#Newsflash | An Enchanting Night of Balinese Music and Dance
BY QEDC It's In Queens
Bali is known for volcanoes, rice patties, coral reefs, tigers, wild pigs, and yoga-meditation retreats. Islam is the predominant religion, but the Indonesian island’s history includes Hinduism, Buddhism, animism, and magical beliefs.
Learn more about this Far Eastern land when Musica Reginae Productions presents Gamelan Yowana Sari with Ilona Bito: A Concert of Balinese Music and Dance at Flushing Town Hall on Sunday, June 5, at 6:30 pm.
A “gamelan” is an ensemble that generally consists of hand-played drums, metallophones, xylophones, bamboo flutes, and a bowed instrument called a “rehab.”
Gamelan Yowana Sari is currently in residence at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. Under the direction of Fred Trumpy, members will present a unique blend of traditional Balinese dance compositions and contemporary music by today’s leading composers. Q&A and meet-the-artists sessions will follow.
General admission is $10.
The program will begin with “Gabor,” which is typically played at the beginning of a performance or ceremony to welcome physical and spiritual guests. Two works by Balinese composer I Dewa Ketut Alit – “Cecanangan” and “Pengenter Alit” – will follow with Ilona Bito joining the group for the second one. Then American composer Evan Ziporyn’s “Tire Fire (movement 1)” will blend Western and Balinese instrumentation. Yowana Sari’s arrangement of Steve Reich’s “Music for Pieces of Wood” will demonstrate the influence of gamelan on Reich’s percussion works with “kotekans” or interlocking patterns. The final piece, Kembang Kirang, is for instruments known as “Gender Wayang,” which can accompany shadow puppet theater and religious ceremonies. These instruments are in a different tuning than the larger gamelan and are played in a chamber setting.
A Concert of Balinese Music and Dance is presented as part of the month-long Queens Rising celebration, and Gamelan Yowana Sair will also perform the previous night, June 4, at the opening ceremony at Queens Night Market.
Flushing Town Hall is located at 137-35 Northern Blvd. There is on-street parking.
Top image: Musica Reginae Productions; bottom image: Rob MacKay