Javanese Wayang Kulit

Joe Monzo wrote here about attending some recent Javanese shadow play performances. I attended two of the later concerts tonight (on campus at San Diego State U.) and they were quite enjoyable -- certainly reminded me of:

1. it's been too long since I've done any good listening to the Javanese styles
2. how much it reminded me of the musics from Anaphoria

While Joe mentioned the intonations inherent in the instruments themselves, I was particularly stuck by the singing, which was exquisite. But I know tonight was performed under much better circumstances (for the players, certainly). The various metallophones all had their microtonalities, but it was the beautiful melodic embellishments of the singer that really brought home the other-tuning-ness of it to my ears.

...and he did all the puppets, played the percussive accents, 'conducted' the ensemble, inserted dialogue that would be contemporary to the (student) audience. Quite a holistic effort!

Cheers,
Jon
`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
Real Life: Orchestral Percussionist
Web Life: "Corporeal Meadows" - about Harry Partch
http://www.corporeal.com/