Irwan and Friends

Irwan and Friends

Monday 30 November 2009, 6:30pm Adam Concert Room, NZ School of Music, Kelburn Campus This farewell concert for Irwansyah Harahap and Rithaony Hutajulu featured a number of compositions by Irwan drawing on a range of cultures. It also featured premieres of piano compositions by Jack Body and John Rae performed by Dan Poynton (piano), and guest performers Bryan James (shakuhachi), and Sanjay Dixit (tabla). The evening culmintated in a brand new composition for gamelan, clarinet, bassoon, and baritone saxophone and ultimately, a dinner table! A lot of fun was had by all. Irwan and Ritha were in Wellington on a three-month artist residency with WARE (Wellington Asian Residency Exchange), a programme sponsored and organised by the Wellington City Council and Asia:New Zealand Foundation in collaboration with the New Zealand School of...
Gong Crazy! 2009

Gong Crazy! 2009

October 3 & 4, 2009, 8.00pm Adam Concert Room, NZ School of Music, Kelburn Campus $25/$15 concession Gamelan Padhang Moncar (Java) and Gamelan Taniwha Jaya ( Bali ) presented a programme selected by Jack Body to celebrate his 30 years of teaching at Victoria University/NZSchool of Music. This concert of new music was for gamelan in combination with an assortment of wonderful and rarely heard instruments including the sheng (Chinese mouth organ) and hasapi (Indonesian lute), as well as traditional Western classical instruments. Listen  to Jack Body talking about  the difference between sound and music, upcoming gamelan concerts and his approach to his work (27 Sep 2009). Read a review of these concerts. Guest artists included: Wang Zheng-Ting (China/Australia) - Chinese sheng (mouth organ) Irwansyah Harahap ( Indonesia ) - Indonesian gambus (lute) Rithaony Hutajulu ( Indonesia ) - vocal NZ String Quartet John Rae (percussion) Richard Nunns, Alistair Fraser (taonga puoro) Tevita Katoa, George Upu (percussion) Featuring newly composed works by: Jack Body and Wayan Yudane: A House in Bali (string quartet & Balinese gamelan, and narrator) Helen Bowater: Sun Wu Kong -Monkey (Javanese gamelan, string quartet, sheng, singers(s), rebab, frog toys) Irwansjah Harahap: Born (string quartet, sheng, clarinet, marimba, hasapi etc) John Psathas: waiting : still (Balinese musician & piano) Ross Harris: Enteng - light, easy (Balinese & Javanese gamelan) Gareth Farr: The Seventh Age (Balinese gamelan, viola and sheng) Leon DeLorenzo: Melangkah dan Melangkah (electroacoustic and masked actor) David Sanders: Wire, Bronze and Spokes (Balinese and Javanese gamelan and ‘prepared’ spinning wheel) Megan Collins: Mata (taonga puoro, rabab pasisia, saluang, percussion & gongs) Andrzej Nowicki: Abstand...
Play Gamelan! workshop

Play Gamelan! workshop

Saturday 18 July 2009 Gamelan Room, NZ School of Music (Kelburn Campus) Tutor: Budi Putra, director Gamelan Padhang Moncar This practical 3 hour workshop offered by Victoria University’s Centre for Continuing Education introduced the basic playing techniques of the instruments, and explained how the music is put together. At the end of the session all participants performed a classical gamelan piece...
Opera Jawa – movie night

Opera Jawa – movie night

Friday 19 June 2009, 6:30pm Adam Concert Room, New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University A showing of the legendary film Opera Jawa (2006, Garin Nugroho, director) was preceded by live music from Gamelan Padhang Moncar and refreshments kindly provided by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia. Donations went go to the Gedong Gandhi Ashram Education Fund. This fund assists with the education of needy youngsters associated with a unique ashram in East Bali which follows Gandhian philosophy. Thanks to Alison Hoffmann and Terry Cox for organising this...
‘East meets West’ – SMP Ensemble concert

‘East meets West’ – SMP Ensemble concert

Friday 1 May, 2009 Adam Concert Room, NZ School of Music, Kelburn campus As part of an SMP Ensemble concert, Gamelan Padhang Moncar members performed in Terry Riley’s “In C” (arranged by Anton Killin) for Javanese gamelan and western instruments. The SMP Ensemble (director: Andrzej Nowicki) is a forum for Wellington-based composers & performers, including many studying at the New Zealand School of Music and with gamelan associations. This concert also included Gareth Farr’s Kembang Suling for flute and...
Go East! Music for Voices and Gamelan

Go East! Music for Voices and Gamelan

Friday 3 April 2009, 12pm  & Wednesday 15 April 2009, 12:15pm Adam Concert Room, New Zealand School of Music, Kelburn Campus and St Andrews on the Terrace, Wellington Gamelan Padhang Moncar was joined by the NZSM jazz choir in two free lunchtime concerts of vocal and gamelan music. Directed by Budi Putra (gamelan) and Julian Raphael (choir) and featuring Susan Walton (sindhen - Javanese vocals) and Tristan Carter (electric...
Auckland International Cultural Festival

Auckland International Cultural Festival

Sunday 29 March 2009 War Memorial Park, 13 May Road, Wesley, Auckland Gamelan Padhang Moncar performed twice at this festival with Tristan Carter on electric violin. We also gave a hands-on workshop for interested adults and children.
Sumatran Tiger Puppet Show

Sumatran Tiger Puppet Show

Kaba Iniak Mudo - The Story of Iniak Mudo, the Sumatran Tiger Cub This innovative Indonesian musical puppet show by ethnomusicologist/performer Megan Collins and master puppeteer Joko Susilo combines Javanese puppetry and Sumatran sung story-telling (kaba) traditions into an engaging show for children. “Kaba Iniak Mudo” is a sung story about a girl called Yasmin and her encounters with a magical Sumatran tiger cub called Iniak Mudo. Megan Collins spent two years conducting research in a small hill town of Padangpanjang in Sumatra where there are many myths and art forms associated with tigers - people never say the word ‘tiger’ directly but use “grandmother” (Iniak) as a term of respect. They have a story telling music called kaba that has tiger sung poems/stories as part of the repertoire. This show was created especially for a the Auckland Zoo to celebrate the birthday of their Sumatran tiger cub in 2009. Megan Collins collaborated with Joko Susilo (a professional Javanese puppeteer resident in Dunedin) to create a show which melds Javanese and Sumatran traditions. Megan sings the narrative in English and Indonesian, while Dr Susilo manipulates the puppets. They are often joined by Bronwyn Poultney on Javanese gender and other Indonesian musical instruments are sometimes added to the shows. At Auckland Zoo the audience of predominantly primary school children loved the 40-minute show, which was repeated three times throughout the daylong celebrations. They have since presented the show at several local schools in Wellington, as well as in the Kidzone at WOMAD...
Cafe Culture, Palmerston North

Cafe Culture, Palmerston North

Sunday 22 March 2009 As part of Palmerston North’s “Festival of Cultures“, a small (gadon) group from Gamelan Padhang Moncar performed two 45 minute sessions outside Wholly Bagels, on the...