Indonesian gamelan ensemble Kyai Fatahillah is coming to the Netherlands, joining forces with the contemporary music specialists Black Pencil. During November Music, they can be heard together on Saturday 5 November in the Grote Zaal of the Verkadefabriek in Den Bosch.
Mask mystery
The chamber ensemble Black Pencil has an original line-up: recorder, pan flute, viola, accordion and percussion. Played by five international musicians. Picture this line-up together with a traditional gamelan ensemble and you get a "beautiful marriage of time, traditions and compositions," as artistic director Jorge Isaac describes it. "You don't often play with a gamelan ensemble, it's the first time for us. We had to do our homework, as it is a completely different sound world and mood compared to our ensemble. A gamelan orchestra (derived from the East Javanese word gamel for hitting), consists of percussion instruments as metallophones, xylophones, gongs and drums. The result? Complex rhythmic structures.
"Black Pencil's instruments use equal temperament tuning, which is 12 tones per octave. With a gamelan, this tonal scale is completely different, the distance from a tone to the next tone - the micro interval - is smaller than with 12 tones. This means that there are different keys and pitches and composers and musicians have taken this into account."
Topeng Masquerade, the piece that will premiere during November Music, was written by composers with ties to Indonesia. Such as Indonesian Iwan Gunawan, who wrote music for the dance company Leine Roebana and other gamelan ensembles, among others. The musical content of the project is further enriched by Roderik de Man and Nursalim Yadi Anugeray. Isaac: "We wanted to involve composers from different generations and two different cultures: Holland and Indonesia. Music brings these two cultures together. That's why music is such a beautiful universal language. It is precisely us musicians who can highlight the positive side of the relationship between Indonesia and the Netherlands. We really like the interaction and the strong musical communication between the two cultures in this project for November Music. I think our playing together results in versatile and virtuoso music, a touch light, with humour and ramming rhythm.''
One of the composers, Yadi Anugeray, was chosen through a competition to write a part of Topeng Masquerade. "It had to from scratch be written, which is a wonderful added value to the project. Furthermore, the cultural component of the play is important. You can see that in the different masks, in Indonesian Topeng, which are used in the play. That's part of traditional folk music from Indonesia. But their arrangements are mixed with our contemporary pieces. It's a cross-pollination between two cultures and it's that very linkage that I really like."
Old meets new
"Kyai Fatahillah is one of the world's leading gamelan ensembles. It is led by Iwan Gunawan. Black Pencil and Kyai Fatahillah together create a world of sound. "I have no artistic questions about the final outcome. Even though we haven't rehearsed together yet, in music you learn that you have to do to inner listening. Even if the piece doesn't exist yet, you know how it will sound. And I can say: it will be an unheard of and unprecedented sound palette."
The original idea of the fusion of the two sound worlds is by producer Piet Hein van de Poel. Who in 2014 was in Jogjakarta, Indonesia, where he The Power of Topeng saw, an exhibition on the history of masks. Improvised lyrics and stories from the Indonesian's daily life, very virtuosic. "He felt it suited Black Pencil's repertoire. We often make new arrangements of early music, such as the project Buffoni in 2013, based on the Italian improvisational theatre Commedia Dell'Arte from the 16th century. In terms of content, both traditions have been incredibly influential. Piet Hein came back to Amsterdam and said: can't we merge this? That's when the seed of this project was planted."
"There are so many secrets to discover in the coming weeks and all those challenges are most welcome. Initially, we need to do a lot of counting, being together and working together. We also have to work out the refinement of the sound world, making it even more beautiful. For us, it is not primarily about the extravagant instrumentation, but about the eloquence of the instrumentation, the unheard sound palette that should start touching visitors. It will be very exciting, but the beauty of the project is the Indonesian mentality that we observe: let it happen, let's experience it, let's see what happens."
The two ensembles' powerful collaboration can be heard in a fortnight' time, when it premieres at November Music. "It will be a wonderful experience for us, to be able to create and play this, and convey the positivity of our collaboration to the audience," says Isaac. "November Music is a prominent contemporary music festival. where a lot of attention and respect goes to contemporary art. To add our unique line-up to that gives an extra dimension to the sound world of this edition."
Good to knowTogether, they will also play at Muziekgebouw aan het IJ in Amsterdam on 6 November, at Beauforthuis in Zeist on 8 November and at Kunstlinie in Almere on 9 November.
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