Boston Village Gamelan - a fun, free concert
Friday night David and I went to a free concert by the Boston Village Gamelan. If you’re not familiar with what a gamelan orchestra is, here’s the definition from “answers.com.”
gamelan: An Indonesian orchestra composed mainly of tuned percussion instruments such as bamboo xylophones, wooden or metal chimes, and gongs.
I heard them play once before at First Night a few years ago. This concert was more interesting than the one I remember because it included singing. What was really fun was watching a group of 4 men seated in the back who sang and clapped rhythms for certain sections and a young boy (maybe 6 years old) who sang and clapped with them. He was good and obviously having such a good time!
Also there were quite a few kids in the audience and since it was fairly informal, they laid on the floor in the front and drew pictures or stared at the musicians (who were also sitting on the floor). It was fun looking around at the audience and listening to the music.
Here is a sound sample (not of this concert, but of some gamelan somewhere on the Internet): http://alek.zipzap.ch/gamelan/s/jawa_sm.wav
