Spotify playlist – fiffdimension & friends

Here’s my first Spotify playlist… a mix of my own tracks and by other artists who I’ve had the privilege to meet and be inspired by, in several cases played gigs alongside and/or collaborated with.

Thank you all for the journey! And some great music here.

Continue reading “Spotify playlist – fiffdimension & friends”

Wayang for Cirebon – 30 June 2018

Saturday 30 June 2018
in the Adam Concert Room (NZSM, Victoria University of Wellington).
$30/adult – all proceeds go to Cirebon

This show is a repeat of our recent successful show at CubaDupa.

This fund-raising event was sparked by a tragedy in Cirebon, Indonesia, in April this year when a wall adjacent to the rehearsal space collapsed on top of the players, killing seven youngsters, aged between 12 –15 years, and their teacher, dhalang Mas Herman Basari.

The Cirebon area of Northwest Java is dear to our hearts. Allan Thomas brought the first gamelan to New Zealand from Cirebon in 1974. You can read about the history and about these instruments on the Gamelan NZ site by following the links. Later named The First Smile, the ensemble is still played by a local Wellington group who are embarking on a fund-raising campaign to send support to Gegesik village and families affected by the tragedy. Plans are already underway there to purchase a new gamelan, and dedicate it to the memory of those who died.

You are invited to attend what promises to be a spirited occasion, and to contribute generously to the funds. The programme for this concert will include:

  • A wayang kulit (shadow puppet show), The Fall of Gathutkaca, performed by dhalang Ki Joko Susilo, accompanied by Gamelan Padhang Moncar of the New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington. Dr. Joko Susilo is a celebrated dhalang, Indonesian traditional shadow puppet-master, the eighth generation in his family. He has lived with his New Zealand family and taught gamelan in Dunedin for over 25 years, but is often in demand for wayang kulit performances and gamelan teaching abroad.
  • Ambassador Bapak Tantowi Yahya will also perform as part of the event.
  • Refreshments

Tickets are $30 per adult. School aged children are free. All funds will be directly sent to Cirebon.

Other Islands: 2012-2018

fiffdimension vol3

(see also Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005 and Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012)

brings us into the current decade – with further wide-ranging experimentation and exploration sonically, temporally and geographically, in New Zealand, Western AustraliaIndonesia, Okinawa (Japan), and Fiji.

by Dave Black (acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, harmonica, laptop, bass, tenor saxophone, field recordings, piano, ukulele, sanshin, saron, jublag, demung, vocal), with

Mike Kingston (charango, acoustic guitar),

Simon Sweetman (percussion),

Nat da Hatt (electric guitar, keyboards, banjo),

Emit Snake-Beings (banjo, vocal, percussion, flute, electronics),

the Digitator (electric drums, keyboards & loops),

Campbell Kneale (electric guitar, analogue synthesiser),

Cylvi M (vocal, field recordings, percussion, shakuhachi),

Blair Latham (bass clarinet),

Simon O’Rorke (keyboards),

Chris Prosser (violin),

Julie Bevan (acoustic guitar),

plus Indonesian gamelan ensembles led by Sofari Hidayat, Budi Putra, and Gareth Farr,

a song by my great-great-grandfather John Collie (1856),

and field recordings from Western AustraliaIndonesia, Okinawa (Japan), and Fiji.

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Featuring tracks from the albums

The Winter: Flying Visit (2012)

in the non-idiomatic idiom in Norway (1999/2014)

ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes (2010-15)

Ngumbang (2014-15)

The Winter: Exit Points (2015)

The Electricka Zoo (2017)

and previously unheard tracks.

And hear the previous compilations

Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005 

and Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012
Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2013

2017 roundup

Our main news of 2017 was The Electricka Zoo‘s debut album.  music.net.nz called it “a totally original, mind-warping album”.

It’s not too late for your best-album-of-2017 lists, so get your copy today (just click the ‘buy’ button above… yes we’re still more interested in ‘the album’, as a unified artform, with a theme and structure, rather than streaming playlists).

Our next big project is a show in the NZ Fringe Festival – watch this space.

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Meanwhile this year we made some progress on social media, reaching the modest milestones of 200 likes for fiffdimension and 100 likes for the Electricka Zoo on Facebook.

We also Continue reading “2017 roundup”

Forged in Fire: the Sound of Heaven

Thursday 19 October 2017, 7pm

Gamelan Padhang Moncar 2017

Adam Concert Room, NZ School of Music, Kelburn, Wellington

Featuring gamelan ensembles led by Budi S Putra:

with special guests:

 

Also, Gamelan Padhang Moncar are recording a new album – watch this space!

Kindred Spirits: Music of Benjamin Britten and Jack Body

On 7 May 2017 Gamelan Padhang Moncar performed Jack Body‘s first composition for gamelan, ‘So Short the Life’ as part of a choral concert with Nota Bene chamber choir at Wellington’s Sacred Heart Cathedral on.

Jack Body (1944-2015) was a key figure in the introduction of gamelan music to New Zealand.

Kindred Spirits Concert 7 May 2017
Poster for the concert

Budi And Tristan In Sacred Heart Cathedral
Budi, Tristan and Pippa rehearse macapat

So Short The Life
page 1 of Jack’s original handwritten score

Continue reading “Kindred Spirits: Music of Benjamin Britten and Jack Body”

Indonesia Festival at Te Papa

Two audience videos at the Indonesia Festival at Te Papa national museum in Wellington, NZ:

Gamelan music, in styles from Bali by Gamelan Taniwha Jaya

and central Java by Gamelan Padhang Moncar.

 

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Te Marae, Level 4
Sunday 23 October 2016, 10am-5pm

This was a full day of music, dance, song, and batik fashion from Indonesia.

Continue reading “Indonesia Festival at Te Papa”