Reviews
Gamelan with Laurie Anderson 2020
.. if you’ve never heard free jazz played on a gamelan, accompanied by pūkāea and pūtātara, cellos, evocative Egyptian vocals and Anderson’s unique invention, the Tape Violin, then you have not lived.
Megan Collins and Budi Putra from Gamelan Wellington collaborated and connected with multi-instrumentalist/percussionist from Anderson’s touring unit Shahzad Ismaily to contribute rhythmic subtleties, as much about energy as demarcating the time.
Wayang Kulit at CubaDupa 2018
… a riveting Javanese wayang kulit shadow puppet show by dhalang Joko Susilo, effortlessly accompanied by the local Gamelan Padhang Moncar. The astonishingly dance-like arm movements of the puppets was a revelation of this dhalang’s expertise.
Macapat by Budi S. Putra - 2017
The opening work, a traditional Macapat sung by Budi Putra, director of the Gamelan Padhang Moncar of VUW, was delivered in the rich and astonishingly resonant voice that Putra has long been recognized for. The violin of Tristan Carter danced a bridge between music worlds.
Jack Body’s “So Short the Life” - 2017
Gamelan Padhang Moncar played Jack Body’s So Short the life – a lively, lovely, poignant piece, being played close to the second anniversary of the death of this much loved composer. ‘Vita brevis’ indeed, but ‘ars longa’. The gamelan instruments produce familiar sounds yet are played without the intensity of interlocking patterns of the traditional gamelan music we are accustomed to hearing – as though voices from the past join the players, and a microphone involved as a musical instrument helps carry the sound towards the future. A remarkable composition.
“Java Dance” - 2015
Wayang Kulit “The Fall of Alengka” - 2015
An integral part of the performance is the musical accompaniment by the mesmerising Gamelan Padhang Moncar. Particular mention must go to the beautiful singing of Briar Prastiti and the stirring drumming of Rupert Snook.
Silver Scrolls performance - 2014
… one of the highlights of the annual APRA Silver Scroll Award, held last week in Wellington.
Reviews of our 2013 CD, Naga
Review from our 2013 tour of Indonesia
The first piece, From Shadows composed by Anton Killin, set the tone perfectly; a soft melodic piece that gently eased the audience into the concert. It featured Tristan Carter playing the violin that provided a significant and at times eerie contrast.
Review of ‘Gong Crazy’, 2009
Review of ‘Vita Brevis’, 2005
…the setting by Wayan Yudane of a poem by I Ketut Juliarsi called A Drop of Water at the Edge of a Leaf, [was] performed with striking authenticity by a fine assembly of Indonesian singers, gamelan (orchestra) and gamelan choir…. Dancer Nyoman Sukerta’s revelatory performance of the Balinese Dance of an Old Man, however, took us convincingly into another realm, self-explanatory and universal in its meaning…
Reviews of the ‘BEAT!’ International Gamelan Festival 1999