Matthew Clough-Hunter - Reyong and Suling

Hirotaka Inuzuka - Reyong

Cordey Lopez -- Modular synthesizer

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Gong Gaada is an experimental trio based in Los Angeles bridging traditional Balinese gamelan with West Coast electronic and avant-garde music. They perform a deconstructed form of electroacoustic gamelan through both original compositions and reinterpretations of traditional pieces, using Balinese instruments alongside modular synthesizer and electronics.

 

The name Gong Gaada -- which literally translates from Indonesian as "there is no gong" -- is a play on the naming conventions of gamelan ensembles, which often begin with the word Gong. The title of this album, Sing Wenten: Electronic Gamelan, literally means "there is no electronic gamelan" in Balinese. While echoing the band's name, it is also an homage to I Nyoman Wenten, who has taught gamelan in Southern California for over 50 years.

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It is always difficult when experimenting with traditional art forms since so much history and culture are tied to its practice. Its practitioners will certainly have an opinion about this experimentation, but the prevailing sentiment results from the authenticity of the experimenters. It is a tangled web. Gong Gaada execute this experimentation with the reverence that honors the tradition of gamelan and at the same time creates something without direct parallel. 

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It seems imperative with the speed at which society is changing that preserving history is directly linked to the amount of experimentation these art forms support. It should not be surprising that the gamelan community encourages this relationship. What Gong Gaada has created on Sing Wenten may, in fact, lay a blueprint for a new thing.

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The sound environment that is created by the relationship between the gamelan and the electronics requires the record to be listened to at an appreciable volume. The sensitivity of the electronics to the resonance of the gamelan create a sound world that is energizing. It is as if the relationship between the acoustic and digital become more intense as the dance continues, but the arrival of chanting reminds us that this dream will soon be over.

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Sing Wenten: Electronic Gamelan does all of this over the course of four tracks that totals about forty minutes and is one of the most excellent listening excursions in recent memory.

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Video: Gong Gaada performance at College of the Holy Cross

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Original album artwork was created by Kuncir Sathya Viku (b. 1990, Bali, Indonesia). Viku is a visual artist and painter working with rerajahan, a form of Balinese sorcery composed of sacred symbols and text. Through automatic painting, he subconsciously channels surrealist imagery that responds to social and cultural conditions, while deconstructing traditional Balinese visual tropes. He holds a degree in Visual Communication Design from Indonesian Institute of Art, Denpasar (2013) and has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Bali and Indonesia.