FALL FREQUENCIES

Sunday, 10th December 2023
5pm
STONE CIRCLE THEATRE

@ Ridgewood Presbyterian Church

EATERS | GAMELAN DHARMA SWARA
MAS BUDI STREET FOOD

PROGRAM

EATERS

AN IMPROVISED LIVE SET
Christopher Duffy | Armonica
Jonathan Schenke | Real-time Samples and Effects
R.A. Jones | Analog Synthesizer

GAMELAN DHARMA SWARA

GABOR
I Gusti Gede Raka 1969
revised I Wayan Beratha 1972

NGAYON
New York Premiere
I Gusti Nyoman (Komin) Darta 2018

MERAK NGELO
Gender Wayang Ensemble
Traditional

REBONG
Gender Wayang Ensemble
Traditional

WIRANATA
I Nyoman Kaler 1942
revised I Nyoman Ridet 1945

PROGRAM NOTES

GABOR

A welcome dance in the female style and one within the Panyembrahma group of secular pieces. A presentation of an offering in the form of a ritual dance, it symbolises the joyful reception of the Gods who come to attend temple ceremonies and festivals. In today’s age of tourism and secular entertainment, it has become the classic dance to welcome guests, share blessings and to open a performance. The movements, comprise of many basic elements of the traditional Rejang dance as well as more complex dances such as Legong. With delicate hand, eye movements and postures, the dance is not intended to convey a story, but emphasises emotions and aesthetic principles. 

NGAYON

Tonight will feature the New York premiere of a piece written by the group’s artist-in-residence since 2017 Gusti Komin, entitled Ngayon. Komin plays with the Balinese tradition of adding “N" to the beginning of nouns as a short-handed way to convey action (an example – “Kopi” means coffee; “Ngopi” means “to go drink coffee”). Ngayon’s wordplay conveys the feeling of performing the traditional Kayonan dance in wayang (shadow puppet theater), recontextualized as an instrumental piece.

GAMELAN GENDER WAYANG

Gender Wayang is an ancient style of gamelan music that often accompanies wayang (shadow puppet theatre) and most sacred Balinese Hindu rituals such as cremations and tooth filing ceremonies. The smallest of the gamelan ensembles, it requires only two players and is complete at four, the additional instruments doubling an octave above. It is considered to be the most complex music with elaborate kotekan (interlocking configurations) in both odd and even meters which must synchronise with their partner’s music. The hands are constantly playing contrapuntally. Damping is difficult and done with the outer part of the fourth and fifth fingers. The music has a resonating, shimmering and vibrating quality rich in overtones which is created by striking bronze keys with wooden mallets, all within the framework of pentatonic slendro tuning.

WIRANATA

Tari Wiranata is a non-narrative work that portrays the ideal qualities of a king or a protector of people: boldness, strength, and courage. The dance is said to have been created by I Nyoman Kaler, one of Bali’s earliest and most famous kebyar dancers and teachers, and later revised by his student, I Nyoman Ridet. Popularised by the beloved bebancian* dancer Jero Gadung and typically performed by women, Wiranata features several unique choreographic features, including intensely darting and snaking eye movements, and a characteristic flipping of the dancers’ wrists. The Wiranata being presented today is a version taught by revered bebancian dancer and teacher Agung Oka Partini.

*Bebancian is a category of Balinese dance in which the character is depicted as neither stereotypically male or female, but rather, a third, neutral gender. Utilising aspects of both male and female dance techniques, the dancers quickly alternate between refined grace and aggressive sharpness.

ABOUT EATERS

Originally created by Benjamin Franklin, the Glass Armonica is an instrument in which spinning glass bowls are made to resonate through friction, producing individual tones. EATERS member & visual artist Christopher Duffy hand-built his own Glass Armonica, though not to any set scale, resulting in a microtonal drone machine. In their improvised live sets, Christopher's performance on the Armonica is re-sampled & effected in real time by Jonathan Schenke, and underlaid with analog synthesizer tones by R.A. Jones.  Eaters has performed in a variety of venues over the past 10 years - from Moogfest in 2014 to Paula Cooper Gallery and Public Records in NYC earlier this year - with dates scheduled this December at Essential Tremors Festival (Akron, OH) and Elastic Arts (Chicago, IL).

Live at Paula Cooper Gallery from earlier this year has just been released is available on Bandcamp.

EATERS
Jonathan Schenke
Christopher Duffy
Bob Jones

ABOUT GAMELAN DHARMA SWARA

Gamelan Dharma Swara-which translates as "a duty of perpetuating sound"—is one of the United States' preeminent Balinese music and dance ensembles, and has been captivating audiences around the world with their raucous and wondrous performances for over 33 years and counting.

The group performs a spellbinding blend of iconic traditional pieces paired with bold contemporary compositions, spanning some 500 years, and has been called "thrilling, mesmerizing and powerful" (New York Times) and "sublime, receiving perhaps the weekend's most rapturous response" (The New Yorker).

The first non-Balinese gamelan invited to compete in the prestigious Bali Arts Festival, the group has toured Bali and performed at Lincoln Center at the invitation of The New York Philharmonic, BAM, MoMA, Central Park Summerstage, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Symphony Space, The Asia Society, National Sawdust, Basilica Hudson, and at Yale, Princeton and Columbia Universities.

Dharma Swara has commissioned and premiered works by contemporary composers including leading Balinese composer Gusti Komin-who has worked with the group as artist-in-residence since 2017, and whose composition Sari Ing Kerta the group premiered in 2018-in addition to Joel Mellin (Synesthesia, 2012 world premiere), Nerissa Campbell (Legian 1983/Breathe My War, 2016), Matthew Welch (Bhima Swarga, 2006). The group has also performed works by many seminal Balinese composers, including Made Subandi's Kupu-Kupu Kuning (2011 US premiere) and Dewa Ketut Alit's Cecanangan and Geregel (2015 US premiere).

The group plays on instruments made by pande Made Sukerta in Bali in 2017, and combines the popular 20th century gong kebyar tuning (selisir, a five-tone scale) with the older seven-tone semar pagulingan (16th or 17th c.), making it possible to play a wide range of traditional and contemporary repertoire. Dharma Swara is proudly women-led, spearheaded by president/ugal player Victoria Lo Mellin and vice-president/dancer Miranda Danusugondo. Happily based in Queens, New York, the most diverse county in the US, the group maintains a commitment to its long-standing core values of celebrating community and promoting inclusion.

Gamelan Dharma Swara is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organisation operating under the legal name Arts Indonesia.

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
I Gusti Nyoman (Komin) Darta

MUSICIANS
Jonathan Bailey
Elizabeth Behrend
Tom Burckhardt
Chris Canahui
Samir Chopra
Ari Dalbert
Stephanie Dixon
Paul Feitzinger
Vladimir Fleurima
Charlie Gullion
Teresa Ibarra
Matt Larkey
Victoria Lo Mellin
Annie McCutchan
Gary Meister
Joel Mellin
Kyle Miller
Vera Much
Christopher Romero
Samantha Simorangkir
Nora Stanley
Nina Sultan
Coco Walsh
Siwen Xi
Remzi Yildrim

DANCERS
Miranda Danusugondo
Teresa Ibarra
Pauline Tannos