Music of Indonesia & Gamelan Toronto
In November '95 a group of musicians in Toronto inaugurated Gamelan Toronto. This is a central Javanese-style gamelan housed at the Consulate General of Indonesia. For me, this was another adventure in getting my musical brain sent back to the dry cleaners. Everything about this music, from the cipher notation, the fact that all that's written out is a skeletal melody, and the orientation of the music itself around the arrival of the gong, posed a very nice learning curve for me. Of course, what keeps us going, the end of the musical rainbow as it were, is that the music itself is a very beautiful gift to the world from a very ancient tradition. I'm playing bonang barong at the moment, which can be a little scary.
For various reasons, I had to stop gamelan in 2004. But it was great fun, and I was exposed to a lot of great music, including many cd recordings, which I still listen to regularly. Maybe I'll pick it up again at some point. If you have a chance to join a gamelan, you'll find it a very rewarding experience.
