{"id":27504,"date":"2007-02-28T10:55:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-28T10:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/?p=27504"},"modified":"2024-03-15T14:37:27","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T06:37:27","slug":"mengalih-punggung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/articles\/2007\/02\/mengalih-punggung\/","title":{"rendered":"Mengalih Punggung"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Tell us about yourself. Did you, like any other good middle-class child,\nhave to pick up a formal musical instrument?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, my parents insisted I attend\npiano lessons, beginning at age seven — although they had to drag me kicking\nand screaming the first few years. I got bored easily, and got kicked out of\nclass by a few teachers for being difficult. I’d do weird, rebellious things,\nlike play the piano with my feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was only later that I settled\ninto the piano class routine willingly. I went through the normal ABRSM\n(Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) Grade One to Grade Eight piano\nroute and finished in my early teenage-hood — which was pretty bad, because I\nhad plenty of years after that to forget all the music theory, and lose\nwhatever piano playing skills I had!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also dabbled in classical guitar\nand the tabla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What got you interested in gamelan in the first place? Tell us a little\nabout the form, and what you think are its strengths and weaknesses.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gamelan attracted me in a way many other instruments didn’t, for various reasons. First, there is the sound. Gamelan is something you \u2018feel’ rather than hear. I’m always moved by the feel of gong reverberations through my body -\u00ad- there is something very primal about this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, there is the history. All musical genres and instruments have a history, but the history of gamelan is my history, as a Malaysian, so it is all the more relevant to me. Every time I play, I am astounded that this music — that used to belong solely to the courts, played only by men in a particularly dictated way — is now something my friends and I have access to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhythm in Bronze<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did Rhythm in Bronze come about? Give us a run-down. What was your\npart in it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The roots of Rhythm in Bronze go\nback to 1995, when Sunetra Fernando and a group of friends formed the Gamelan\nClub. This was an informal group of people — some with music backgrounds and\nsome without, and many with absolutely no past experience with gamelan — who\nmet weekly at the University of Malaya for classes and rehearsals under\nSunetra’s tutelage. People were accepted as long as they were interested and\nthere was a place in the group for them. The sense of family in this group was\ntruly outstanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I joined when I accompanied a friend to one of their rehearsals, and got roped in to play. Then Sunetra asked me to play in Scorpion Orchid<\/em>, a play directed by Krishen Jit and Joe Hasham, based on the book by Lloyd Fernando. Since then, the group has become a very large part of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gamelan Club gave its first\nconcert in 1997 — the concert itself was called Rhythm in Bronze<\/em>. Sunetra decided to go her own separate way after\nthat concert, because she realised that the type of work she was interested in\npursuing required a different kind of musicianship, which she could not find in\nGC members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of us remained in the Gamelan\nClub, but also joined Rhythm in Bronze upon Sunetra’s invitation. I was in both\ngroups; I was co-music director for the Gamelan Club from 2000 to 2003, and have\nbeen for RiB’s concerts since 2001. It was great: I got to experience the\nstrong sense of camaraderie and derring-do of one group, and got to work with\nskilled and highly-trained musicians in the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RiB went from strength to strength\neach year, with its series of concertised gamelan performances. It produced its\nfirst album in 2001, and began collaborating with the Malaysian Philharmonic\nOrchestra and the Australian Song Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We started with traditional Malay\ngamelan repertoire, and gradually progressed to Javanese and contemporary\nBalinese pieces. This was all fine and enjoyable, but the icing on the cake, to\nme, was Sunetra’s own compositions: they spoke straight to me more than the\nrest, because of the many layers of imagery she evokes, weaving her melodies\ntogether subtly so that every time you listen, you catch glimpses of the many\ndifferent permutations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Helm<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We understand that Sunetra is now pursuing other projects, and that you\nare now at the helm, along with Susan Sarah John. What was the transition like?\nGive us a rundown of your duties.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunetra is happily immersed in motherhood at the moment. Sadly enough for us, she has had to relocate to the UK after her marriage. RiB is such a big part of my life, so I agreed to carry on leading until her return. Sunetra remains as the group’s artistic director — but she has given us a carte blanche in running RiB, and in designing its projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I teach at Universiti Malaya’s\nDepartment of Geography, so I can only dedicate so many hours to gamelan. I\nneeded another person to help me bring things together, so I asked Susan Sarah\nJohn to act as co-music director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susan is someone I’ve always had my\neye on — she’s a person who, apart from Sunetra, can do big things for gamelan\nin Malaysia, because of her grounding in Malay musical forms. Susan and I have\nworked in many, many gamelan projects together, both in RiB and in the Gamelan\nClub, so our working together as music directors is painless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are responsible for the selection\nof players and composers, the leading rehearsals, and the training musicians\n(when necessary). We are responsible for the repertoire and programme design,\nand the interpretation of the music. We are also responsible for advising\ncomposers and \/ or arrangers on how to tweak their pieces — since not all\ncomposers and arrangers are familiar with Malay gamelan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experiments in the Theatre<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Performance-wise, Rhythm in Bronze is shifting in direction — from a\nlargely conventional concert gamelan format, to more experimental shenanigans.\nWhat’s behind these shifts?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This shift towards more\nexperimentation, particularly in introducing a more theatrical style into our\ngamelan performance, stems from RiB’s early practice of providing gamelan\naccompaniment for the theatre — Scorpion\nOrchid<\/em>, for example. Some of us also worked on Box of Delights<\/em>. When Sharmini Ratnasingam and I were music\ndirectors for the Gamelan Club’s Suara<\/em>\n(2001) and Temper: Spirit of Gamelan<\/em>\n(2003), we had already started to move in that direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately for us, Sunetra and the\nFive Arts Centre also had the same inclination, so it was easy for us all to be\non the same wavelength when we conceived Monkey\nBusiness<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell us about Monkey Business<\/em>,\nlast year’s theatre-music hybrid. How was it received by audiences? Do you see\nthe future of gamelan, as a form of music, engaging in more (literal)\nnarrative-like evolutions? What aspect of the show most challenged the\nensemble?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking only for the people I heard\nfrom directly: most of them hated it and had no idea what was going on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But many of these people also\ngrudgingly acknowledged that we ‘had balls’ for daring to venture down this\npath. The problem with Monkey Business<\/em>\nwas the expectations people had of RiB concerts — and of what gamelan should\nsound like. Krishen Jit, who directed us, wanted our sound to be totally\ndifferent. He wanted our music and soundscapes to be ugly and raw; he said he’d\nheard us play enough beautiful melodies. In Monkey\nBusiness<\/em>, he wanted our sound to reflect life. “Life isn’t always\nbeautiful,” I remember him telling us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Krishen also wanted the music — which he referred to as his ‘text’ — to come entirely from us. They were meant to be our stories. Personal story-telling was challenging for many of us in the ensemble, because our stories were all so sad; we agonised over how doomed and gloomy our stories seemed to be, and what the audience would make of us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bringing Gamelan to Kids<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhythm in Bronze is going through another shift: a greater focus on\ncommunity-based initiatives. Tell us about the Prima Selayang Project. How was\nit conceived, and for what purpose?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Selayang Project was conceived\nover lunch, when Sunetra and I were discussing our future plans for RiB. It was\n2004; we had just finished the run of Wujud\nAntara<\/em>, at the Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS, and we were wondering how to\nmove on from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we each came up with a wish list\nof things we wanted for the ensemble. Sunetra had ‘Gamelan Music Theatre’ at\nthe top of her list. That evolved into Monkey\nBusiness<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had ‘Community Outreach’ at the\ntop of mine; that eventually became the Selayang Project. RiB is trying to\nbring gamelan to communities in disadvantaged environments, and since the Five\nArts Centre had already started some work in that community … I guess my\nleaning towards community work comes a lot from what I see going on in Five\nArts; they bring the performing arts to children and youth with such great\nsuccess and spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We understand that the ensemble worked mostly with young people of the\nSelayang community — in the first phase, teaching them music appreciation and\nhow to play gamelan; in the second, training them in music creation, playing\nand performance. Why children?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That stems from my early years, growing up in Sentul Convent, where I saw many kids with great potential but no chances. I felt guilty, sometimes, for getting to go for piano classes while my friends couldn’t — though they obviously would have liked to, and would have made better musicians that I. I guess this is my way of going back to that desire to spend some time with youth, to help them grow in confidence via music performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Number two on my wish list was to\nbring RiB on tour to the rural areas of Malaysia, places like Kelantan and Terengganu.\nI imagine us sitting on a makeshift stage, playing to the children and chickens\nat twilight — for free, of course. They may very well hate our music for the\nsame reason Klang Valley audiences love it. I don’t care. I just want to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alih PungGONG<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now tell us about Alih PungGONG<\/em>.\nHow does the upcoming performance figure in Rhythm in Bronze’s ongoing journey?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alih PungGONG<\/em>\nis positioned between the highly experimental style of Monkey Business<\/em> and our usual concert performances. Our focus will\nbe on music — but with extra elements, borrowed from bangsawan, performed by\nthe musicians themselves. This gives us a chance to produce a show that doesn’t\ndip in energy between music pieces, the way it usually does in recitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell us about some of the show’s eight new compositions, and what\ninspired them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indonesian Ben Pasaribu composed\nwhat you will hear in Alih PungGONG<\/em>\nfor Monkey Business<\/em> — only we could\nnot use his piece in that show. New Zealander Gareth Farr was inspired to write\nthe fun and loud ‘Lagu untuk Teman Lama’ after sitting in on a very noisy and\nraucous RiB rehearsal. Hardesh Singh wrote ‘The Wind’ for us; it has lyrics by\nYasmin Ahmad and a very sensuous bass guitar line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susan Sarah John penned a piece\ncalled ‘In the Beginning’ inspired by the Book of Genesis, and the creation of\nthe universe. My composition is called ‘Runtuh’; it is about rebellion in its\ndifferent forms, from underlying dissent to outright rebellion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RiB also encourages its own\nmusicians to compose or arrange pieces for us. Sharmini Ratnasingam has\narranged a piece called ‘Race’, in which she experiments with the use of\ndifferent mallets and wood on gamelan drums — we sound like a symphony of\ncrabs in this one! Seow Lai Fong, Colleen Wong and Ann Salina Peters have\nrearranged a traditional Malay court piece called ‘Ketawang’; it has\nmetamorphosed into a very funky piece with a joget feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collaborations, Rehearsals, and the Future<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ensemble is collaborating with some pretty cool people: playwright \/\ndirector Nam Ron, playwright \/ director \/ choreographer Loh Kok Man, and visual\nartist Bayu Utomo Radjikin. How do they figure into Alih PungGONG<\/em>?  We are\nparticularly curious about the theatrical interludes in the show. Are you\nallowed to leak details about those?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Namron is responsible for some of\nthe extra turns. Kok Man is responsible for our physical movement, and for one\nextra turn. Bayu joined us to oversee the set and costumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only details I can leak are that\nNamron has been interested in women’s issues for the longest time, and this is\nevident in some of his past work. The aspect of RiB that hit him the hardest\nwas that we are an all-women ensemble, playing in what used to be an art-form\ndominated by men. In Alih PungGONG<\/em>,\nyou will see and hear a lot about women’s issues in these extra sequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are rehearsals like? Tell us about the schedule. What’s the most\nchallenging thing during practice? Any stories?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

RiB is notorious for its long\nrehearsal hours; this took its toll on many of us in the past few shows we have\nhad. This time, we tried to make the schedule as relaxing as possible — which\nwas very nerve-wrecking for Susan and me; if given the chance, we’d just want\nto drill our musicians to death!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most challenging thing during\nrehearsals was constructing our pieces. All our pieces were very much works in\nprogress, so we experimented and improvised a lot during our sessions together.\nWith 12 noisy musicians in one room going through that process — yeah, we\nfrequently ended up with Bad migraines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where does Rhythm in Bronze go from here? Tell us about your grand\nplans, both for the ensemble, and personally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think our RiB musicians are\nbrilliant in community-based projects, because of their passion for it and\ntheir experience in working with children, so I see more work in that direction\nfor us. I also think that now we have started on this journey of\nexperimentation in fusing theatre and gamelan performance, there will always be\na sense of adventure in our future concerts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not we will carry on down\nthat path is something Sunetra and I will have to discuss. I do hope Sune comes\nback to take over the helm of RiB, though. I really do have to concentrate on\nmy PhD in the next few years, and will have to take some time out from RiB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~~ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jillian Ooi and Susan Sarah John lead Rhythm in Bronze in Alih PungGONG<\/em>, Wed 28, Feb- Sun 4, Mar 2007, at Pentas 2, KLPac. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Published: 28.02.2007 on Kakiseni <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tell us about yourself. Did you, like any other good middle-class child, have to pick up a formal musical instrument? Yes, my parents insisted I attend piano lessons, beginning at age seven — although they had to drag me kicking and screaming the first few years. I got bored easily, and got kicked out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":11,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,3558,3537,3535],"tags":[3857,3849,3858,3853,3856,552,247,589,204,3335,3854,2999,228,3859,574,493,265,708,750,545,40,3117,44,3852,240,3855,3851,1859,3850,46,1865,521],"language":[7523],"writer":[7625],"class_list":["post-27504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-interview","category-music-2","category-theatre","tag-ann-salina-peters","tag-australian-song-company","tag-bayu-utomo-radjikin","tag-ben-pasaribu","tag-colleen-wong","tag-dewan-filharmonik-petronas","tag-five-arts-centre","tag-gamelan","tag-gamelan-club","tag-gamelan-music-theatre","tag-gareth-farr","tag-hardesh-singh","tag-interview","tag-jillian-ooi","tag-joe-hasham","tag-klpac","tag-krishen-jit","tag-lloyd-fernando","tag-loh-kok-man","tag-malaysian-philharmonic-orchestra","tag-music","tag-music-theatre","tag-nam-ron","tag-prima-selayang-project","tag-rhythm-in-bronze","tag-seow-lai-fong","tag-sharmini-ratnasingam","tag-sunetra-fernando","tag-susan-sarah-john","tag-theatre","tag-universiti-malaya","tag-yasmin-ahmad","language-english","writer-zedeck-siew"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27504"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38575,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27504\/revisions\/38575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27504"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=27504"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writer?post=27504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}