Various Artists - Gamelan of Central Java - 37 Pangkur One (2021) [Hi-Res]
![Various Artists - Gamelan of Central Java - 37 Pangkur One (2021) [Hi-Res]](https://www.dibpic.com/uploads/posts/2021-12/1639743596_iaw3s973k3yya_600.jpg)
BAND/ARTIST: Various Artists
- Title: Gamelan of Central Java - 37 Pangkur One
- Year Of Release: 2021
- Label: YANTRA
- Genre: World, Classical, Folk, Gamelan
- Quality: 16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC; 24-bit/44.1kHz FLAC
- Total Time: 1:08:10
- Total Size: 339; 683 MB
- WebSite: Album Preview
An introduction to Javanese gamelan music could start with a question: why isn’t this rich and fascinating sound culture more known and appreciated among music lovers?
I have a long answer to the question. Let me give you the brief one.
Javanese gamelan music is definitely different, and the first-time listener does not get the chance to hear the music that may best “connect” with his/her culture and taste. Choice of pieces, quality of performance, clarity of recording – these crucial factors have not been properly taken into account in past productions of Javanese music. Sofar there has been a sort of ethnomusicological approach: proposing performances as if they were ethnological documentation.
We feel that gamelan is not an ethnic curiosity or study subject, but a beautiful part of the universal language of music. While presenting the best expressions of that world, we trust and hope that our choices will appeal to the taste of the broadest range of first-time listeners.
Gamelan music exists mainly in the large highly-populated island of Java and in the neighbouring smaller island of Bali. These are parts of Indonesia, which comprises thousands of islands and hundreds of ethnic groups. In Java and Bali music is not a pastime or a merely entertaining activity; it is an essential part of life and has an important role in the great existential events. It also has a spiritual and an emotional dimension that has no comparison in the West.
We should distinguish at least three broad styles of gamelan music: Bali, Central Java, and Western Java (or Sunda). Such classification does not exhaust the range of further differentiations within those regions. Here we shall deal with the music of Central Java.
The musical culture of Central Java is vast and articulated. Its most refined expression is found in the tradition and style of the royal courts (kraton) of Surakarta and Yogyakarta, and in the smaller courts of Mangkunegaran (in Surakarta) and Paku Alaman (in Yogyakarta). Gamelan music serves many purposes and can be heard in various circumstances: religious ceremonies (sekaten), social ceremonies (marriages, circumcisions, etc.), the shadow puppet theatre (wayang kulit), concerts (klenengan), dances. Many of these activities have maintained a sacred character. For a foreign visitor, even if actively motivated, it may not be easy to have interesting musical experiences.
The word gamelan (probably from gamel, mallet) designates the ensemble of instruments played. The number of instruments may vary, according to the type of pieces being played. A regular piece may have up to twenty musicians playing, but the number of instruments in a full gamelan will be almost twice that number, as each instrument doubles in each of the two scales that compositions may employ – the pelog scale, with seven notes in the octave, and the slendro scale, with five.
Important characteristics of the Central Javanese tuning system are:
– the intervals within the octave are not equal, especially in pelog;
– each gamelan has its own tuning (intervals), so that a given instrument cannot “migrate” from one gamelan to another; also, a given piece will sound somewhat different when played on two different gamelans;
– the notes in the two scales do not correspond (unless by chance) to notes in the Western 12-tone tempered scale;
– in Javanese gamelan music the consonance among parallel melodic lines is conceived “horizontally” and with more or less intentional time-lags, unlike Western music where consonance is sought “vertically” (chords).
These characteristics explain many of the difficulties in the appreciation of Javanese music by the Western ear. A further problem may be the “liberal” approach of the Javanese to tuning in general – in a given performance this may produce some amount of out-of-tuness because of the variable-pitch instruments (voice, rebab); this will be negatively perceived by the Western listener, usually conditioned by a rigid tuning framework.
The listener that is already under the spell of the finer type of gamelan music does not need any encouragement. To the listener that approaches this music for the first time, we might suggest to forget both Beethoven and the pop stars just before and during the listening of this CD, to open mind and heart to different and unknown perceptions, and to give the music more than just one chance.
Tracklist:
1.01 - Yayuk Sri Rahayu - Ladrang Pangkur slendro manyura (Surakarta) (25:02)
1.02 - Karawitan Raras Raos Irama - Ladrang Pangkur slendro manyura (Yogyakarta) (15:26)
1.03 - Nyi Cendaniraras - Ladrang Pangkur slendro sanga (11:55)
1.04 - Yayuk Sri Rahayu - Ladrang Pangkur pelog barang (15:47)
I have a long answer to the question. Let me give you the brief one.
Javanese gamelan music is definitely different, and the first-time listener does not get the chance to hear the music that may best “connect” with his/her culture and taste. Choice of pieces, quality of performance, clarity of recording – these crucial factors have not been properly taken into account in past productions of Javanese music. Sofar there has been a sort of ethnomusicological approach: proposing performances as if they were ethnological documentation.
We feel that gamelan is not an ethnic curiosity or study subject, but a beautiful part of the universal language of music. While presenting the best expressions of that world, we trust and hope that our choices will appeal to the taste of the broadest range of first-time listeners.
Gamelan music exists mainly in the large highly-populated island of Java and in the neighbouring smaller island of Bali. These are parts of Indonesia, which comprises thousands of islands and hundreds of ethnic groups. In Java and Bali music is not a pastime or a merely entertaining activity; it is an essential part of life and has an important role in the great existential events. It also has a spiritual and an emotional dimension that has no comparison in the West.
We should distinguish at least three broad styles of gamelan music: Bali, Central Java, and Western Java (or Sunda). Such classification does not exhaust the range of further differentiations within those regions. Here we shall deal with the music of Central Java.
The musical culture of Central Java is vast and articulated. Its most refined expression is found in the tradition and style of the royal courts (kraton) of Surakarta and Yogyakarta, and in the smaller courts of Mangkunegaran (in Surakarta) and Paku Alaman (in Yogyakarta). Gamelan music serves many purposes and can be heard in various circumstances: religious ceremonies (sekaten), social ceremonies (marriages, circumcisions, etc.), the shadow puppet theatre (wayang kulit), concerts (klenengan), dances. Many of these activities have maintained a sacred character. For a foreign visitor, even if actively motivated, it may not be easy to have interesting musical experiences.
The word gamelan (probably from gamel, mallet) designates the ensemble of instruments played. The number of instruments may vary, according to the type of pieces being played. A regular piece may have up to twenty musicians playing, but the number of instruments in a full gamelan will be almost twice that number, as each instrument doubles in each of the two scales that compositions may employ – the pelog scale, with seven notes in the octave, and the slendro scale, with five.
Important characteristics of the Central Javanese tuning system are:
– the intervals within the octave are not equal, especially in pelog;
– each gamelan has its own tuning (intervals), so that a given instrument cannot “migrate” from one gamelan to another; also, a given piece will sound somewhat different when played on two different gamelans;
– the notes in the two scales do not correspond (unless by chance) to notes in the Western 12-tone tempered scale;
– in Javanese gamelan music the consonance among parallel melodic lines is conceived “horizontally” and with more or less intentional time-lags, unlike Western music where consonance is sought “vertically” (chords).
These characteristics explain many of the difficulties in the appreciation of Javanese music by the Western ear. A further problem may be the “liberal” approach of the Javanese to tuning in general – in a given performance this may produce some amount of out-of-tuness because of the variable-pitch instruments (voice, rebab); this will be negatively perceived by the Western listener, usually conditioned by a rigid tuning framework.
The listener that is already under the spell of the finer type of gamelan music does not need any encouragement. To the listener that approaches this music for the first time, we might suggest to forget both Beethoven and the pop stars just before and during the listening of this CD, to open mind and heart to different and unknown perceptions, and to give the music more than just one chance.
Tracklist:
1.01 - Yayuk Sri Rahayu - Ladrang Pangkur slendro manyura (Surakarta) (25:02)
1.02 - Karawitan Raras Raos Irama - Ladrang Pangkur slendro manyura (Yogyakarta) (15:26)
1.03 - Nyi Cendaniraras - Ladrang Pangkur slendro sanga (11:55)
1.04 - Yayuk Sri Rahayu - Ladrang Pangkur pelog barang (15:47)
Year 2021 | Classical | World | Folk | FLAC / APE | HD & Vinyl
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