Concert by I Wayan Sadra and Guests

Description:

I Wayan Sadra held a concert featuring new works for percussion and gamelan developed while in residence at Western Front. Sadra was joined by local musicians, Jonathan Bernard, Colin MacDonald, Danny Tones, Martin Fisk, Kenneth Newby, Dewa Alit, Sutrisno Hartana, Mark Parlett, and Ben Rogalsky.

Though trained in the traditional Balinese style, Sadra was a conceptual composer whose practice reconsidered and deconstructed the idioms and forms of gamelan. His works were often process-based and theatrical, constructed to take advantage of the audience and performers’ relative positions, with as much consideration given to space as to sound. As a composer he was also concerned with the social context of music performance, seeing the development of an audience to appreciate new music as important as the works themselves.

Sadra began the evening with a solo performance on the jaw harp. The next piece was “On and On” where Sadra and Dewa Alit played the two-headed barrel hand drum, accompanied by Colin MacDonald on saxophone; and Jonathan Bernard, Martin Fisk, and Danny Tones on a multi-percussion arrangement of marimbas, cymbals, woodblocks, and tambourines. The musicians ended the piece roving through the building, on the street, and back to the stage.

“Muscle, Iron, Bone, and Steel” was a deconstructed and avant-garde gong composition with five seated musicians manipulating gongs with their hands. 

The final piece, “Suling Plus,” featured suling flutes played by the ensemble alongside DB Boyko’s vocals and a live video installation by Alexandra Dulic. 

Video documentation is available upon request.