[Fwd: Re: 3/28 LA Times: A village awakens, and our eyes open]cudamani review

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: 3/28 LA Times: A village awakens, and our eyes open
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 18:24:00 -0800
From: Gamelan Sekar Jaya <gsj@...>
Reply-To: Gamelan Sekar Jaya <gsj@...>
To: GAMELAN@...
References: <GAMELAN%2005032808135021@...> <6.2.1.2.2.20050328091847.0447c978@...> <42485C9C.6030909@...>

Great review. Here are a few supplemental impressions from someone sho has been involved, peripherally at least, in the "Odalan Bali" project for quite a while:

"Odalan Bali" is indeed one of the most innovative Balinese performances I have experienced in years. As I mentioned to several people at Royce Hall, it's as if the �udamani group completely disassembled the components of modern dramatic and tari lepas performances, renewed each -- re-examined, re-composed, re-combined, etc -- and then put them all back together again.

In other words, the power of the work is not so much the impact of new elements in the piece (though there are indeed a few notable ones) as much as the very thoughtful and deep synthesizing process that went into it. This is very similar to what I discovered in analyzing Geregel, the instrumental piece by Dewa Alit, who is also one of the primary composers of Odalan Bali. In both cases, numerous innovations that have happened elsewhere have been brought together in a coherent whole, composed / arranged and performed with such mastery that the result is much greater than the sum of the parts.

A few examples:

The opening scenes, in which brooms are swept in the early morning temple and then food prepared (chopped, scraped, discussed) in complex interlocking rhythms, has a number of antecedents. These go all the way back to the work "Eka Dasa Rudra" by Komang Astita, but also including Body Tjak (Keith Terry / Wayan Dibia), and many other offshoots over the years. Likewise, the piece Tajen ("Cockfight") in the 2nd half harkens back to pieces like Kosong in 1982 (K. Astita), in the semi-circle of musicians playing in highly interactive and ever-changing sub-groupings, animated with spontaneous dramatic energy. Yet in both, the complexity of the rhythms (including, notably, triple subdivisions and many irregular meters), the elegance of compositional design, the dramatic flow from one scene to the next, and the contextualization in the larger "odalan" setting put things in a very new light.

The Baris Gede, part of the buildup of the Macaru ritual in the first half, is a newly composed work that simultaneously conveys the austerity and grandeur of the authentic form, with "all the modern conveniences:" The dancers (all four are musicians in the group) perform kilitan on bamboo tubes they carry; the work is overlayed with other musical threads, in other meters (including 11/8) and other patutan; and the rhythmic elaboration on kendang/ceng-ceng kopyak is quite effectively, and modernly, syncopated.

The Legong in the 2nd half is no longer any of the Legongs we know, but a newly created work that uses gambuh flutes, interesting metric layering between the kendang and everything else, and -- one of my small contributions -- a section where all musicians except jegogan players momentarily stop playing, while the dancers continue the pengawak choreography. In other words, the music continues only in their minds for an entire palet, as an expression of the sekala/ niskala world of the odalan.

Taruan Jaya Gandrung is the dance work that Wayan Gandra gave to the group just before he died; most likely originating in Kedis (see M. Tenzer's review of the recent Gunung Sari CD in which he traces this fascinating history). It is an "alternate" Taruna Jaya, an almost entirely different version of the work using essentially the same building blocks and stylistic pallet, but... well, differently. It's not a knock-off, but if anything a more riveting work than the TJ we all know. In fact I find it even more carefully chiseled and formed in its myriad angsel patterns, and how they relate to the melodic / metric / dynamic structure. And it is a danced by a young �udamani dancer who is utterly amazing -- probably only 14 years old, with alll the flash and technique that has always made local (or international) stars out of young dancers. This piece alone is worth the price of admission.

Put differently: You could take any five minute slice of Odalan Bali and write an entire PhD thesis. But more importantly, the depth of meaning and long consideration that went into every section makes for a level of performance "coherence" (for lack of a better word) that is seldom found in evening-length pieces that seek to represent so many cultural facets.

Wayne Vitale

>>DANCE REVIEW
>>
>>A village awakens, and our eyes open
>>
>>An island culture comes uniquely alive with the rhythms of daily
>>routine and sparkling gamelan music of 'Odalan Bali.'
>>
>>By Lewis Segal
>>Times Staff Writer
>>
>>March 28, 2005
>>
>>Music and dance from the Southeast Asian island of Bali is no rarity
>>on local stages - not with all the distinguished artists-in-residence
>>who have formed excellent performing ensembles at our colleges and
>>universities. But �udamani offered a new experience in its "Odalan
>>Bali" program at UCLA on Saturday.
>>
>>This group of 18 musicians and seven dancers from the village of
>>Pengosekan, Ubud, quietly rebels against the formats that
>>traditionally shape folkloric performances.
>>
>>Instead of offering isolated highlights from several overlapping
>>ancient traditions, artistic director I Dewa Putu Berata staged a
>>cultural overview that depicted Balinese village life beginning with
>>the rhythms of rush brooms sweeping sacred spaces at dawn.
>>
>>No hint of conventional ethnic vaudeville tainted Act 1, so Royce Hall
>>became a kind of window on a society where art continually enriches
>>daily activities. For instance, a large complement of seated men
>>syncopated their mundane chopping and grating chores, turning them
>>into percussive riffs. At the same moment, women in another area of
>>the stage transformed their work tasks with song, their vibrating
>>fingers providing a glimpse of the intricate dances that would come
>>later.
>>
>>Before long, the company unveiled its gamelan: a richly carved and
>>gilded array of stands supporting gongs and bells of many sizes.
>>Spread across the stage - with the higher-toned instruments on the
>>left, the more deeply reverberant ones on the right and drums in an
>>open space in the middle - this gamelan could generate layers of
>>brilliant metallic percussion as well as a powerful undertone that
>>seemed to hang in the auditorium like mist.
>>
>>Women carrying maypoles hung with ribbons introduced a remarkably
>>mellow version of the Baris, which is often performed as a fierce
>>warrior-solo but here presented by four men as an abstraction of
>>protective male energy.
>>
>>Similarly, Act 2 included a benign presentation of the Barong, an
>>enormous lion-like creature most frequently shown in eternal combat
>>with Rangda, a force of evil - but not here. Too many fierce warriors
>>have wounded the world recently, and their violence has even shattered
>>Bali's peace. So, "Odalan Bali" avoided showing even mythic combat,
>>emphasizing instead how people can work together in a diverse but
>>supportive community.
>>
>>Portraying traditional temple ceremonies, Act 2 sustained this vision
>>but sacrificed the unbroken flow of events that had made the first
>>half of the evening so extraordinary by including a series of formal
>>dances on the forestage. In "Legong Gering," a trance ritual involving
>>possession by divine spirits, Ni Wayan Pebri Lestari and Dewa Ayu Eka
>>Putri mirrored one another with spectacular quivering, darting
>>complexity.
>>
>>"Truna Gandrung" showcased the virtuosity and charisma of Ni Kadek
>>Sudarmanti in a more recent and conspicuously glittering style: tense
>>and even brittle but full of the tiniest, quickest shifts of position
>>and most abundant expressive details. Flexions of the neck, shimmers
>>of the shoulders, balances on one foot, movements of the eyes,
>>flutters of a fan and sudden swirls of the train of her robe all
>>created the sense that she was dancing to every instrument in the
>>gamelan with some part of her body or costume.
>>
>>Singing, rhythmic chanting, gamelan interludes and moments of prayer
>>supplemented the dances, but the various activities weren't always
>>self-explanatory - even if you had read the program notes. Indeed, you
>>could argue that the holistic, contextual view of Balinese culture on
>>view in both halves of "Odalan Bali" might work better in a
>>documentary film - with subtitles or spoken commentary supplying
>>needed insights.
>>
>>Still, there's no doubt that the performance brought us closer to the
>>essence of a culture than most touring or touristic performances ever
>>can, making us question and perhaps reject the ways that non-Western
>>or pre-Western traditions are commonly presented on our stages.
>>
>>The Saturday performance served as a benefit for the World Festival of
>>Sacred Music, which is scheduled from Sept. 17 to Oct. 2 throughout
>>Southern California. �udamani also performs Wednesday at UC Santa
>>Barbara.
>>
>>Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times
>>
>>__________________________________________________________________
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>
>--
>Kraig Grady
>North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
>The Wandering Medicine Show
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>
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--
Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles