Gamelan Troupe Has SRO Date

Joshua Kosman, Chronicle Staff Critic

February 28, 1990

The line of ticket-buyers outside Old First Church stretched almost a full block down Sacramento Street, and by the time the concert began, a half-hour late, people were lining the walls and crowding the aisles. It was a far cry from the usual sedate chamber music scene.

The focus of all this enthusiasm Sunday afternoon was Gamelan Sekar Jaya, the East Bay troupe devoted to Balinese music and dance. Now 10 years old, Sekar Jaya has performed frequently around the Bay Area (and made a successful tour of Bali in 1985); but this was the group’s first San Francisco performance in two years, and there was clearly some built-up anticipation. The 25-member group performs both traditional and contemporary fare (although the stylistic nuances are not always apparent to the untrained ear). The orchestra consists of a battery of metallophones _ bronze xylophone-like instruments played with hammers _ which are supplemented by gongs, cymbals drums and flutes. The music blends intricately dovetailing rhythmic patterns and spiky melodies into a loud, shimmering clangor that is both strange and rapturously beautiful. Playing from memory, the performers rendered this music with a degree of unanimity and control that was remarkable to witness. The elaborate rhythmic textures _ strongly differentiated surface activity overlaid on a deep, regular pulse _ sounded firm and finely detailed, and the periodic interruptions or shifts in meter made a dramatic effect.

Gamelan Sekar Jaya will perform again in Berkeley on April 4 and 21, and in Herbst Theatre on June 1-2 as part of the Bay Area Ethnic Dance Festival. The purely instrumental offerings included the U.S. premiere of a lovely work by I Nyoman Windha, the group’s guest artistic director. The concert opened with “Gesuri,” a vibrant testament of the politically charged ’60s: the title is an acronym for “Musical Sounds of the Indonesian Revolution,” and the spirit and ferment of events are audible in the music.

A reduced complement of players gathered after intermission to perform on the gamelan angklung , whose small instruments use only a four-note scale. Still, the variety and power evoked from those restricted means were impressive. The dance selections proved equally enthralling. The movements are graceful but stark, passing with pointed precision among stylized poses marked by cocked head and neck, angled feet and splayed fingers. Accompanied by exciting, contrast-laden music, I Nyoman Sedana danced the abstract “Kebyar Duduk” with fervor and charm. In the longer “Legong Keraton,” Casey Lee, Joyce King and Mimi Prather made an entrancing ensemble.

©1990 San Francisco Chronicle