The project is over! The concert was a success and the recording session was a fun-filled five hours of pain. I just slipped out of the lawar party (but don't worry I ate my duck brain sate before I left!) to send an email to Jon and to start packing my suitcase. I may go back if the mood strikes me, or I might just spend a little quiet time soaking in my last night in Bali.

The concert was held at an outdoor ampitheatre at the Arts Conservatory - Institut Seni Indonesia di Denpasar - last night at 8pm. The first piece was a short and sweet piece for our western musicians written by Francois Houle and called, "Bonjour Bali." The second piece was Colin and Sudi's "Arak Kok" - for sax, trumpet and gamelan. Unfortunately I didn't think that we did a fabulous job of this piece since we were all so focussed on Michael's piece still to come. (This morning we held a short recording session for Arak Kok at the sanggar). Next on the programme was a work written for the CW group (Sudi's childrens/teens gamelan) by Colin. And then Michael's piece.

Everything came together nicely for Michael's piece, named "Buk Katra" (I think - I only heard the title of the piece and never saw it written down!). Afterwards I was speaking with one of the kendang players (drummers) who said he nailed his part for the first and last time! The drumming in this piece was particularly challenging - it was written for four drummers (five drums) and typically gamelan has two drummers. Anyways, I think Michael was very satisfied with the performance. And hey - we're famous. Apparently there were like 12 video cameras for various documentaries and television stations. We're going to be on Bali TV!

So that's about it. Well, of course I have tons to say about the project/performance...but I'm sick of this Internet cafe! I hope to see some of you (the locals - especially Jon, my parents, and the neighbours) in the next few days. And to the rest of you - thanks for reading and (hopefully) I'll see you soon, too!

I will post photos of the trip after I get home (perhaps sometime next week). Stay tuned...

R.

This one week...in Bali

Wow - this past week has really whizzed past! The 'home stretch' has been a blur of intense rehearsals. Tonight is our recording session and tomorrow is our concert. I can't believe that we've almost fulfilled our goal after a month of serious collaboration.

I'm very stressed about getting through the next few days. My face is pretty tired but I just need to hang in there a little longer. I have played trumpet anywhere from 3-6 hours everyday for the past month (save for about 3 days). This is so unlike me back home :)

Other stresses are the weather - we are recording outside in a field (some of the microphones are hanging from trees!). Surprisingly the acoustics are very good. Also, the performance is scheduled to take place outside. For the past few days the weather has been in fine tropical form - hot, sunny and humid. But our track record here has included a heck of a lot of rain. My fingers are crossed!

Denis our camera guy thought that having our one and only concert here rained out would make for a spectacular end to the documentary. I'm not sure that Michael would agree with him, though. I told him that an even better ending would be to watch AK's clarinet dissolve in the rain and then watch our (electric) pianist get electrocuted ("being electrocuted" - that one's for you, Em).

Last night both the gamelan and the western musicians met at Dewa Berata's pondok (Dewa is one of the brothers who founded Cudamani - the other is Alit, of course). The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the process of learning the music and how we've all felt about working together despite our differences. The discussion was very interesting with lots of participation from both sides.

We discussed how the gamelan felt about the western musicians reading music, adhering to the score, etc. And then in the end things got a little emotional when we asked Michael whether or not he felt that this collaboration has been a success. He read to us from his program notes for tomorrow night - in it he described the piece as being 'still in darkness.' Meaning, I suppose, that there is still much work to be done in order to achieve musical 'success' from this sort of cross-cultural experience.

Bapak Dewa (the father of the Cudamani brothers) and a respected elder joined us at that point in the meeting and said that he feels that it is not up to us to determine whether or not the music is a success - it is up to the audience to decide. Our role is to continue creating music as much as we possibly can.

Dewa Berata focussed on the positive relationships and peripheral benefits of the collaboration. After the discussion we headed back to the sanggar for our final rehearsal - I think we all felt a little more united after taking the time to discuss the project. Save for some of the younger guys who goofed around and smoked their cigs the whole time :)

I enjoyed the discussion immensely; but am wondering if it is 'normal' for the Balinese musicians to sit around and discuss music as such. I think I will ask Sudi next time I see him. I also need to ask him if my sulings have been ordered??!! I think they are being ordered on Bali time (perhaps he can bring them to me when he returns to Vancouver in the fall).

So much to say...so much to say. This morning we heard a gamelan in the village of Pinda. They're all these old farmers - but they were wicked good. Not a lot of flash and pizzazz - just a strong, solid focus and connection to the music.

Another thing I've spent a lot of time thinking about lately (besides Jon!) is how to get Gita Asmara (our gamelan in Vancouver) up and running as an organization. I've been holding back on my business-y ways because of some of the laid-back personalities in the group. Lately I've been going around and speaking to members of our group that are here on the trip and determining what level they would like to see the group working towards over the next 1-5 years.

The majority would like to be up and running, performing in Vancouver and possibly touring to Bali in a couple of years. Now that I have some consensus I intend to work on a plan for the organization when I get home. I'm tired of hanging back in all of our meetings and witnessing the 'group think' or apathy. There are several people who just want everything to magically happen around them - y'know show up and play but never actually touch a grant application. Anyways, I've assigned myself official 'sh*t disturber' status - and Nicole and Pete have said they're willing to back me up!

So...I think I've written quite enough. Time to go warm up for tonight's session. Catch you all later! (I'll be home on Thursday!)

Rach

Busy in Bali

The last few days have been really weird. My accommodation bliss fell to shambles but has now been rectified and I am once again at peace.

A "communication breakdown" occured - much as it tends to happen around here - and I was abruptly evicted from my lavish digs at Bali Putra. Apparently I was signed up for two days and not two weeks. However, I know that I have enough Indonesian and the owner of the homestay has enough English to be able to properly communicate dates. In the end he got a bonus couple of days pay before his reservation arrived and I got a whirlwind tour of all the other homestays and hotels on the block - total scam. I am now settled into my new "treehouse" across the street. Of course, I'm out another $10 CAD a night, but I think I'll manage. Did I mention that I get a clean towel everyday?? Woo hoo!

Musically speaking things are progressing well. Yesterday afternoon we worked on the ending of Michael's piece and now we're working backwards to connect the piece somewhere in the middle where we left off last week.

As with all the sections of this piece it sounds like a gong show (no pun intended! seriously!); but then it has a way of becoming clearer the next rehearsal or two later. Part of this process, though, has been to re-orchestrate as we go and thin out the texture. Nobody really needs blastissimo trumpet and trombone mixed with gong kebyar for 25+ minutes on end.

In addition to Michael's piece I am working on a piece for sax and trumpet (we premiered it in Vancouver last spring but here we will perform it with a newly composed introduction). So tonight I have four consecutive hours of rehearsal.

I often wish I were playing gamelan here and not trumpet...it is so much more conducive to never-ending rehearsals...plus it is my true musical love. Ah well...hopefully I will be able to squeeze in a few more lessons before I leave. Unfortunately the race to the finish line (performance/end of trip) is on and my time is being monopolized by rehearsals and the (damn!) film crew.

This morning the film crew followed Lesley, Nicole and I through Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud. The monkies were wicked cool and hilarious (Nicole took a photo of me sitting next to one who was snacking on a banana - but when we looked at the shot later the monkey looked like he was deep in conversation with me...nevermind, it's hard to describe, I'll have to post the photo when I get home).

Anyways...of course when you're with the camera they're constantly setting up shots so nothing is natural...Denis will ask us to go back up some stairs so he can shoot us coming down, oh...but first we have to line up in the order that we were walking in the last scene he'd shot, etc. etc. You get the idea...but I'm sure it will make for a marvelous documentary (?!)

In about half an hour the camera and crew are back at my treehouse to shoot Malcolm and I in a sectional. Yet again, an authentic rehearsal not set up by the musicians but by the film crew!

Oh well...it will do us some good to get a bit of practice in before tonight. Michael has written a section of kotekan (interlocking rhythms characteristic of gamelan music) that finds all the western musicians on the beat (polos) while the gamelan is off the beat (sangsi). Of course, as with every other section of this piece the rhythms are complicated by the constant leaping of pitches. Bee boo.

Ahh...what else. Saw the kecak/Indian dance performance at the PKB on Sunday - magnifique. A few people went to an Indian dance workshop this morning...I was too busy chilling with the monkies. Tomorrow we're going to a shop that makes gamelan instruments and on Thursday we've been invited to STSI (the Balinese arts conservatory in Denpasar) for lunch and a tour.

Busy busy...but we're into the home stretch. The performance is less than a week away and I'm definitely starting to look forward to coming home (ahem...Jon). Hope all is well in Vancouver or wherever you are reading this!

R.