Summer Gamelan Performances

The Durham Performance group performed at the Music Department on Palace Green, Durham, as part of the Musicon Lunchtime Concert Series, on 10th June.  We played a wide range of material from the traditional repertoire. 

Northumberland Gamelan Inaugural Performance

The Northumberland Music Service Gamelan arrived a few weeks ago and it is very beautiful both in tone and appearance.  Its inaugural performance was on Wednesday 12th May at 6pm, at the Education Development Centre, Hepscott Park, Stannington, Morpeth NE61 6NF.

The Durham and Chopwell groups played, as did a group of Northumberland Music Service staff and a local school group.

The performance was a great success with a good audience and very tasty refreshments.  The highlight was the performance of Lancaran Tropongbang by St Robert's RC First School which was a wonderful demonstration of how accessible the music is - an authentic performance of Javanese music from a group that had first seen the instruments the previous day.

Latest news on instruments in the region

The Northumberland Music Service Gamelan has now arrived and is based at the Education Development Centre, Hepscott Park, Stannington, Morpeth NE61 6NF.  It is available for school workshops and there are plans to set up community and youth groups in September.  It is a mid size slendro set, painted blue, commisioned and imported by Siswo Telu.

The Chopwell instruments are now well established with a community group meeting on Wednesday evenings and a project starting soon on the pelog instruments based at Chopwell Primary School.  The 'Gamelan at Play' organisation is now set up and has received a number of grants to support community and youth projects.  For information about using the slendro instruments for business training see www.gamelanatwork.com 

Durham University (as part of the North East Universities' CETL - Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Music) has commissioned a pelog set of instruments to match the existing Durham slendro.  This is a very exciting project: the last tuner to visit the UK was very impressed with the quality of the Durham instruments which were built on a small scale but by a top maker for a top musician. The making process is continuing well.

And on top of all that a partnership of the Sage Gateshead, Soundwave Cumbria, Newcastle Music Service and CETL have commissioned a full double bronze gamelan from Pak Tentrum, one of the best known makers in Surakarta.  Work on the instruments is well under way and they are expected to be delivered August/September this year.

There are also slendro sets based in Egremont and at Collingwood School in Morpeth.

• A Gamelan is a whole set of musical instruments found all over South East Asia but especially on the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali.
• Almost all of the instruments of the Gamelan are percussion instruments, most of them made from bronze or iron: gongs, metallophones and chimes of various shapes and sizes. There are also bamboo flutes, a xylophone, drums and more.
• The Durham Gamelan is from Central Java. It is made from bronze. The instruments can be played by between five and fifteen people at one time. It was one of the first playable gamelans to come to the UK.
• There are many different types of Gamelan, even just within Java - Indonesia's most populous island.
• The traditional music of the Gamelan is still very widely played and enjoyed. It is used at ceremonial occasions, at weddings, to accompany dance and puppet theatre (including shadow puppets) and at informal concerts.
• The music of the Gamelan is called Karawitan, which literally means 'refinement'. It is one of the most developed forms of 'non-western' music. It varies from the loud battle scene music to some of the most relaxing and meditative sounds you will ever come across.
• The Gamelan provides an incredible opportunity for musical participation and education. There is no physical barrier to playing and a group of adults who thought they were unmusical, or a group of young children, or anyone else, can be playing real music within the space of a short workshop.
• It is easy to learn the basics but there is also plenty to challenge - Javanese music combines simple melodies with complex improvised ornamentation.