I just wanted to post one more picture in the other Kecak, but it wasn't going to let me. So here is a nice close-up just before the bow at the end.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Kecak
Kecak is the famous "monkey chant" of Bali. It is based on an old religious tradition, but has morphed into its present state in response to tourism in Bali. Tourists were curious about the religious ceremony, and not wishing to have it made a mockery of, the Balinese responded by creating kecak (keh-chuck) as it is known and performed today.
In Bali, kecak is performed by males only. They wear the black and white checked sarongs tied with red sashes, but they perform bare-chested. Since we are an ensemble of mixed gender, we have opted to wear black shirts, so we are not completely authentic.
Kecak is actually really fun to do, if you don't think about the audience thinking "This is really weird!" It is really easy to get into it when Asnawa is leading us, because he enjoys it so much and thinks it is really funny, and his enthusiasm spreads.
We do a bunch of running around and acting and sounding like monkeys. Someone--I think Tanielle's husband--got a good shot of me doing this:
Then we settle into two circles, a small circle inside a larger circle. I was on the inside circle, because we sing "sur-bok" instead of chanting chuck. And chanting chuck is really hard! Just like in gamelan, where we have the polos and sangsi parts in the gangsas (which therefore I don't play) in kecak there is polos and sangsi AND a third part whose name escapes me. And you have to chuck in your own rhythm and not get mixed up with the next guy's rhythm. Just like when I play, I like to play pokok instruments, when I do kecak, I like to chant the pokok part. 
Asnawa wanted to make the kecak cross-cultural, so in the middle of all of our chucking, he inserted a song. It needed to be a meaningful song, because in Bali the song is usually something from the Ramayana. So Brooklyn, Jenne and Meg sang "If you could hie to Kolob" with the wonderful Vaughan Williams melody. Kind of bizarre, but cool. We also did a whole bunch of movements and chanting and singing. Look for us on YouTube!
At the end we are all monkeying around in a group, and one monkey gets to be the flying monkey. Josie was the one who got to have this part. So she got up on the backs of Tim and Dave, with a couple of spotters behind just in case. They were very diligent about it, and I was not worried about her at all.
The first time she did it in rehearsal, it was kind of difficult, but she got very good at it quickly. Here is another shot from the 4 pm performance:
And this is just before our "buk-sur" and bow at the end of the 7 pm performance:
And the last picture is just a cool silhouette-ish picture that I like of Josie flying away! Thanks again to Matt and Tanielle for the pictures!
In Bali, kecak is performed by males only. They wear the black and white checked sarongs tied with red sashes, but they perform bare-chested. Since we are an ensemble of mixed gender, we have opted to wear black shirts, so we are not completely authentic.
Kecak is actually really fun to do, if you don't think about the audience thinking "This is really weird!" It is really easy to get into it when Asnawa is leading us, because he enjoys it so much and thinks it is really funny, and his enthusiasm spreads.
We do a bunch of running around and acting and sounding like monkeys. Someone--I think Tanielle's husband--got a good shot of me doing this:
Then we settle into two circles, a small circle inside a larger circle. I was on the inside circle, because we sing "sur-bok" instead of chanting chuck. And chanting chuck is really hard! Just like in gamelan, where we have the polos and sangsi parts in the gangsas (which therefore I don't play) in kecak there is polos and sangsi AND a third part whose name escapes me. And you have to chuck in your own rhythm and not get mixed up with the next guy's rhythm. Just like when I play, I like to play pokok instruments, when I do kecak, I like to chant the pokok part. 
Asnawa wanted to make the kecak cross-cultural, so in the middle of all of our chucking, he inserted a song. It needed to be a meaningful song, because in Bali the song is usually something from the Ramayana. So Brooklyn, Jenne and Meg sang "If you could hie to Kolob" with the wonderful Vaughan Williams melody. Kind of bizarre, but cool. We also did a whole bunch of movements and chanting and singing. Look for us on YouTube!
At the end we are all monkeying around in a group, and one monkey gets to be the flying monkey. Josie was the one who got to have this part. So she got up on the backs of Tim and Dave, with a couple of spotters behind just in case. They were very diligent about it, and I was not worried about her at all.
The first time she did it in rehearsal, it was kind of difficult, but she got very good at it quickly. Here is another shot from the 4 pm performance:
And this is just before our "buk-sur" and bow at the end of the 7 pm performance:
And the last picture is just a cool silhouette-ish picture that I like of Josie flying away! Thanks again to Matt and Tanielle for the pictures!
Gamelan Bintang Wahyu at Holi
Josie, Patrick and I, along with the other gamelaners and their families, arrive at the Krishna Temple at about 1:30 pm, set up our ensemble in the pavilion behind the temple, and practice a few of the selections we will play so we can test the acoustics--the building is high-ceilinged and all glass and steel. Then we get into costume. Here is Josie in hers, with her big brother David who has come to watch.
We begin with a belaganjur piece. In Bali, belaganjur music is used for funeral and cremation processions. We didn't walk into the hall because of logistics, so we just played in place. This music is very noisy because of the cengceng (cymbals). This picture shows the angklung corner. These are pitched bamboo instruments that you shake to make the sound. You would think with all the brassy clanging going on that the angklung could not be heard, but they actually make a really cool sound. However, they are not easy to play. And Asnawa only decided on Wednesday to substitue anklung for suling (flute). Peter was playing the suling part. The suling can play all the notes of the melody, but the angklung can't, so four people were needed instead of one. Since Josie, JC and I were at the rehearsal, we got drafted into those parts.
While the belaganjur piece was being played, the Asnawa family laid the traditional offering of fruit and flowers.
Then Asnawa sprinkled us all, players and instruments alike, with holy water, also a Balinese tradition.
After belaganjur, we played Puspanjali. We have played this in performance before, but not with dancers. During the past week of intense rehearsal, Brooklyn and Tanielle from the gamelan, and Dr. Grimshaw's sister Michelle, learned the dance so they could perform with us. In this piece, I played jublag, and Josie played reyong.
Another piece we played, Seewanata, is old-style gamelan music. In this one, I am shaking the bell tree, and Josie is playing the small turtle-like cengceng. These instruments look pretty easy to play, but it is harder than you think to get the rhythms right.
In the picture below, I am watching Curtis very closely for gong cues.
In Baris, Ibu dances the part of a male dancer--and I was wrong; she didn't wear a mask, just the huge costume. She has the most expressive eyes. I know that she has practiced for years, but I just think that Balinese people have really expressive eyes. They either inherit or learn the use of their eyes, I suppose. I played suling, and Josie played the larger gangsa,the pemade. You can see her just on the right of Ibu.
The Asnawa twins, Yuni and Yoni, did a dance as the rest of their family played the instruments--gong, kendang and pemade. They are birds; don't they have lovely feathers?
Later in the show, all three of Asnawa's daughters, Tarika and the twins, did a very cool funky mix of gamelan and jazz dance. They just danced to a CD because we did not learn this music, but I think we would all like to. Way cool!
While they were dancing, we all changed for kecak, the traditional "monkey chant" of Bali. I will do another post explaining about kecak, because I have a lot of kecak photos.
In the next picture, you see the entire Asnawa family.
And finally, a picture of our entire ensemble. Thanks to my son David, Matt Foley's roommate and Tanielle Alvarez's husband for the photos. And thanks to my son Patrick for helping with taping the 7 pm show--I am looking forward to seeing the video!
We begin with a belaganjur piece. In Bali, belaganjur music is used for funeral and cremation processions. We didn't walk into the hall because of logistics, so we just played in place. This music is very noisy because of the cengceng (cymbals). This picture shows the angklung corner. These are pitched bamboo instruments that you shake to make the sound. You would think with all the brassy clanging going on that the angklung could not be heard, but they actually make a really cool sound. However, they are not easy to play. And Asnawa only decided on Wednesday to substitue anklung for suling (flute). Peter was playing the suling part. The suling can play all the notes of the melody, but the angklung can't, so four people were needed instead of one. Since Josie, JC and I were at the rehearsal, we got drafted into those parts.
While the belaganjur piece was being played, the Asnawa family laid the traditional offering of fruit and flowers.
Then Asnawa sprinkled us all, players and instruments alike, with holy water, also a Balinese tradition.
After belaganjur, we played Puspanjali. We have played this in performance before, but not with dancers. During the past week of intense rehearsal, Brooklyn and Tanielle from the gamelan, and Dr. Grimshaw's sister Michelle, learned the dance so they could perform with us. In this piece, I played jublag, and Josie played reyong.
Another piece we played, Seewanata, is old-style gamelan music. In this one, I am shaking the bell tree, and Josie is playing the small turtle-like cengceng. These instruments look pretty easy to play, but it is harder than you think to get the rhythms right.
In the picture below, I am watching Curtis very closely for gong cues.
In Baris, Ibu dances the part of a male dancer--and I was wrong; she didn't wear a mask, just the huge costume. She has the most expressive eyes. I know that she has practiced for years, but I just think that Balinese people have really expressive eyes. They either inherit or learn the use of their eyes, I suppose. I played suling, and Josie played the larger gangsa,the pemade. You can see her just on the right of Ibu.
The Asnawa twins, Yuni and Yoni, did a dance as the rest of their family played the instruments--gong, kendang and pemade. They are birds; don't they have lovely feathers?
Later in the show, all three of Asnawa's daughters, Tarika and the twins, did a very cool funky mix of gamelan and jazz dance. They just danced to a CD because we did not learn this music, but I think we would all like to. Way cool!
While they were dancing, we all changed for kecak, the traditional "monkey chant" of Bali. I will do another post explaining about kecak, because I have a lot of kecak photos.In the next picture, you see the entire Asnawa family.
And finally, a picture of our entire ensemble. Thanks to my son David, Matt Foley's roommate and Tanielle Alvarez's husband for the photos. And thanks to my son Patrick for helping with taping the 7 pm show--I am looking forward to seeing the video!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Holi
Today was the celebration of Holi, the festival of colors. In Utah County, the celebration takes place at the Hari Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. Holi is very much a beloved holiday in India, and has become quite the event in Utah as well, attended by thousands. Therefore, our gamelan teacher, Dr. Grimshaw, thought it would be cool for our gamelan to play in conjunction with Holi because Bali is a predominately Hindu country, and Holi is a Hindu holiday. (Krishna is a branch of Hinduism.)
Thanks to my photographer sons, here is a shot of the Krishna Temple, with all the Holi revellers in the foreground. You can just start to see the bursts of color, as people get into the whole idea of getting really, really dirty. Only with nice clean chalk in an array of bright colors.
Here is David, goofing off like a Balinese dancer. He got to dance to Joged at our rehearsal on Friday, but was sitting too far away from the dancers to be chosen at our 4 pm concert, so I guess he just decided to do some Balinese dance poses while out Holi-ing.
Last is Patrick. He looks pretty scary, n'est-ce pas? After we loaded and unloaded instruments at the end of the evening, he wanted to stop for pizza on the way home. He went in to order, and a little girl in the pizza store was pretty wide-eyed looking at him! Yes, indeed, he was one chalk-covered individual, but he cleaned up really nice.
PS About Josie--she wanted to throw colors SO BADLY. But...we were under strict orders that our costumes and our instruments were NOT supposed to have any color near them! So she could only watch from the pavilion where we performed. Sad day, I know.
And the irony was that Patrick, the chalkiest person of all, carried the box of costumes into the HFAC at the end of the night.
Oh...and you all know how Patrick loves volleyball and is a good jumper? Well, if you are walking in a hallway on level one of the HFAC and see a purple smear on the sealing...just know that Patrick's hair was very, very purple. And he can jump really high.
Thanks to my photographer sons, here is a shot of the Krishna Temple, with all the Holi revellers in the foreground. You can just start to see the bursts of color, as people get into the whole idea of getting really, really dirty. Only with nice clean chalk in an array of bright colors.
Here is David, goofing off like a Balinese dancer. He got to dance to Joged at our rehearsal on Friday, but was sitting too far away from the dancers to be chosen at our 4 pm concert, so I guess he just decided to do some Balinese dance poses while out Holi-ing.
Last is Patrick. He looks pretty scary, n'est-ce pas? After we loaded and unloaded instruments at the end of the evening, he wanted to stop for pizza on the way home. He went in to order, and a little girl in the pizza store was pretty wide-eyed looking at him! Yes, indeed, he was one chalk-covered individual, but he cleaned up really nice.
PS About Josie--she wanted to throw colors SO BADLY. But...we were under strict orders that our costumes and our instruments were NOT supposed to have any color near them! So she could only watch from the pavilion where we performed. Sad day, I know.And the irony was that Patrick, the chalkiest person of all, carried the box of costumes into the HFAC at the end of the night.
Oh...and you all know how Patrick loves volleyball and is a good jumper? Well, if you are walking in a hallway on level one of the HFAC and see a purple smear on the sealing...just know that Patrick's hair was very, very purple. And he can jump really high.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Another Weekend
The weekend is here, hot on the tails of the last one! Where did the days in between go? They were swallowed up with gamelan practicing...
Monday 6 hours
Tuesday 4 hours
Wednesday 3 hours
Thursday 4 hours
Friday 5 hours
The dancers had about six additional hours of practice, and Josie attended four of those hours. Josie also spent two or three hours in costume, promoting our concerts which are on March 28.
It was tiring, but worth it. We had a master of the art from Bali, Asnawa, working with us.
Also, his wife Ibu and their daughters Tarika, Yuni and Yoni are musicians and dancers. Here is Ibu dancing a male dancer role in Baris. She will be wearing a mask, so no one will know she is cross-dancing. :o)
Here is Tarika, dancing to Joget--with Kyle as the "audience member"--we will see who gets pulled onto the stage tonight!
Here's Josie on the pemade--the larger of the gangsas, which she plays for Baris. And once we actually start playing, Brooklyn beside her is playing kempli for this piece. That is the pot you can see beside the pemade.
I learned to play angklung. I figured out the timing of Seewanata. Got to feeling comfortable with Joged (which we just learned this week--in the picture that is J.C. and I on jublag). Life is good.
Tomorrow, we start moving instruments at noon, practice some more, perform at 4 and 7, pack up instruments and unload them, and then maybe life can get back to normal. If you can call trying to play catch up from THIS busy week normal!
Photos courtesy of David. Thank you!
Monday 6 hours
Tuesday 4 hours
Wednesday 3 hours
Thursday 4 hours
Friday 5 hours
The dancers had about six additional hours of practice, and Josie attended four of those hours. Josie also spent two or three hours in costume, promoting our concerts which are on March 28.It was tiring, but worth it. We had a master of the art from Bali, Asnawa, working with us.
Also, his wife Ibu and their daughters Tarika, Yuni and Yoni are musicians and dancers. Here is Ibu dancing a male dancer role in Baris. She will be wearing a mask, so no one will know she is cross-dancing. :o)
Here is Tarika, dancing to Joget--with Kyle as the "audience member"--we will see who gets pulled onto the stage tonight!
Here's Josie on the pemade--the larger of the gangsas, which she plays for Baris. And once we actually start playing, Brooklyn beside her is playing kempli for this piece. That is the pot you can see beside the pemade.
I learned to play angklung. I figured out the timing of Seewanata. Got to feeling comfortable with Joged (which we just learned this week--in the picture that is J.C. and I on jublag). Life is good.
Tomorrow, we start moving instruments at noon, practice some more, perform at 4 and 7, pack up instruments and unload them, and then maybe life can get back to normal. If you can call trying to play catch up from THIS busy week normal!Photos courtesy of David. Thank you!
Monday, March 23, 2009
One-track postings
So, you may think that nothing happens during the week, and then on Sundays we sit in front of Skype and take pictures. Actually, we have a lot happening, probably too much, and life is very stressful...but we DO sit in front of Skype on Sundays, and Bruce gets way carried away with clicking the button to take photos. So here are this week's photos...
Rachel, what is on your nose? It looks like a little speck of dirt...
I asked what's ON YOUR nose, not what's IN your DAD's nose!!
Hah! Here's what you get for messing with other people's noses!
Okay, and now for the weekly chance to show off...fresh from Cairo, let's put our hands together for... MISS SPLITS!!
Well, that was fun. Now that the Rachel-tainment is over, just how boring is it for Nancy and Andrew to talk to this family on Skype?
Yuppers, about that boring!
Rachel, what is on your nose? It looks like a little speck of dirt...
I asked what's ON YOUR nose, not what's IN your DAD's nose!!
Hah! Here's what you get for messing with other people's noses!
Okay, and now for the weekly chance to show off...fresh from Cairo, let's put our hands together for... MISS SPLITS!!
Well, that was fun. Now that the Rachel-tainment is over, just how boring is it for Nancy and Andrew to talk to this family on Skype?
Yuppers, about that boring!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Weekly Snapshots
Now that Bruce has discovered taking video snapshots, he can't resist clicking that button. Here are today's snapshots. First, we have Rachel wearing her umbrella. I bet you thought it was a hat, but no, it goes with the sound "Tut, tut" which apparently has something to do with rain and an umbrella, a la Pooh Bear. I wouldn't know, not being a Pooh aficianado as Rachel is.
Is that a snowman book that I can see in front of Rachel?
And here is Rachel, hoping to let her parents know through her tears that it really is time to stop talking to the computer and those people inside it, and do something much more important, like eat dinner.
And last of all, a somewhat pacified child hears the good news that, yes, we get to stop this talking nonsense and go and eat! It's okay to wipe the tears away and say good-bye! I love you! Now, where's my dinner?
Is that a snowman book that I can see in front of Rachel?And here is Rachel, hoping to let her parents know through her tears that it really is time to stop talking to the computer and those people inside it, and do something much more important, like eat dinner.
And last of all, a somewhat pacified child hears the good news that, yes, we get to stop this talking nonsense and go and eat! It's okay to wipe the tears away and say good-bye! I love you! Now, where's my dinner?
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
It'll all come out in the end
Some really funny things have happened in our family, but I unfortunately thought I had this amazing memory and would never forget anything. When we lived in B.C., my mom called me every Sunday, and I would tell her all the funny things the kids said and did, and she would laugh and then say "I hope you wrote that down!" and when I would say "Oh, I will never forget that; it's too funny!" she would caution me that I would forget, and say, "Oh, please, write it down!" Moral of the story: always listen to your mother. She is right! Most of the time!
So...here is a story that I have never written down. I did try to turn it into a short story once, but...well, there's nothing more to say. It just didn't work as a short story for me. But I can tell it as a personal essay.
It was a school day; not a day that I had to work at the Maple Ridge Library. I was home. The kids were round and about, probably most of them were outside. I think Abbi was downstairs. Kelli, at 14, was in her room. She was laying on her bed, holding her homework up in the air above her head and singing, while doing her homework. I remember that I stopped in the doorway and looked at her, and said, "How can you do your homework in that position?" and she stopped singing and said, "Oh, I like to do it this way." Okay--whatever. Laying on your stomach, that makes sense. But laying on your back and holding your arms up, one with the book and the other with the pencil? Well, I have low blood pressure; I wouldn't be able to keep my arms up like that. But oh, well; it worked for Kelli!
So I went into my bathroom to do some cleaning, and Kelli's singing resumed. I had the water running, and heard a kind of gurgling sound in the distance. I turned off the water, and noticed that I couldn't hear any singing.
Then Kelli yelled, "Mom! I just swallowed my pencil!"
I thought I must have heard wrong. I met her in my bedroom--she was coming towards me, and I was on my way to her room. Her eyes were all big and freaked-out looking. "I swallowed my pencil!" she screamed.
"Calm down," I said. "I am sure that you didn't swallow your pencil. You must have just dropped it."
"No," she said, "I swallowed it."
"Kelli," I said, "No one swallows their pencil. I'm sure it is there somewhere. Let's look for it."
"Well, you can look," she said, "But you won't find it, because I swallowed it. I know I did!"
But come on--she swallowed her pencil? Yah, right!
So I looked. I looked among the covers of her bed, her books, under the bed, pulled the bed out from the wall. I looked and looked for that pencil, but it was just not there!
"Well, okay," I said, "Maybe you did swallow your pencil."
"I need to go to the hospital!" she said.
"Well...okay" I said grudgingly. Because I still couldn't quite wrap my mind around the whole swallowing of the pencil idea.
I went and asked Abbi if she would watch David, Nancy and Patrick while I took Kelli to Port Moody to the hospital. Abbi of course wondered why I was going to do that. "Well...she says she swallowed her pencil." Sorry for all our laughing, Kelli! We just were having a hard time with the whole concept...
As we drove to the hospital, I was just a little bit mad, because it just didn't seem possible that Kelli could have swallowed her pencil. "How did it happen?" I asked for the umpteenth time.
"I was just doing my homework upside down, and singing, and the pencil fell. I tried to catch it with my teeth, but they just pushed it and it went right down my throat!"
Like I was going to believe that! I am sure I kept asking "What did you really do with the pencil?" and I know that I said over and over "When we get to the hospital, there'd better be a pencil in there!" What a cynical mom!
Long story short, after the medical staff talked to her, carefully masking the smiles that were almost, almost slipping into view, they took her into x-ray and voila! One short, yellow pencil was indeed inside Kelli.
They told her it would come out alright in the end...at the end...out of her end. We went home, and every time she went to the bathroom, we would get a play by play. "No pencil!" until one time "It came out!"
So...here is a story that I have never written down. I did try to turn it into a short story once, but...well, there's nothing more to say. It just didn't work as a short story for me. But I can tell it as a personal essay.
It was a school day; not a day that I had to work at the Maple Ridge Library. I was home. The kids were round and about, probably most of them were outside. I think Abbi was downstairs. Kelli, at 14, was in her room. She was laying on her bed, holding her homework up in the air above her head and singing, while doing her homework. I remember that I stopped in the doorway and looked at her, and said, "How can you do your homework in that position?" and she stopped singing and said, "Oh, I like to do it this way." Okay--whatever. Laying on your stomach, that makes sense. But laying on your back and holding your arms up, one with the book and the other with the pencil? Well, I have low blood pressure; I wouldn't be able to keep my arms up like that. But oh, well; it worked for Kelli!
So I went into my bathroom to do some cleaning, and Kelli's singing resumed. I had the water running, and heard a kind of gurgling sound in the distance. I turned off the water, and noticed that I couldn't hear any singing.
Then Kelli yelled, "Mom! I just swallowed my pencil!"
I thought I must have heard wrong. I met her in my bedroom--she was coming towards me, and I was on my way to her room. Her eyes were all big and freaked-out looking. "I swallowed my pencil!" she screamed.
"Calm down," I said. "I am sure that you didn't swallow your pencil. You must have just dropped it."
"No," she said, "I swallowed it."
"Kelli," I said, "No one swallows their pencil. I'm sure it is there somewhere. Let's look for it."
"Well, you can look," she said, "But you won't find it, because I swallowed it. I know I did!"
But come on--she swallowed her pencil? Yah, right!
So I looked. I looked among the covers of her bed, her books, under the bed, pulled the bed out from the wall. I looked and looked for that pencil, but it was just not there!
"Well, okay," I said, "Maybe you did swallow your pencil."
"I need to go to the hospital!" she said.
"Well...okay" I said grudgingly. Because I still couldn't quite wrap my mind around the whole swallowing of the pencil idea.
I went and asked Abbi if she would watch David, Nancy and Patrick while I took Kelli to Port Moody to the hospital. Abbi of course wondered why I was going to do that. "Well...she says she swallowed her pencil." Sorry for all our laughing, Kelli! We just were having a hard time with the whole concept...
As we drove to the hospital, I was just a little bit mad, because it just didn't seem possible that Kelli could have swallowed her pencil. "How did it happen?" I asked for the umpteenth time.
"I was just doing my homework upside down, and singing, and the pencil fell. I tried to catch it with my teeth, but they just pushed it and it went right down my throat!"
Like I was going to believe that! I am sure I kept asking "What did you really do with the pencil?" and I know that I said over and over "When we get to the hospital, there'd better be a pencil in there!" What a cynical mom!
Long story short, after the medical staff talked to her, carefully masking the smiles that were almost, almost slipping into view, they took her into x-ray and voila! One short, yellow pencil was indeed inside Kelli.
They told her it would come out alright in the end...at the end...out of her end. We went home, and every time she went to the bathroom, we would get a play by play. "No pencil!" until one time "It came out!"
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Taking Pictures from a Distance
So, while we were talking to Nancy, Andrew and Rachel on Skype this morning, we discovered that we can take snapshots of them! It was fun to take their pictures--how awesome is that, to be able to take pictures of people on a completely different continent?!
Obviously, we have some work to do, figuring out lighting and things like that. But still, it was a fun use of the technology!
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