Search - The Gambuh Ensemble of Batuan's Village Temple :: Music of the Gambuh Theater

The Gambuh Ensemble of Batuan's Village Temple
Music of the Gambuh Theater
Genres: International Music, Pop

Track Listings (8) - Disc #1
1. Batel
2. Tabuh Gari
3. Subandar
4. Gadung Melati
5. Bapang Gede
6. Sekar Gadung
7. Kunjur
8. Sumeradas

CD Details

All Artists: The Gambuh Ensemble of Batuan's Village Temple
Title: Music of the Gambuh Theater
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Vital (City Hall)
Original Release Date: 7/7/1999
Release Date: 7/7/1999
Genres: International Music, Pop
Style: Far East & Asia
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 614564001320

Synopsis

Album Description

Music of the Gambuh Theater is a newly-recorded, crystal-clear digital recording of the Gambuh ensemble of Batuan's Village Temple ("Seka Gambuh Pura Desa Adat Batuan"), located in south-central Bali, Indonesia. This CD is the result of a year-long collaboration and partnership between the musicians of Batuan, the non-profit Gambuh Preservation Project, and Vital Records. The orchestra that accompanies the courtly drama of Gambuh creates a other-worldly musical atmosphere. Melodies of great breadth and beauty, played on meter-long bamboo flutes, are fused with elaborate rhythmic compositions played on two hand drums. Small bronze percussion instruments and punctuating gongs add a delicate metallic underpinning. Owing to the involvement of so many artists and scholars immersed in Gambuh and related traditions, this is a carefully crafted document of one of the world's rarest and most beautiful music/dance forms. Great care and attention has been given to the recording quality, choice of pieces (to represent the many forms and musical modes found in a full Gambuh performance), and the presentation of a wealth of information in the extensive liner notes. The 20-page booklet text covers aspects of dramatic context, musical structure, instrumentation, and performance practice of Gambuh. (As with other releases on Vital Records, it is intended as a comprehensive overview that can also be used in research, world music courses, etc). A portion of all proceeds will be used to continue the efforts of the Gambuh Preservation Project.

CD Reviews

A very powerful artistic force for anyone who listens

dig-it-the-most | New York | 09/23/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As much as Balinese Gamelan is known in the West, one of their most unknown ensembles is the Gambuh Theater. It is probably not proper to consider Gambuh a Gamelan ensemble because it doesn't have the 'xylophone' type instruments like Gangsa or Saron. It has some flutes about 1 meter long, a pair of hand drummers, gongs, and several high metallic percussion instruments, some of which sounds like the Western triangle. Then of course are the vocalists. Gambuh is theater, perhaps operatic. Still, without understanding the words, the voices have gestures which carry information about their character. The sound is an ancient temple sound, full of ritual, with the actors playing their roles in the drama, and the deep microtonal flutes carrying their tenuous lines of mystery.For all the forms of Balinese music, this has perhaps the most sophisticated drumming. It is not that it is overly complicated like African or Indian polyrhythms, but the phrase grouping and tempo changes and its integration in the ensemble are very rich and spontaneous. There is another more recent recording of an ensemble from Batuan which surely has most of the same members that is available from the Yayasan Polosseni (use google to find them). I would say the Yayasan recording is even stronger, but don't let this recording pass you by. The author of the liner notes writes "In this ancient Gambuh form lies the essence of all that is to come in the future".I understand these performance go on for hours at a time, but they have been condensed to a few hours for the recording.
Uncle Morty would be proud."