I love the Java chime and it loves me

April 22, 2007 9:04 PM

Samples of the Javanese gamelan The Museum Nusantara Delft in the Netherlands recorded its century-old gamelan, Kyahi Paridjata, note by note. Most of the instruments in the orchestra are included. Samples are available as MP3, but the museum also includes the original files and some variants.
posted by NemesisVex (20 comments total)

Hey, and WAV files are available! Sweet! Thanks a lot for the post!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:10 PM on April 22, 2007

Gamelan music was a constant background to my penjak silat classes. I can't imagine how it must be to practice to live gamelan.
posted by yeloson at 9:16 PM on April 22, 2007

this is crazy. My gf concentrating on javanese dance and gamelan (this summer in amsterdam) thanks you for the find, and I for the syncronicity.
posted by sarcasman at 9:32 PM on April 22, 2007

Lots of pictures (and some audio) of the gamelans of Kraton Yogyakarta.
posted by imposster at 9:54 PM on April 22, 2007

Thanks! I can't wait to get these into a sampler and start gamelanin'.
posted by fleetmouse at 10:08 PM on April 22, 2007

I got them downloaded - the variants weren't in a zip file - thank you DownThemAll - if the server runs out of transfer quota, bitch about it in this thread and I'll put up a sendspace mirror.
posted by fleetmouse at 10:16 PM on April 22, 2007

Everybody whose first exposure to the word "gamelan" was from Star Blazers, raise your hand.

*raises hand sheepishly*
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:50 PM on April 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

Yay gamelan! I was in a gamelan orchestra at school. Had the kenong - the 5/7 gong-xylophone thing which I think gave chords. Fun stuff.
posted by divabat at 11:49 PM on April 22, 2007

We did some experiments with track recording our school's gamelan. One of the first concerts we tried is here. It's hard business getting a good recording, since many of the instruments are actually very quiet and the sound is so expansive. The instrument you hear way too loud is the celempung. The reason it's mixed this way is because that was my instrument, and so to my ears the recording sounded normal, since this is what the gamelan sounded like from where I sat every day.
posted by 1adam12 at 12:03 AM on April 23, 2007

Ooooh. Reliving my time in Bali. Mmmmmmm. Nice.
posted by miss lynnster at 12:34 AM on April 23, 2007

Sweet!
posted by TwoWordReview at 1:13 AM on April 23, 2007

Gamelan is so addictive. Great to wander the city with headphones, in a fugue.

Having recently seen the Legong and Barong again, I can't get the music out of my head.

Great post, thanks!
posted by dreamsign at 1:24 AM on April 23, 2007

I've loved gamelan ever since I happened on a group of Eastman students practicing outdoors. Though honestly, can't discern much difference between any of the half-dozen gamelan albums I own..
posted by unmake at 2:50 AM on April 23, 2007

What wonderful sounds. It's strange that I live almost next to the museum and only learn about the gamelan concerts from metafilter! Really, I'll go this saturday. Or maybe next week...
posted by Psychnic at 6:06 AM on April 23, 2007

I too used to play the gamelan in college-- my then-boyfriend was an ethnomusicologist studying to be a dhalang (shadow puppeteer). I love the sound, and I loved playing it and singing the songs.

The boyfriend, well, we all make mistakes.
posted by Pallas Athena at 6:50 AM on April 23, 2007

ah gemelan. Nice post NemesisVex. That's one of my favorite kinds of music. Previously. YouTube video battle of the bands gemelan style. Excellent gamelan music samples at CDBaby.
posted by nickyskye at 7:20 AM on April 23, 2007

Interview with Daniel Schmidt, builder of American Gamelan. See also The Harvey Mudd College American Gamelan.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 7:47 AM on April 23, 2007

Yup. I too was introduced to the word "gamelan" (or "Gamilon") through Star Blazers, but I was introduced to gamelan, the instruments, through the soundtrack to Akira.
posted by NemesisVex at 8:30 AM on April 23, 2007

I was introduced to gamelan, the instruments, through the soundtrack to Akira

Me too. And it took a while for me to think of gamelan in terms other than Clown Gang chase music.

Thanks for this post.
posted by Benjamin Nushmutt at 8:46 AM on April 23, 2007

I first heard gamelan in the year 1976, when my high school algebra teacher brought into class a copy of "Music from the Morning of the World", which was a recording of Balinese gamelan, on the Nonesuch "Explorer Sries" record label. He played it for the class. I was entranced, kind of stunned, and instantly very interested. It was a moment of epiphany: it reinforced my desire to be a musician.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:57 AM on April 23, 2007