the principal division between the styles favored by the Balinese, Javanese, and Sundanese peoples. The Madurese also had their own style of gamelan, although it is no longer in use, and the last orchestra is kept at the Sumenep palace. Sundanese gamelan is often associated with Gamelan Degung, a Sundanese musical ensemble that utilises a subset of modified gamelan instruments with a particular mode of pelog scale. Balinese gamelan is often associated with the virtuosity and rapid changes of tempo and dynamics of Gamelan gong kebyar, its best-known style. Other popular Balinese styles include Gamelan and kecak, also known as the "monkey chant." Javanese gamelan was largely dominated by the courts of the 19th century central Javanese rulers, each with its own style, but overall is known for a slower, more meditative style than that of Bali. Although Javanese gamelan can be made from steel, the better instruments are made of cast brass. The two kinds of instruments are tuned in different ways.
Outside of the main core on Java and Bali, gamelans have spread through migration and cultural interest, new styles sometimes resulting as well. Malay gamelans are designed in ways that are similar to the Javanese gamelan except they lack most of the elaborating instruments and are tuned in a near-equidistant slendro, often using a western B♭ or C as a tuning basis. Javanese emigrants to Suriname play gamelan in a style close to that found in Central Javanese villages. Gamelan is also related to the Filipino kulintang ensemble. There is also a wide variety of gamelan in the West, including both traditional and experimental ensembles.
In oral Javanese culture distinctions are made between complete or incomplete, archaic and modern, and large standard and small village gamelan. The various archaic ensembles are distinguished by their unique combinations of instruments and possession of obsolete instruments such as the bell-tree (byong) in the 3-toned gamelan kodhok ngorek. Regionally variable village gamelan are often distinguished from standard gamelan (which have the rebab as the main melodic instrument) by their inclusion of a double-reed wind (selompret, slompret, or sompret) in addition to variable drum and gong components, with some also including the shaken bamboo angklung or other instruments not usually associated with gamelan.
CULTURAL CONTEXT
In Indonesia, gamelan often accompanies dance, wayang puppet performances, or rituals and ceremonies. Typically players in the gamelan will be familiar with dance moves and poetry, while dancers are able to play in the ensemble. In wayang, the dalang (puppeteer) must have a thorough knowledge of gamelan, as he gives the cues for the music. Gamelan can be performed by itself – in "klenengan" style, or for radio broadcasts – but concerts in the Western style are not traditional.
Gamelan's role in rituals is so important that there is a Javanese saying, "It is not official until the gong is hung". Some performances are associated with royalty, such as visits by the sultan of Yogyakarta. Certain gamelans are associated with specific rituals, such as the Gamelan Sekaten, which is used in celebration of Mawlid an-Nabi (Muhammad's birthday). In Bali, almost all religious rituals include gamelan performance. Gamelan is also used in the ceremonies of the Catholic church in Indonesia. Certain pieces are designated for starting and ending performances or ceremonies. When an "ending" piece (such as "Udan Mas") is begun, the audience will know that the event is nearly finished and will begin to leave. Certain pieces are also believed to possess magic powers, and can be used to ward off evil spirits.
Gamelan is frequently played on the radio. For example, the Pura Pakualaman gamelan performs live on the radio every Minggu Pon (a day in the 35-day cycle of the Javanese calendar). In major towns, the Radio Republik Indonesia employs professional musicians and actors, and broadcast programs of a wide variety of gamelan music and drama.
In the court tradition of central Java, gamelan is often played in the pendopo, an open pavilion with a cavernous, double-pitched roof, no side walls, and a hard marble or tile floor. The instruments are placed on a platform to one side, which allows the sound to reverberate in the roof space and enhances the acoustics.
In Bali, the Gamelan instruments are all kept together in a balé, a large open space with a roof over the top of it and several open sides. Gambelan (the Balinese term) are owned by a banjar, nobility or temples and kept in their respective compounds.
In case of banjar ownership the instruments are all kept there together because people believe that all the instruments belong to the community as a whole and that no one person has ownership over an instrument. Not only is this where the instruments are stored, but this is also the practice space for the sekaha (Gamelan orchestra group). The open walls allow for the music to flow out into the community where the rest of the people may enjoy it. Balinese gamelan cannot be heard inside closed rooms, because it easily crosses the threshold of pain. This does not apply to small ensembles like a gamelan gendér.
The sekaha is led by a single instructor whose job it is in the community to lead this group and to come up with new pieces. When they are working on a new piece, the instructor will lead the group in practice and help the group form the new music as they are practicing. When the instructor creates a new song, he leaves enough open for interpretation that the group can improvise, so the group will write the music as they practice it.
There are many styles in Balinese gamelan. Kebyar is one of the most recent ones. Some Balinese Gamelan groups constantly change their music by taking older pieces they know and mixing them together, as well as trying new variations on their music. Their music constantly changes because they believe that music should grow and change; the only exception to this is with their most sacred songs which they do not change. A single new piece of music can take several months before it is completed.
Men and women usually perform in separate groups, with the exception in Java of the pesindhen, the female singer who performs with male groups.
In the twenty-five countries outside of Indonesia that have gamelan, music is often performed in a concert context or as part of ceremonies of expat communities. It may also incorporate dance or wayang.
TUNING
The tuning and construction of a gamelan orchestra is a complex process. Javanese gamelans use two tuning systems: sléndro and pélog. There are other tuning systems such as degung (exclusive to Sunda, or West Java), and madenda (also known as diatonis, similar to a European natural minor scale). In central Javanese gamelan, sléndro is a system with five notes to the octave, fairly evenly spaced, while pélog has seven notes to the octave, with uneven intervals, usually played in five note subsets of the seven-tone collection. This results in sound quite different from music played in a western tuning system. Many gamelan orchestras will include instruments in each tuning, but each individual instrument will only be able to play notes in one. The precise tuning used differs from ensemble to ensemble, and give each ensemble its own particular flavour. The intervals between notes in a scale are very close to identical for different instruments within each gamelan, but the intervals vary from one gamelan to the next.
Colin McPhee remarked, "Deviations in what is considered the same scale are so large that one might with reason state that there are as many scales as there are gamelans." However, this view is contested by some teachers of gamelan, and there have been efforts to combine multiple ensembles and tuning structures into one gamelan to ease transportation at festival time. One such ensemble is gamelan Manikasanti, which can play the repertoire of many different ensembles.
Balinese gamelan instruments are commonly played in pairs which are tuned slightly apart to produce interference beats, ideally at a consistent speed for all pairs of notes in all registers. This concept is referred to as "ombak," translating to "wave," communicating the idea of cyclical undulation. One instrument, tuned slightly higher, is thought of as the "inhale," and the other, slightly lower, is called the "exhale." When the inhale and the exhale are combined, beating is produced, meant to represent the beating of the heart, or the symbol of being alive. It is thought that this contributes to the very "busy" and "shimmering" sound of gamelan ensembles. In the religious ceremonies that contain gamelan, these interference beats are meant to give the listener a feeling of a god's presence or a stepping stone to a meditative state. The scale roughly approximates that of the phrygian mode of the Western major scale (E-E on the white keys of the piano), with the notes EFGBC corresponding to the note positions 12356 in the slendro scale used by most gamelan.
As well as the non-western octave and the use of beats, Javanese gamelan uses a combination of tempo and density known as Irama, relating how many beats on the saron panerus instrument there are to notes in the core melody or balungan; density is considered primary.
NOTATION
Gamelan music is traditionally not notated and began as an oral tradition. In the 19th century, however, the kraton (palaces) of Yogyakarta and Surakarta developed distinct notations for transcribing the repertoire. These were not used to read the music, which was memorized, but to preserve pieces in the court records. The Yogyanese notation is a checkerboard notation, which uses six or seven vertical lines to represent notes of higher pitch in the balungan (melodic framework), and horizontal lines which represent the series of beats, read downward with time. The fourth vertical line and every fourth horizontal line (completing a gatra) are darkened for legibility. Symbols on the left indicate the colotomic or metric structure of gongs and so forth, while specific drum features are notated in symbols to the right. The Solonese notation reads horizontally, like Western notation, but does not use barlines. Instead, note values and rests are squiggled between the notes.
Today this notation is relatively rare, and has been replaced by kepatihan notation, which is a cipher system. Kepatihan notation developed around 1900 at the kepatihan Palace in Surakarta, which had become a high-school conservatory. The pitches are numbered (see the articles on the scales slendro and pélog for an explanation of how), and are read across with dots below or above the numbers indicating the register, and lines above notes showing time values; In vocal notation, there are also brackets under groups of notes to indicate melisma. Like the palace notation, however, Kepatihan records mostly the balungan part and its metric phrases as marked by a variety of gongs. The other parts are created in real time, and depend on the knowledge each musician has of his instrument, and his awareness of what others are playing; this "realization" is sometimes called "garap." Some teachers have also devised certain notations, generally using kepatihan principles, for the cengkok (melodic patterns) of the elaborating instruments. Some ethnomusicologists, trained in European music, may make transcriptions onto a Western staff. This entails particular challenges of tuning and time, sometimes resulting in unusual clefs.
INFLUENCE ON WESTERN MUSIC
The gamelan has been appreciated by several western composers of classical music, most famously Claude Debussy who heard a Javanese gamelan in the premiere of Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray's Rapsodie Cambodgienne at the Paris Exposition of 1889 (World's Fair). The work had been written seven years earlier in 1882, but received its premiere only in 1889. The gamelan Debussy heard in it was in the slendro scale and was played by Central Javanese musicians. Despite his enthusiasm, direct citations of gamelan scales, melodies, rhythms, or ensemble textures have not been located in any of Debussy's own compositions. However, the equal-tempered whole tone scale appears in his music of this time and afterward, and a Javanese gamelan-like heterophonic texture is emulated on occasion, particularly in "Pagodes", from Estampes (solo piano, 1903), in which the great gong's cyclic punctuation is symbolized by a prominent perfect fifth.
The composer Erik Satie, an influential contemporary of Debussy, also heard the Javanese gamelan play at the Paris Exposition of 1889. The repetitively hypnotic effects of the gamelan were incorporated into Satie's exotic Gnossienne set for piano.
Direct homages to gamelan music are to be found in works for western instruments by John Cage, particularly his prepared piano pieces, Colin McPhee, Lou Harrison, Béla Bartók, Francis Poulenc, Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Bronislaw Kaper and Benjamin Britten. In more recent times, American composers such as Henry Brant, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Dennis Murphy, Loren Nerell, Michael Tenzer, Evan Ziporyn, Daniel James Wolf and Jody Diamond as well as Australian composers such as Peter Sculthorpe, Andrew Schultz and Ross Edwards have written several works with parts for gamelan instruments or full gamelan ensembles. I Nyoman Windha is among contemporary Indonesian composers that have written compositions using western instruments along with Gamelan. Hungarian composer György Ligeti wrote a piano étude called Galamb Borong influenced by gamelan. Avant-garde composer Harry Partch, one of America's most idiosyncratic composers, was also influenced by Gamelan, both in his microtonal compositions and the instruments he built for their performance
American folk guitarist John Fahey included elements of gamelan in many of his late-1960s sound collages, and again in his 1997 collaboration with Cul de Sac, The Epiphany of Glenn Jones. Influenced by gamelan, Robert Fripp used rhythmically interlocking guitars in his duets with Adrian Belew in the 1981–1984 trilogy of albums (Discipline, Beat, Three of a Perfect Pair) by rock band King Crimson and with The League of Crafty Guitarists. The gamelan has also been used by British multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield at least three times, "Woodhenge" (1979), "The Wind Chimes (Part II)" (1987) and "Nightshade" (2005).
On the debut EP of Sonic Youth the track 'She's not Alone' has a gamelan timbre. Experimental pop groups The Residents, 23 Skidoo (whose 1984 album was even titled Urban Gamelan), Mouse on Mars, His Name Is Alive, Xiu Xiu, Macha, Saudade, The Raincoats and the Sun City Girls have used gamelan percussion. Avant-garde performance band Melted Men uses Balinese gamelan instruments as well as gamelan-influenced costumes and dance in their shows. The Moodswinger built by Yuri Landman gives gamelan–like clock and bell sounds, because of its 3rd bridge construction. Indonesian-Dutch composer Sinta Wullur has integrated Western music and gamelan for opera.
INFLUENCE ON CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
In contemporary Indonesian music scene, some groups fuse contemporary westernized jazz fusion music with the legacy of traditional ethnic music traditions of their people. In the case of Krakatau and SambaSunda, the bands from West Java, the traditional Sundanese kacapi suling and gamelan degung Sunda orchestra is performed alongside drum set, keyboard and guitars. Other bands such as Bossanova Java were fused Javanese music with bossa nova, while the Kulkul band fuse jazz with Balinese gamelan.
The Indonesian singer Anggun, often incorporated Indonesian traditional tunes of gamelan and tembang style of singing in her works. Typical gamelan tunes can be trace in several songs in her album Snow on the Sahara such as "Snow on the Sahara", "A Rose in the Wind", and also in her collaboration works with Deep Forest on "Deep Blue Sea" on their 2002 album, Music Detected. Philippines born Indonesian singer Maribeth Pascua also featuring gamelan tunes in her songs Denpasar Moon and Borobudur.
Beyond Indonesia, gamelan has also had an influence on Japanese popular music, specifically the synthpop band Yellow Magic Orchestra. Their 1981 record Technodelic, one of the first albums to heavily rely on samples and loops, made use of gamelan elements and samples. Yellow Magic Orchestra member Ryuichi Sakamoto also used gamelan elements for his soundtrack to the 1983 British-Japanese film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, which won him the 1983 BAFTA Award for Best Film Music.
Later, many Americans were first introduced to the sounds of gamelan by the popular 1988 Japanese anime film Akira. Gamelan elements are used in this film to punctuate several exciting fight scenes, as well as to symbolize the emerging psychic powers of the tragic hero, Tetsuo. The gamelan in the film's score was performed by the members of the Japanese musical collective Geinoh Yamashirogumi, using their semar pegulingan and jegog ensembles. Gamelan and kecak are also used in the soundtrack to the video games Secret of Mana and Sonic Unleashed. The two opening credits of 1998 Japanese Anime Neo Ranga use Balinese music (Kecak and Gamelan gong kebyar). Each "waking up" of Ranga in the anime uses the Gong Kebyar theme. The musical soundtrack for the Sci Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica features extensive use of the gamelan, particularly in the 3rd season, as do Alexandre Desplat's scores for Girl With A Pearl Earring and The Golden Compass. James Newton Howard, who composed Disney's 2001 feature film Atlantis: The Lost Empire, chose Gamelan for the musical theme of the Altanteans.
Loops of gamelan music appear in electronic music. An early example is the Texas band Drain's album Offspeed and In There, which contains two tracks where trip-hop beats are matched with gamelan loops from Java and Bali and recent popular examples include the Sofa Surfers' piece Gamelan, or EXEC_PURGER/.#AURICA extracting, a song sung by Haruka Shimotsuki as part of the Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia soundtracks.
Gamelan influences can also be heard in the 2006 hip hop song, Tokyo Drift (Fast & Furious), by Teriyaki Boyz.
In the Regular Show episode "150-Piece Kit", a gamelan is mentioned to be part of the eponymous kit.
GAMELAN OUTSIDE INDONESIA
Gamelan is also found outside of Indonesia. There are forms of gamelan that have developed outside Indonesia, such as American gamelan in the United States and Malay Gamelan in Malaysia. Gamelan has also become quite widespread along the South East of Sri Lanka, particularly with the Tamil community, and in Colombo, at the Indonesian Embassy.
WIKIPEDIA
Jorja Smith performs at the Bumbershoot 2017 music festival held at the Seattle Center every Labor Day Weekend in Seattle, Washington, USA
The Umoja South African Band at the Africa Centre Covent Garden London August 23 2003 Brilliant Lady Vocalist
Marie Guilleray (1978) is a vocalist, composer and sound artist from France. She works mainly in the context of contemporary, improvised, experimental and electro-acoustic music. As a performer, she focuses on new music, free improvisation, the development of vocal extended techniques and the combination of voice and electronics. As a composer and sound artist, she operates in various configurations such as fixed media pieces, live electronics pieces, site specific works as well as field recordings, soundwalks and dance performances.
She is a member of several ensembles such as the Royal Improvisers Orchestra, MGBG, Boerenbond, Sonology Electro-acoustic Ensemble, Either/Or Quartet, and she collaborates on various experimental, improvised and electronic music projects. Marie is currently a Research Associates at the Institute of Sonology in The Hague and she is the curator of the new music series Ephémère with takes place at Studio Loos in The Hague, The Netherlands.
Marie graduated with a Bachelor degree in Singing from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. In parallel to her vocal studies, she had the opportunity to study composition, electronic music, and to develop as an improviser and a performer of contemporary music. In June 2012, she completed her Master Degree at the Institute of Sonology in The Hague where she researched about the combination of voice and electronics under the supervision of Richard Barrett, Kees Tazelaar and Paul Berg.
Photographer/Illustrator: Fred H. Politinsky
Subject: The Future of Jazz
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