The Department of Traditional Music staged a concert of Javanese gamelan on April 27, showcasing the achievements of about a dozen students of the Gamelan Ensemble under the guidance of its instructors, Ching-huei Lee and Jeng-I Liang.
The concert was held in line with a master class given by gamelan artist Ignatius Krisna Nuryanta Putra.
Works presented in the concert included: “Lancaran Klumpuk,””Ladrang Wilujeng,” ”Lancaran Kliling Kutha,” as well as the world premiere of “Hear the Voice from Taiwan III: Sound of Intercultural” for pipa and Javanese gamelan written by Hin-Iat Liu. There were also “Duologue: Improvisation of Gender and Suona” with Ignatius Krisna Nuryanta Putra playing the genda; “Tari Merak” with dancer Anastasia Melati; and “Lancaran Udan Mas.”
Preparations for the concert started three weeks before the current semester began, with Lee and Liang introducing to the students the etiquettes and classic works of Gamelan. They then attended the master class.
Ignatius Krisna Nuryanto Putra is a lecturer and the head of the Department of Puppetry at Indonesian Institute of Arts (ISI) in Yogyakarta. He teaches Javanese gamelan practices at his institution and the community where he lives. He has traveled around the world playing gamelan in several countries in Asia and Europe, especially along with Javanese puppet’s performance.
The TNUA Gamelan Ensemble is composed of students taking the selective course. The TNUA Gamelan Ensemble was first set up in 1985 by Prof. Shui-Lung Ma, then Chairperson of the Department of Music. He invited Prof. Kuo-Huang Han as guest professor of the course and bought in the very first set of gamelan in Taiwan, a Balinese gamelan angklung. In 1993, under Prof. Han’s plan and instructions, the second set of gamelan, Javanese gamelan, was bought to enrich the contents of the course.