The Golden Thread - Music for Gamelan

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 artform of wayang performance theatre. The Christmas story was narrated with references to traditional Western seasonal songs such as Silent Night and We Three Kings. With a bit of jingle bells at the end...

I am not sure I can make the last Friday concerts, so if that was my last one of the season, what a high! It looked and sounded such a lot of fun - I definitely want to try this!

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