Program 2013

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The University of Pittsburgh Department of Music presents

The Passion of
Gamelan and Pop Sunda

 

University of Pittsburgh Gamelan
Directed by Andrew Weintraub and Indra Ridwan

Guest Artists:
Rika Rafika, recording artist
Suherlan, master drummer

Bellefield Hall Auditorium
April 12 & 13, 2013
8 p.m.

 

 

          It is an honor to introduce the 16th annual concert of the University Gamelan. The gamelan group comprises students from Pitt and our local community who meet for an hour and a half two times per week as part of the gamelan class (Music 0690) currently taught by Indra Ridwan, a graduate student in Music (Ethnomusicology). This year’s gamelan group includes students majoring in Mathematics, Economics, Linguistics, Sociology, French, Physics, Anthropology, and Music. The purpose of the class, as well as the Music Department’s Carpathian ensemble and the African music ensemble, is to give students at Pitt an opportunity to study and perform music from a variety of cultural groups. By embodying the movements used to produce sound on the instruments, and by learning to listen to the other members of the ensemble, students experience the music in a visceral and personal way.    

          Students in the gamelan program are encouraged to explore cross-cultural processes of learning as much as possible; oral transmission of musical parts is preferred over written notation and working together as an ensemble is more important than developing individual talent. Students are also encouraged to play more than one instrument and to learn the relationships among them. Therefore, in our concerts, the musicians move from one instrument to another in order to put into practice what they have learned during the semester.

          The modern nation of Indonesia consists of about 17,000 islands (of which a few thousand are populated), the fourth largest population in the world, hundreds of ethnic groups, and over seven hundred languages spoken. The cultural and musical diversity of this modern island community is staggering.

          Outside Indonesia, perhaps the most well-known musical ensemble type is gamelan. Regional gamelan styles are associated with different ethnic groups on the islands of Java, Madura, Bali, and Lombok. The University of Pittsburgh group plays music created by Sundanese people who inhabit roughly the western third of the island of Java. The approximately 30 million Sundanese make up the second largest ethnic group in Indonesia. While the majority of the population lives in rural or semi-rural settings, large cities have become increasingly central to the creation and patronage of new artistic genres, including those represented this evening.

          Gamelan is a set of predominantly percussion instruments including tuned gongs, metal-keyed instruments, and drums (as well as bowed lute and voice). Established in 1995, the gamelan performance program at Pitt has introduced hundreds of students to new ways of thinking about, practicing, performing, and composing music. During the past 16 years, guest artists from Indonesia have been invited to the university to teach, present workshops and lecture-demonstrations, and perform in large-scale gamelan concerts for the university community, as well as for the larger Pittsburgh community. The concerts not only demonstrate traditional forms of music, dance, and theater as they are performed in Indonesia, but they
also provide an opportunity for musical and theatrical experimentation. “Traditional” and “modern” are two sides of the same coin. Gamelan is not a museum piece that symbolizes an ancient civilization of royal courts and kingdoms. Gamelan lives and breathes in the present.

          The University of Pittsburgh owns two gamelan sets. Each set has its own name that signifies its unique character, tuning, and localized identity. The first gamelan, which arrived in October 1995, is named “Kyai Tirta Rukmi,” the “Venerable Rivers of Gold.” Its name indicates the rivers of Pittsburgh and the gold paint on the instrument stands; of course, we’re proud of the black and gold too! This gamelan is tuned to laras salendro, a five-tone tuning system made up of approximately equidistant intervals. The second set of instruments, which arrived in March, 2005, is named “Ligar Pasundan,” the “Fragrance of Pasundan.” This name suggests that the gamelan, like the fragrance of a flower, spreads its influence far from its place of origin in the Pasundan region of West Java. This gamelan is tuned to laras degung, a five-tone tuning system made up of large and small intervals. Other Sundanese instruments used in this performance include angklung, a set of shaken bamboo rattles; calung, a set of bamboo idiophones that are struck with mallets; keprak, bamboo tubes struck against the player’s hand; and terbang, a small frame drum played by the hands.

          Each instrument in the ensemble plays one of four primary musical functions or roles, which contribute to the rich polyphonic layering or strata of sound. The “structural melody,” usually played on the metal-keyed instruments, constitutes the basic underlying melodic foundation for each piece. “Elaboration,” played on the gambang (xylophone), and bonang (small kettle gongs on a rack), refers to melodic variation and ornamentation based on the structural melody. “Punctuation,” played on the large and small hanging gongs and kenong (large kettle gongs on a rack), refers to the temporal marking of important points in the rhythmic cycle. Finally, the “time-keeping” function is realized by the drummer, who signals the beginning and ending of pieces, directs tempo changes, and controls the dynamics of the music.

          The University Gamelan Artists-in-Residence Program was created in 1998. During the past 16 years, 37 prominent musicians, dancers, and theatre artists have been invited to the university to teach, present workshops and lecture-demonstrations, and perform in large-scale gamelan concerts for the university community, as well as the Pittsburgh community at large. This program offers American students a rare opportunity to study music, dance, and theater with some of Indonesia’s finest artists. During their two-week residency, Rika Rafika and Suherlan taught private lessons, rehearsed regularly with the Gamelan group, presented lecture-demonstrations for our world music classes (300 students), and performed at the Children’s Hospital. They cap off their residency with this weekend’s concerts, followed by a trip to Washington, D.C.

          As the crow flies, the distance between Pittsburgh and Indonesia is over 10,000 miles. It is easy to imagine Indonesia as foreign, exotic, and alien. In concerts, however, music is a visceral experience felt by student performers and audiences alike. We hope that the experience of gamelan and pop Sunda in this evening’s concert brings a faraway place like Indonesia a little closer to home.

 

Program

A. Gamelan and additional instruments

1. “Bubuka” (Overture)
This song acts as an overture to call people to the performance. Note how the drummers play loud and dynamic rhythmic patterns on the kendang, a set of three drums made up of one large drum and two small drums. The vocal part is partly improvised.

2. “Sesenggotan” (In the style of ‘Senggot’)
This piece is an arrangement of a repeating tonal framework (“Senggot”) played on the kenong (large gongs resting on a stand). The tonal framework gives rise to three different melodic phrases that constitute individual sections. The gambang (xylophone) player adds improvisation.

3. “Es Lilin” (Popsicle)
This popular song can be sung in a variety of musical ensembles and arrangements. Compare the two versions of “Es Lilin” presented tonight, one accompanied by gamelan and the other by the pop Sunda band in the second half of this evening’s performance.

4. “Awi Sada” (Sounds of Bamboo)
Three types of bamboo instruments are featured here: (1) angklung, a set of shaken bamboo idiophones or rattles; (2) calung, a set of bamboo idiophones struck with mallets; and (3) keprak, bamboo tubes struck against the player’s hand.

5. “Kaulinan Urang Lembur” (Village Children’s Games)
The performers sing three children’s songs (kakawihan barudak Sunda) while dancing. The gamelan musicians add shouts of encouragement to create an exciting mood.

6. “Terbangan” (“In the style of Terbang”)
Students in the gamelan class created this multi-cultural arrangement which features drumming styles from Japan, Uganda, and Indonesia. Special guest artist and graduate student in Music (Ethnomusicology) Charles Lwanga joins us for this piece.

Intermission

B. Pop Sunda
Pop Sunda is Sundanese popular music performed with a mixed ensemble of Western and Indonesian instruments. The repertoire draws from historical traditions of Sundanese music and presents them in new arrangements (for example, “Es Lilin” and “Bangbung Hideung/Banondari”). Developed in the late 1950s, the music of pop Sunda is hugely popular today at parties and other celebrations. People are expected to dance when these songs are played, so please don’t be shy. Audio and video recordings, star performers, and a rapidly changing repertoire characterize the genre. Pop Sunda demonstrates how difficult it is to separate “traditional” and “modern” in contemporary music: the sound, lyrics, instruments, and gestures of Pop Sunda have deep roots in Sundanese history and ways of being in the world. Tonight’s program features four “hit songs” made popular by Rika Rafika. To access recordings of her songs in a video format, the youtube links are included below.

1. “Dalingding Asih” (Love Song)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkr_bZBPimM
A love song about a love song. The lyrics refer to the memory and sadness of separation. But the singing of the song lets the singer forget about that sadness, if only for a moment.

2. “Es Lilin” (Popsicle)
Lyrics set in four-line verses called pantun can be sung in a variety of formats and arrangements (as heard in the first half of this evening’s concert). Pantun are made up of couplets that are interchangeable with other songs. The rhyming of words in these couplets is more important than their literal meaning.

3. “Tonggeret Deui” (Tonggeret Again)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMBZCj9vkyE
“Tonggeret” is the sound of a kind of cricket in West Java. “Tonggeret” was the title track for one of the most popular commercial cassettes in West Java during the early 1980s. The original song was so successful that composer Ubun Kubarsah decided to remake the song in the 2000s, calling it “Tonggeret Deui,” or “Tonggeret again.”

4. “Potret Manehna” (Your Picture)
A song from the 1980s, as indicated by the slower tempo, “Portret Manehna” is presented here as a duet. Two lovers are separated but they feel calm as they each imagine a “potret” (portrait, picture, or photo) of the other person.

5. “Ronggeng Imut” (A singer/dancer)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_LrWm4Sb3o
A ronggeng is a female singer/dancer who entertains audiences with her beautiful appearance, voice, and movements. The drummer follows her movements and gestures with specific drum patterns that accentuate her singing. Male dancing partners (bajidor) and spectators become transfixed and powerless in her presence.

6. “Nalangsa” (Sadness)
This song blends Sundanese drumming and lyrics with a popular Indonesian music genre called dangdut. Dangdut songs are often characterized by melancholy sentiments matched by fast and lively accompaniment. The chord progression, long drawn-out phrasing in the verse, catchy refrain, and interlude section place this squarely in the dangdut genre rather than pop Sunda.

7. “Bangbung Hideung/Banondari” (Black Beetle)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M994u3CsMOE
The two songs that make up this composition are improvised in performance. They can be played in a variety of formats and arrangements. Rika Rafika ’s recording is done in an electronica style with sections of male chorus and vigorous drumming.

Program notes by Andrew Weintraub (Professor of Music) and Indra Ridwan (Graduate Student in Music [Ethnomusicology])


Guest Artists

Rika Rafika is a rising star in several genres of Sundanese music. She trained as a singer for gamelan as a child and won numerous singing competitions. Her repertoire is vast, encompassing gamelan, tembang Sunda (songs accompanied by zither and flute ensemble), and popular music (pop Sunda). An award-winning vocalist, she has 10 albums to her credit. Her stage performances have delighted audiences in Europe, Singapore, and the U.S. She is currently preparing a video of new songs, with footage taken during her trip to Pittsburgh.

Suherlan was trained as a drummer for gamelan and jaipongan, a type of modernized dance based on Sundanese martial arts movements, folk dance, and modern European dance. Suherlan is much sought after as a drummer for pop Sunda performances. Since 2005, he has been the main drummer for all of Rika Rafika’s recordings.

The University of Pittsburgh Gamelan Musicians

The Pitt University Gamelan is made up of Pitt students and community members. The class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4–5:20 p.m. Enrollment is currently open for the fall semester, 2013.
Heidi Cousineau
Dylan Crossen
Jeremy Garcia
Devra Gatling
Matthew Holden
Ikki Kato
Urie Kline
Stephen Magreni
Kaitlyn Myers (Teaching Assistant)
Laura Ronemus
Tomji

 

Please visit our websites:
music.pitt.edu/gamelan
www.ucis.pitt.edu/gamelan
We’re also on Facebook! Gamelan Sunda-Pitt

Acknowledgments
University of Pittsburgh Department of Music, INPAC and the Asian Studies Center, Pitt Arts, Phil Thompson, the Richard McSorley Musical Instrument Fund.

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