Cherry Blossoms March 22, 2008

I took this photo at the Davis arboretum, which we visited a couple of weeks ago to enjoy the Spring-like weather. Winter in Sacramento is a big drag. I think the word “gray” best sums it up. It’s gray enough for a Charles Dickens novel. You’d think there’s a coal factory around here. So, I can honestly say that I look forward to the emergence of Spring more than any holiday. Aside from the warmer weather, my favorite thing about this time of year is the cherry blossoms.

The ritual of going out to view the cherry blossoms began in China and spread to Japan, where it continues today as the hanami, or “flower viewing,” festival. There is a cherry blossom forecast which annually predicts when the cherry trees will bloom throughout Japan.

As I learned on this site, Japanese poetry about the cherry blossom can be found even in the Kokinshu, which was the first Imperial poetry anthology, finished circa 914. The cherry blossom, beautiful but short-lived, symbolizes the ephemeral nature of existence. This tone is found in many of the poems. For example,

the radiance of cherry blossoms, their scent,

ever fresh with each passing year -

so man grows old, eternally

and

were the cherry tree totally absent from this world,

how carefree would be the heart in spring-time

It’s therefore fitting that, as the Japanese school year begins in April, the first day of school coincides with the hanami festival!

Gamelan March 20, 2008

I used to be in a gamelan ensemble at CSU Sacramento, but was quite poor at it so I quit after the semester was up. Nonetheless, I continue to be interested in gamelan music. While recordings of gamelan are readily available, in my opinion, hearing and seeing it live is the only way to experience its complexity and trance-like effect. One of the largest and best gamelan ensembles in the U.S. is Gamelan Sekar Jaya, based in El Cerrito, California.

Gamelan is a kind of traditional musical ensemble found in Indonesia. I first heard a live gamelan when I saw one accompanying a silat (Indonesian martial art) demonstration in Indonesia. The ensembles also accompany rituals, wayang and other theatrical performances.

Most of the instruments used in a gamelan are bronze or brass, so the effect is incredibly loud. When I was in the gamelan at Sac State, I learned that if you don’t use earplugs during practice, you’ll cause yourself an awful headache. However, there is one type of gamelan, called gamelan jegog, which uses bamboo instruments. The effect is very ethereal, and the instruments resonate in your chest when you hear it in person. Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead apparently purchased the jegog instruments and “loaned” them indefinitely to Gamelan Sekar Jaya in an effort to preserve this art form.

Although it is like an orchestra in the obvious sense of having multiple musicians performing a piece of music together, it is different than a Western orchestra because gamelan doesn’t have a “conductor” in the same sense. Each instrument plays a slightly different melody, all of which interlock to create the overall musical piece. Also, the musicians don’t have any music sheets to read; rather, they memorize everything, even though one gamelan piece can be over an hour long. I know little about the technical aspects of music, so I can’t describe this in precise terms, but I hope I’ve conveyed some of the complexity of the gamelan. Some good audio/visual are below.

Suggested recordings:

“Indonesia – Jegog: The Rhythmic Power of Bamboo” (this album can be downloaded in mp3 format from Amazon)

“Java – Javanese Court Gamelan”

Suggested DVD:

“Legong: Dance of the Virgins”