Bornéo: Musiques des Dayaks et des Punans (1999)

Dayak is a generic term used to identify the non-muslim population in the interior of Borneo, the 3rd biggest island on the planet, now shared by the Indonesian and Malaysian states. The name was fixed by Dutch marauders, meaning something like "from the interior". Punan is the name of a formerly nomadic group in the island. Most Punans used to lived off hunting, but have in the last decades (or most probably even before) settled and become farmers like Dayaks.

Both are minority groups, the Punan being a much smaller unit than the Dayaks. Both were also notorious headhunters, a practice banned by British and Dutch pressure in the 1920s. Headhunting was a classical adulthood ritual without which no man was allowed to marry. This ritual was said to improve harvests and the skull was given all forms of honor as well as the duty to protect the village from several ailments. According to some observers, it was a way of acquiring an enemy's valor and status.

These recordings by Manuel Gomes include performers from the following Dayak divisions: Tunjung, Kenyah, Benuaq, Bahau, Meratus, and Kelabit. These, together with the Punan's, were recorded along the Mahakam river, Kalimatan Timur, and the Sarawak Highlands.

1. Hudoo Kenyah (Kenyah)
Played "to activate the growth of rice plants"
2. Kuranji Manis (Meratus)
A love song in which an old lady recalls being courted by a man who compared her with a soft flower called kuranji manis.
3. Ayun Suli (Meratus)
A lullaby.
4. Belian - Slow (Meratus)
A ritual healing ceremony, sang by the healer. This particular song is slow because the disease is benign.
5. Penyamutan Adat (Benuaq)
A song performed to welcome strangers in the village
6. Ngasak (Benuaq)
A tune accompanied by female dancing at the time of rice sowing.
7. Belian - Fast (Meratus)
A fast healing song for a serious illness; drums are incessantly played to recover the healer's spirit.
8. Tarian Huddoo (Bahau)
Part of an agrarian/ancestor ritual, the dance uses masks to chase away evil from the rice crop.
9. Tari Sapeh Kariang (Bahau)
Played in sapeh, it is a welcoming piece.
10. Tari Belian (Benuaq)
A ritual healing ceremony, performed by one Sentiu Dukun.
11. Adtah Ulus Lagku-Ai-Ai (Kelabit)
A love song.
12. Arang Kadang (Kelabit)
Entertainment night music for women's chorus.
13. Tubung (Kelabit)
A call for prayer at the church.
14. Tutu Udan Nepara (Kelabit)
A rain song, asking for showers.
15. Rabu-Rabu Dadtam Kinih (Kelabit)
An excerpt of a song in which a woman courts a man. They finally join at dawn.
16. Sepuk Noge Kepulu (Benuaq)
A melody to attract and capture birds.
17. Muwankai (Tunjung)
Played for a buffalo sacrifice at a funeral ceremony
18. Uyan Tiga (Kelabit)
Played in the sapeh, this song was interpreted when returning from headhunting.
19. Lago Serimbung (Punan)
A welcome song for a guest.
20. Game Approach Technique (Punan)
An array of sounds played with the mouth to approach game when hunting and merge with the environment.
21. Mengahu (Punan)
A hunting song.

Recorded by Manuel Gomes in Borneo, Dec 1997 - Jan 1998.

Released by Buda Records in 1999.

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Philip Corner - Three Pieces for Gamelan Ensemble

Chronicling the life of the often mentioned but undercelebrated 71 year old American composer, best known for his connections to Fluxus and the Judson Dance Theater, presents an interesting challenge. Thanks to a recent programme of reissues by Italian label Alga Marghen and the rediscovery of Corner’s remarkable 1970s and 80s work with Gamelan Son Of Lion, we have a window into Corner’s extraordinarily diverse activities.

In 1972, Corner accepted a position in the music department at Livingston College, a part of Rutgers University that had been a Fluxus stronghold since the late 1950s. The College hired ethnomusicologist Barbara Benary in 1973, who, having studied gamelan on the West Coast with Lou Harrison, decided to build an Indonesian gamelan for students to practice on, using instructions supplied by Berkeley Gamelan founder Daniel Schmidt, a sheet of steel and a lot of old grapefruit tins. Benary herself was initially against the idea of mixing Eastern and Western traditions, but as Corner’s New Music Performing Group and composer Daniel Goode became increasingly involved, and Gamelan Son Of Lion (‘Ben Ari’ is ‘son of lion’ in Hebrew) came into being, the group started to develop in a way that, as Benary says, “had absolutely nothing to do with traditional music”.

Gamelan has a long, rich history as an object of inspiration and appropriation for Western composers, going back to Debussy, who heard a Javanese gamelan at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889. Some composers working with gamelan, like Colin McPhee, lived in Bali for periods of time, while others, like Henry Cowell, studied and taught it as part of surveys of World Music. The measured, formal qualities of traditional gamelan at first appear to be highly resistant to the spontaneous singularities characteristic of Corner’s previous work. Surprisingly, an interest in numbers opened the gamelan up to him.

“I’d been totally into this intuitive, irrational Zen approach,” he acknowledges, “and that seemed like a great liberation because it permitted a complexity which numbers always seemed to inhibit (...) I wanted to add this idea of repetition, of measured relationships and extreme simplicity without renouncing anything that I had been doing, or which had been culturally achieved by irrational values, indeterminacy, silence, noise, improvisation. I never renounced long tones fading into silence, gonglike sounds floating in untuned space. With the gamelan you don’t necessarily hear that, but everything is tuned that way, and it still sounds like objects floating in pre-rational space.”

Just as chaos theory shows how mathematical formulae can themselves produce highly unpredictable and complex patterns, pieces like the marvellous Gamelan on Three Pieces For Gamelan, which begins with a slow deep gong sound fading into silence and gradually adds higher pitched instruments playing at increasingly rapid tempos, or the graphically scored Gamelan PC on Gamelan In The New World Volume 2, apply apparently simple principles of pitch and time measurement to each of the individual instruments in the gamelan, collectively producing a rich, highly complex permutating sound.

“I was really involved with resonant metal in a contemporary idiom,” Corner recalls, “and metal involves the possibility of noise as well as resonance, the oriental idea of sound dying away into silence, the use of silence, static sounds and all of that.” The gamelan provided a whole set of new possibilities for meditating on metal – and over the following 20 years, Corner produced more than 400 such pieces.

Corner himself finally visited Indonesia in 1986, ten years after he began composing for gamelan. In an interview with gamelan composer Jody Diamond made just before his trip, he argued that “you can’t run away from who you are. You can’t immerse yourself in another culture and pretend to be them. I think you have to go there knowing who you are, and then relate to them out of who you are and where you are.”

Corner was well received and collaborated with Javanese composers, such as Michael Asmara, with whom he remains in touch, but his involvement with gamelan ended when he left New York for Italy in 1992. However, Benary and Goode have continued to compose and perform with Gamelan Son Of Lion, and have issued a number of new recordings.

“The essential harmony is dissonant,” he declares. “Everything we call harmony is essentially counterpoint. Putting together single tones – the relationship between single tones. We use harmony as a kind of prejudice, against disharmony. Some relationships are acceptable, some aren’t. Some we call harmonious, some we don’t. But I see it all as essentially counterpoint. Whenever you take distinct pitches and put them together in combinations, it’s counterpoint.”

The notion that literally any combination of tones is harmonic flies in the face of the equal temperament tuning system that has dominated Western classical music since Bach, but it’s equally foreign to those who favour alternative tuning systems, such as Just Intonation, grounded in particular mathematical or physical principles of sound. For Corner, harmony is about relationship, and relationship is a good thing, the more sonically complex the better"

Marcus Boon, A Long Life, Endless as the Sky



1. Gamelan (1975)
played by members of Son of Lion on the instruments of the Javanese gamelan Kyai Muntjar
Connecticut, Feb 28, 1981.

2. The Barcelona Cathedral, 1st
played by members of Son of Lion on the instruments created by Barbara Benary
NYC, 1978.

3. Belum (1991)
Third version for Son of Lion with added Western instruments
Performed at Corner's Farewell to New York concert, Experimental Intermedia Foundation
NYC, Feb 29, 1992.

Released by Alga Marghen in 1999.


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Anthologie des Musiques de Bali Volume 2 - Gamelan Virtuoses

Disc I
1. Taruna Jaya Gong Patok.
Ancient Gong Kebyar from the North with nailed keys
2. Palewakia
Gong Kebyar - 20th century Gamelan
3. Jagra Parwaka
Gong Kebyar - 20th century Gamelan
4. Tabuh Telu
Gong Suling - Flute Orchestra
5. Karang Sirig
Gong Suling - Flute Orchestra
6. Singa Murti
Gong Suling - Flute Orchestra


Disc II
1. Angklung & Kendang Mebarung
Tetratonic Amgklung Gamelan & Giant Drum Duo
2. Kembang Kirang
Angklung Kembang Kirang. 10 keys Pentatonic Gong Angklung
3. Arjuna Vivaha
Angklung Kembang Kirang. 10 keys Pentatonic Gong Angklung
4. Layon Sari
Gong Angklung & Angklung Kocok. Pentatonic Gong Angklung with 6 keys
5. Sekar Sari
Gong Angklung & Angklung Kocok. Pentatonic Gong Angklung with 6 keys
6. Becica Nguci
Gong Angklung Daun Kutus. Pentatonic Gong Angklung with 8 keys
7. Jam Si Uniyl
Gong Angklung Daun Kutus. Pentatonic Gong Angklung with 8 keys

Recorded in Bali in 1993.
Part of the Dominique Buscail Collection, directed by Gilles Fruchaux.
Produced by Catherine Basset. Recorded by Laurent Herniaux.

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Paul Schütze - The Rapture of Metals (1993)

"The title of this CD might erroneously suggest something heavy, abrasive and industrial, but The Rapture of Metals is in part an elegant homage to the metallic gongs of the Indonesian gamelan orchestra. The title track is the most overtly Indonesian, with electronic drones and effects enhancing a traditional gamelan gong pattern. But on several other tracks, Schütze further personalizes his use of gongs, capturing the dreamy, otherworldly quality of Indonesian court music not just by "Westernizing" Indonesian motifs but by blending gamelan sounds and scales with his own rather haunting musical vision. Elsewhere on the CD, Schütze utilizes keyboard synthesizers and sophisticated electronic processing to create thick, ambivalent atmospheres which explore the boundaries between madness and ecstasy. "The Rapture of Drowning" has a viscous, aquatic texture and bursts of nightmarish discord, but nonetheless suggests a transcendent experience of some sort. And the final piece, "Sites of Rapture on the Lungs of God," is a series of elongated musical inhalations and exhalations, comprised of cathedral organ chords, sonorous drones, intriguing dissonances and various strange electronic treatments which add another level of dislocation to the music". William Tilland

"This disc was intended to accompany the 1992 release New Maps of Hell as the necessary stylistic conclusion to that work. Unfortunately my label at the time would not agree to this. In the six months which separate the two releases, I have been unable to resist altering, re-editing and replacing some of the pieces, but I still regard this disc as the second part of Maps". Paul Schutze, CD liner notes.

1. The Rapture of Concealment
2. Rapture of the Drowning
3. The Rapture of Ornament
4. The Rapture of Metals
5. Rapture of the Skin
6. Sites of Rapture on the Lungs of God

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Ensemble Gending - Soekarno Blues [Re-Up] (1999)

"This recording was made in the Erasmus Concert Hall in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1999, during a tour which the Dutch musicians conducted in their former colony. The ensemble does not try imitate the Indonesian way of playing in some kind of forced mimicry, but develop their own style, attaching and incorporating Western aspects into the web of sounds, into the rhythms and the overall atmosphere, which is, none the less, magic.

The man who inspired the forming of Ensemble Gending was the composer Ton de Leeuw, who has spent a lot of energy on fuse Eastern and Western traditions, in much the vein of Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar on a legendary vinyl from 1965 with melodies like “Tala Rasa Ranga”, Song From the Hills”, “Gat Kirwani” and other famous events, spellbinding a whole young Western hippie generation with his simplified – but incredibly beautiful – gently westernized Indian masterpieces, with master tablaist Alla Rakah by his side. Another personality who has done much to weave a pattern with threads from both the East and the West is of course Terry Riley, who even went to India to study carnatic temple singing with mastersinger Pandit Pran Nath in the 1970s.

Ton de Leeuw stressed that the goal was not to imitate other cultures, but to combine the best of different cultures in new settings. This is what Ensemble Gending is trying to achieve. One of the pieces has a tape part, while others incorporate Western percussion, and one, the first piece, Dutch vocals. Another of the composers combines two of the tunings of gamelan that normally is used separately, creating un-Indonesian tensions.

Willem Breuker’s (b.1944) Soekarno Blues (1999) is the first piece of the CD, beginning with what could be mistaken for a ritual gamelan, and then the vocals of Monica Akihary and Wouter Hamel move the gamelan into the realm of Dutch jazz and blues singing, in subdued voices. There are other interesting anomalities here too, making this a re-listenable event for sure.

Per Nørgård (b.1932) is a Danish composer held in high esteem. He has written much contemporary chamber music. His contribution is Gendhing (1980/1988). The guise in which the piece appears here is a reworking, or an arrangement (by Klaus Kuiper), of the original piece, which also existed in three versions, and the original title was “Variations On a Javanese Melody”. The piece starts very gently, on high notes, until more percussive intrusions spray the composition with sudden outbursts of hasty rhythms, again slowing down to a trance-like progression, which in turn speeds up and moves sturdily ahead. In other words; the music is varied, dynamic – and always displaying the diamond beauty of gamelan sound.

Jan-Rokus v. Roosendael (b.1960) introduces his piece Carillon (1997), in which the gamelan is regarded and treated as a big carillon. He has woven a medieval melody from the 13th century into the gamelan. Indeed this is weaving traditions together; the age-old gamelan of Indonesia, and an old European tradition, represented from inside the gamelan by a melody used by for example Praetorius.

Sinta Wullur (b.1958) is a native of Indonesia, but she came to Holland at the age of 10. She has studied with Ton de Leeuw and Louis Andriessen. She has made a point of the integration of non-western components in her works. Her piece is Kaleidoscoop (1997). It has the most touching beginning, in fat, solid, shiny spheres of sound, and the sounding space is crowded with colors of the most magnificent radiance. Some really “off” sounds cause stirring bendings of chords and pitch, and it sort of makes you nauseous, dizzy… It’s beautiful. She achieves this by using two different Javanese scales; “Slendro” and “Pelog”. Maybe this is my favorite on this set.

Roderick de Man (b.1941) was born in Indonesia. He has studied with electronic composer and tape music guru Dick Raaijmakers. The dynamics are unusually rough, penetrating, reverberating, at the outset of Orkes Bercahaya (1997). The drumbeat hits you in the stomach, and the shiny gamelan lets its gentle fingers trip in a shadow dance across your face. This work is intended for a simultaneous light projection, but I think it functions just fine by itself. The rumble of the big drum really kicks ass. The gamelan gold-plates the patterns.

Jacob ter Veldhuis (b.1951) presents his Cannibal Mass (1998). It was written especially for a tour of Indonesia by Ensemble Gending. This is gamelan rock ‘n roll, forcing its way on ahead, utilizing voices too, in an instrumental way, just to produce sounds of a vocal percussive kind. There’s a lot of drumming here, solid, intricate, violent! It is indeed a gamelan octet.

Klaus Kuiper (b.1956) concludes this beautiful CD with Sonata da Camera (1997). Kuiper has studied with Dick Raaijmakers too, like Roderick de Man. Kuiper is a member of the Ensemble Gending, but also plays in Turkish and Arabic groups. Kuiper uses a tape part in his composition, but all the sounds on the tape originate in the instruments of the ensemble. This is probably my second favorite on this startling CD, with its layers of progressive rhythms appearing through the luster of the gamelan splendor, which attracts the human ear so much. The activity is intense here, loading space with might, and it’s in fact hard to stay still, as the music almost compels you to move in time with the shadows of the sound. The murmur of the tape, that dominates for a while, stretches out like a long distant, extended thunder clap across the horizon, while the rustling of close-up percussive sparkles massage your temples, moving you into a summer day’s hypnosis… until sharp and slicing cuts of seriously manipulated gamelan sounds tear you out of your nose-tip meditation".
in Sonoloco Record Reviews

This re-up is dedicated to Michelangelo (from Beyond) and Adam Eleven, who requested it a long time ago. Better late than never, we hope.

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Javanese Court Gamelan (1971)

"This recording was made on January 10, 1971, in the great reception hall, or pendopo, of the Pura Paku Alaman in Jogyakarta, by kind permission of H.H. Paku Alam VIII. The occasion was a radio broadcast in honor of his birthday, celebrated every 35 days according to the Javanese calendar. The gamelan was arranged in two halves, melody instruments, bonangs, and gongs to the left, and soft-playing instruments, drum, and singers to the right. The players sat with their backs toward one of the 3 open sides of the pavillion, facing inward across a spacious tile floor toward the entrance to the inner rooms of the palace. Occasional muffled soundsfrom the busy streets outside the compound and the twittering of flights of sparrows that make their nests in the rafters of the pendopo are a part of the normal sound ambiance". Robert E. Brown, CD liner notes

"A stunning counterpoint to the violence and agitation of the better-known world of Balinese gamelan. Deep, almost meditative, slow-paced and astoningishly beautiful. If, as someone once said, Balinese gamelan is the sonic equivalent of sexual frenzy, then this Javanese gamelan recording could stand as an example of post-orgasmic beatitude". The Quick'n'Ignorant Dallas Review

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