It’s not everyday you see gamelan instruments played in Cochran Chapel. Last Friday, the Gamelan Galak Tika, an Balinese percussion ensemble, entertained the audience with the harmonious beats of a gamelan, an ensemble of traditional Balinese instruments including assorted bamboo flutes, xylophones, drums and gongs.
The Gamelan Galak Tika is based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and consists of 30 musicians, some of whom are students at MIT. Others are Indonesian natives who have come to the United States to spread their unique form of music.
The ensemble is mostly composed of sarons, traditional Balinese xylophones which vary in size and pitch and are played with hammers. The sarons have intricately carved wooden bases with several metal plates on top of them.
During the performance, dancers also acted out intricate tales that mirrored the progression of each piece of music.
“The dancer is like a conductor. Her movements can serve as signals for the musicians,” said Evan Ziporyn, the Artistic Director of the Gamelan Galak Tika.
“Taruna Jaya” by Gde Manik featured dancer Shoko Yamamuro dressed in a elaborate golden and purple dress. Her grim facial expression highlighted her stiff, warrior-like movements.
While the dancer may assume the role of a conductor, an unique aspect of the Gamelan Galak Tika is that there is no official musical conductor responsible for directing the overall performance of the musicians.
“We practice a lot. We have to memorize the music and know exactly when to come in. The notes aren’t written on paper like in classical music, so the players learn their parts solely by listening. Although there is no conductor, the drummer seated in the center takes the role of a conductor by cueing various sections in,” said Dewa Ketut Alit, a drummer for the Gamelan Galak Tika.
In “Panyembrama” by I Wayan Beratha, two dancers, Yamamuro and Sachi Sato, illustrated the music with intricate dances marked by the quick moves of their hips, wrists and ankles.
The ensemble finished its concert with the performance of “Tire Fire” by the ensemble’s own Ziporyn, a lively piece with a passionate melody and an unusual beat pattern.
For many who encountered the gamelan for the first time, the sound of the sarons was unusual.
The Gamelan musicians deliberately tuned the xylophones to different pitches in order to provide a fresh experience for the audience.
Christina Landolt, Instructor in Music, said, “I never had a sense of how loud of a sound this ensemble could make. Their sound fills the chapel very well. It is still ringing in my ears.”
“At first, the music felt very dissonant. But then I realized that the dissonance somehow worked together. This felt very nice. It opened up a new world of music for me,” said EJ Kim ’15.
Although it is able to produce intricate music comprised of varying rhythms and pitches, the Gamelan Galak Tika ensemble features many amateur musicians.
“The majority of this ensemble are not professional musicians. A lot of them are students from MIT and the Boston Area. There are also people who literally happened to walk by while we were rehearsing and became interested,” said Ziporyn.
“One of the things that I really like about this music is that it gives people a chance to play music at a very high level without having the be highly trained musicians.”
