The attempt to stretch the concept of irama by exploring the liminality between pulse and noise is at the heart of this piece. This idea, coming from Central Javanese gamelan, organizes the temporal density within a piece; starting from irama lancar with one saron panerus beats per balungan notes, to irama rangkep with sixteen saron panerus beats per balungan notes. Hyperkembangan is based on a central question: what would the sound of an extremely high level of irama be, where the balungan notes is imperceivably sparse, while the elaboration is extremely dense? This hypothetical situation leads me to conceptualize a piece based on a progression from pulse, to complex sound (represented by spectral harmonies), to noise—noise here functions as a representation of an overload in the elaborative part. The piece is played with two gendèrs with pair tuning consists of customized 14-notes system that could accommodate spectral harmonies (based on the spectra of note 1 in gendèr struck with hard mallet) and its various manipulations. The "X" in the title—as well as a reference to Boulez's "Polyphonie X"—suggests a kind of cultural defacing, where new content is imposed on the cultural memory of the music, yet still maintains parts of those memories; a form of a musical palimpsest.

Perfomers - Sandikala Ensemble
Gendèr I - Yustiawan Paradigma Umar
Gendèr I - Suseno Setyo Wibowo
Gendèr II, Rebab I - Roni Driyastoto
Gendèr II, Rebab II - Mustika Garis
Percussion - Daniel O'Connor
Gong and electronics - Dion Nataraja

Mixing and Mastering - Luke Taylor
Recording - Adnan

Hyperkembangan X

This track is dedicated to my mother and her poems she wrote over the course of her life.

Butterfly Hands

Butterfly Hands.

BASSTRAPS Festival Mix

Gugawal ~ UtOpAZaa ~ In Process - 21_12_21, 3.14 am.m4a

Bundanon1

Composition for Violin and Gamelan Degung by Kez Watson

Violin: Kez Watson
Suling: Kym Hall
Gamelan: Swara Naga group

Baggy Pants

"Sleep Well (soundly) Mount Merapi" (2011), for violin and gamelan degung, is an original composition by Kerry Watson. The work is programmatic: opening with an ominous cempress melodic line - a kind of foreboding - and quiet (traditional music) sounds of a village situated in the shadow of the active 'Gunung Merapi' volcano in Java, Indonesia. The volcano stirs, erupting with the full might of its 'anger' in the middle of the work, characterised by the loud, frantic unison gamelan parts overlayed with a hectic fiddle 'reel'. Peace is restored as the volcano returns to 'sleep' (for now), with the echoes of a cooling crust audible in the saron instruments and violin 'cries'. The work was composed in response to Merapi's eruption in October, 2010. Elements from Sundanese (West Javanese), Western classical, celtic and pop-sunda musics served as influences in the transcultural work.

Selamat Tidur Gunung Merapi

Believe

whatchugonnaDo

WhatchugonnaDo

It Goes Something Like...

Will I Ever LKearn dEAR gOD I pRAY

When Will I Ever LKearn dEAR gOD I pRAY

When Will I Ever Learn dEAR gOD I pRAY Remix

Margaret Bradley’s music is underpinned by her passion for Indonesian arts and culture, particularly the Sundanese music of West Java.   She shares that special feeling of the place between.

Bundanon1

Margaret Bradley ArimbaCE

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