The Charlottesville Gamelan Ensemble

Monday, May 26 at 3 pm

Join us for an afternoon of Indonesian music as the Charlottesville Gamelan Ensemble performs traditional and contemporary pieces from Java. The gamelan is a blending of mostly percussive instruments including bronze xylophones, tuned gongs and drums played by 10-12 musicians. In fact, Indonesian gamelan music has given the world the word for the “gong.”

The percussive gamelan sounds have been compared to the ambient sounds of water — from the pitter-patter of gentle rain falling to the louder sounds or a gurgling river. The gong of the Charlottesville Gamelan is aptly named “Honey Thunder”, an allusion to the sweetness of its rumble. The actual music, in its traditional form, is based around a cyclical repeating melody which is embellished by different kinds of instruments playing rhythmic patterns around the notes of the main ‘tune’.

The musicians in the Charlottesville Gamelan ensemble include UVA faculty and students as well as community members. It is directed by Cynthia Benton-Groner, who acquired the instruments while doing field work in Java.