Gamelan Dimensi Kelima (Indonesia, 2014)

Field recordings and gamelan from my visits to Indonesia in 2014.

As well as the tracks recorded in Indonesia, the album includes gamelan ensembles in Western Australia, and NZ between 2010-2018.

Listen

About

The album title translates to “Gamelan Fifth Dimension”.

Gamelan was introduced to New Zealand in the 1970s. It has an active scene in Wellington (my birthplace, where I first encountered it in 2010 – thanks to www.gamelan.org.nz ).

From 2012-2014 I lived in Perth, Western Australia, and played in the ensemble Gamelan Sekar Puri. From there I was able to visit Indonesia (and Malaysia) relatively affordably.

On returning home to New Zealand at the end of 2014, I spent the next few years as a member of the Wellington gamelan ensembles: Gamelan Taniwha Jaya (Balinese) and Gamelan Padhang Moncar (Javanese). In 2017 I moved to the Wairarapa, so travelling for regular rehearsals became impractical.

The field recordings were made in 2014 in Indonesia -in central Java, then Bali and Nusa Penida islands;

As well as very different scenery, cultures, cuisines and religion – the islands have strikingly different subgenres of gamelan. Stereotypically, the Javanese style is more hypnotic and meditative, while the Balinese style is faster and complex.

Yogyakarta and Surakarta, Central Java

Bali and Nusa Penida

Credits

• Dave Edwards – saron, jublag, jegogan, field recordings, bass, electric guitar, tenor saxophone

The field recordings are mixed alongside gamelan ensembles, recorded between 2010-2018;:

• Gamelan Taniwha Jaya
  – Wellington NZ, – led by Gareth Farr
• Gamelan Sekar Puri
  – Perth, Western Australia – led by Sofari Hidayat
• Gamelan Pura Mangkunegaran
  – Surakarta, Indonesia
• Gamelan Padhang Moncar
  – Wellington NZ – led by Budi Putra

Other collaborators

The album also includes other, more experimental Indonesia-inspired 2010s collaborations with fellow postpunk expat ethnomusicologists:

• Emit Snake-Beings– field recordings, harmonium, percussion (5,9,10)
• Nat da Hatt – electric guitar & beats (8)
• Cylvi M – jegogan (1), saron (3), shakuhachi sample (9)

Tracklist

1.	Gamelan Taniwha Jaya – Gareth Farr: Mummy, do monsters clean their teeth? (2010) (bonus) 01:20
2.	Gamelan Sekar Puri – Ladrang (ayum jantan dari Perth?) 02:14
3.	Borobudur ke Kraton ke Prambanan (Yogyakarta) 04:08
4.	Gamelan Pura Mangkunegaran – Slendro dan pelog (?) 04:00
5.	snakebeings + fiffdimension – Kuningan dan perunggu 02:50
6.	Gamelan Taniwha Jaya – Gopala (Bali) (live at NZ School of Music, 2015) 01:15
7.	Ubud scenes (Bali) 02:30
8.	Nat da Hatt + fiffdimension – Lost in the Monkey Forest 03:47
9.	snakebeings + fiffdimension – East to West: Indonesia (live at the Audio Foundation, 2014) 04:33
10.	snakebeings + fiffdimension – Sampak Membengkak 03:41
11.	Gamelan Padhang Moncar – Ladrang Slament Slendro Manyura + Ketawang Sinom Parijata 02:01
12.	Gamelan Padhang Moncar – Nusantara (live at Te Papa, 2016) 02:29
13.	Gamelan Padhang Moncar – Improvisasi (di musim panis Wairarapa) 01:49
14.	Dimensi keempat dan kelima (2023) 08:13
15.	Gamelan Taniwha Jaya – Teruna Jaya (live at Te Papa, 2016) 01:00

‐——–

Terima kasih banyak untuk:

Sofari Hidayat, Partini Namalengkap, Widadi Didik Sri, Made Lana, Dex’s Wit, Mang Liantari, Mike Appleton, Budi Putra, Joko Susilo, Gareth Farr, Nell Thomas, Jeff Henderson, Wayan Gde Yudane

& past present & future members of www.gamelan.org.nz

Judith Exley, Marie Direen, Megan Collins, Jo Hilder, Greg Street, Mike Jones, Alisa Hogan, Gabrielle Young, Hazel Barrett, Paul Nuttall, Stephanie Cairns, Pippa Strom, Briar Prastiti, Jason Erskine, Helen O’Rourke, Carina Esguerra, Rupert Snook, Tristan Carter, Jack Hooker, Anton Killin, Ayca Arkilic, Marika Pratley

Further listening: see ethnomusicology

Some of these tracks first appeared on the compilation Other Islands: 2012-2018

For more Wellington gamelan see https://gamelan.org.nz/shop/