Almost the end of November and another term of excellent concerts is almost concluded. The high quality continues - this Friday, 24th November, featured music for gamelan . I have read with interest about gamelan, notably in the excellent The Other Classical Musics , but have never heard the ensemble live. Leeds music students who had spent this term learning gamelan music, performed a mixture of traditional and modern pieces under the name The Golden Thread. I was NOT disappointed! I liked all of it! But particular mention to the traditional pieces Lancaran Singanebah and Lancaran Tropong-bang - excellent, immersive stuff - and the new pieces, firstly When East Meets West . This used gamelan timbres to sample Western popular music - I'm sure I heard 'Another One Bites The Dust'!! - complete with sunglasses wearing students. The second, It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas , added a shadow puppet show to the performance, referencing the traditional artfor...
The varied musings of a music maniac...