Music Blog #7- Gamelan Festival

Date Seen: April 29
Location: Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego
Host Website: www.centerforworldmusic.org

 Last week I attended the first annual Gamelan Festival, hosted by Canyon Crest Academy and the Center for World Music.  Not only was I attending, but I was lucky enough to perform in one of the gamelan groups as a representative of Cal State San Marcos. My group played three songs, led by Professor Griswold.  On two songs I played the gongs- large curved bowls which served as “punctuation” throughout the song.  During the last song I played on the demung- a xylophone style instrument with seven planks of metal that the player strikes with a wooden mallet.

 Gamelan is a type of percussion ensemble that originated in Indonesia.  There are many different styles of gamelan, as each region (i.e., Java, Bali, Sunda) has its own variations on instruments and musical tuning.  The group I performed in from Cal State San Marcos played the Javanese gamelan in slendro style, which is a pentatonic scale consisting of five numbered notes.

 There were four other gamelan groups performing at the festival: San Diego State University, Canyon Crest Academy, professional group Kembang Sunda, and a children’s Balinese gamelan angklung.  There were also a few groups of dancers wearing elaborate costumes and ornamentations that performed in between the gamelan groups.  I really enjoyed the festival- it gave me a better appreciation of world music and made me more excited to be one of the few groups in the region who play gamelan.