γ IS FOR GAMMA-LAN
IS FOR GAMMA-LAN
When mankind first had the perverse urge to create music he invent instruments with whatever came to hand. Hunters of the veldt made drums out of cowhide, the Tolmec’s made simple reed flutes. And the primitive tribe of Java, after a heavy day of work down the glockenspiel mines gathered together a few half hundred copper kettles, half hundred weight of bronze bars hit with buffalo horn and a a lot of wheels they found lying around to use as gongs. With such a blatent misuse of their natural resources they really should have died out. Instead they have created Ganelan orchestras, a fiendishly complicted musical version of chinese water torture.
In his book ‘Music of Java’ Jaap Kunst says, “Gamelan is comparable to only two things, moonlight and flowing water.” I can only assume he means wet and it keeps you up into the early hours of the morning with its twee tinkles.
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