Only in New York can you take your pick of Gamelan concerts and styles. This weekend not one but three Gamelan concerts took place.
Saturday at 3pm as part of the series titled “The Allure of Refinement: Music and Dance of Indonesia” the NY based Gamelan Kusuma Laras ensemble with Guest Artists from Cornell University’s Gamelan Ensemble and from Seattle’s Gamelan Pacifica ensemble performed half a dozen pieces at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts of Lincoln Center Plaza, New York. The space filled up quickly and at least 20-30 people got turned away. An equal number of people where on stage singing and playing Javanese Gamelan music. If your cup of tea is rather Balinese Gamelan then the Indonesian Consulate in New York presented an 8pm concert on Saturday and a 2pm concert on Sunday on just that. In addition to that Cornell music professor Christopher Miller also gave a talk on Javanese music and dance on Friday.
Over the weekend I was honored to get into the studio with the amazing incredible viola player/composer/improviser Eyvind Kang and work on his beautiul new solo album. His wife Jessika Kenney (an Gamelan Pacifica member) is in town too and she lent her beautiful voice to the Javanese Gamelan concert above and is also doing a workshop on vocal techniques in Brooklyn.
Also Zorn was playing at 4pm in an art gallery.
Definitely a NY-style busy weekend. I love this city.
