Tag: field recordings

Gamelan Dimensi Kelima (Indonesia, 2014)

Field recordings and gamelan from my visits to Indonesia in 2014.

As well as the tracks recorded in Indonesia, the album includes gamelan ensembles in Western Australia, and NZ between 2010-2018.

Listen


About

The album title translates to “Gamelan Fifth Dimension”.

Gamelan was introduced to New Zealand in the 1970s. It has an active scene in Wellington (my birthplace, where I first encountered it in 2010 – thanks to www.gamelan.org.nz ).

From 2012-2014 I lived in Perth, Western Australia, and played in the ensemble Gamelan Sekar Puri. From there I was able to visit Indonesia (and Malaysia) relatively affordably.

On returning home to New Zealand at the end of 2014, I spent the next few years as a member of the Wellington gamelan ensembles: Gamelan Taniwha Jaya (Balinese) and Gamelan Padhang Moncar (Javanese). In 2017 I moved to the Wairarapa, so travelling for regular rehearsals became impractical.

The field recordings were made in 2014 in Indonesia -in central Java, then Bali and Nusa Penida islands;

As well as very different scenery, cultures, cuisines and religion – the islands have strikingly different subgenres of gamelan. Stereotypically, the Javanese style is more hypnotic and meditative, while the Balinese style is faster and complex.

Yogyakarta and Surakarta, Central Java

  • Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia, 2014
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia, 2014
  • Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia
  • Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia
  • Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia
  • Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia
  • Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia
  • Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia
  • Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia
  • Javanese gamelan, Indonesia
  • Javanese gamelan, Indonesia
  • Javanese gamelan, Indonesia
  • Central Java, Indonesia
  • Central Java, Indonesia
  • Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia
  • Central Java, Indonesia
  • Central Java, Indonesia
  • Central Java, Indonesia
  • Central Java, Indonesia
  • Central Java, Indonesia
  • Central Java, Indonesia
  • Central Java, Indonesia
  • Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia
  • Central Java, Indonesia
  • Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia

Bali and Nusa Penida

  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Central Java, Indonesia
  • Nusa Penida, Indonesia
  • An endangered Bali Starling, Nusa Penisa, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Bali, Indonesia
  • Nusa Penida, Indonesia

Credits

  • Dave Edwards – saron, jublag, jegogan, field recordings, bass, electric guitar, tenor saxophone

The field recordings are mixed alongside gamelan ensembles, recorded between 2010-2018;:

Other collaborators

The album also includes other, more experimental Indonesia-inspired 2010s collaborations with fellow postpunk expat ethnomusicologists:

Tracklist

1.Gamelan Taniwha Jaya – Gareth Farr: Mummy, do monsters clean their teeth? (2010) (bonus) 01:20
2.Gamelan Sekar Puri – Ladrang (ayum jantan dari Perth?) 02:14
3.Borobudur ke Kraton ke Prambanan (Yogyakarta) 04:08
4.Gamelan Pura Mangkunegaran – Slendro dan pelog (?) 04:00
5.snakebeings + fiffdimension – Kuningan dan perunggu 02:50
6.Gamelan Taniwha Jaya – Gopala (Bali) (live at NZ School of Music, 2015) 01:15
7.Ubud scenes (Bali) 02:30
8.Nat da Hatt + fiffdimension – Lost in the Monkey Forest 03:47
9.snakebeings + fiffdimension – East to West: Indonesia (live at the Audio Foundation, 2014) 04:33
10.snakebeings + fiffdimension – Sampak Membengkak 03:41
11.Gamelan Padhang Moncar – Ladrang Slament Slendro Manyura + Ketawang Sinom Parijata 02:01
12.Gamelan Padhang Moncar – Nusantara (live at Te Papa, 2016) 02:29
13.Gamelan Padhang Moncar – Improvisasi (di musim panis Wairarapa) 01:49
14.Dimensi keempat dan kelima (2023) 08:13
15.Gamelan Taniwha Jaya – Teruna Jaya (live at Te Papa, 2016) 01:00
Continue reading “Gamelan Dimensi Kelima (Indonesia, 2014)” →

First Time Around: South Korea (2008)

– field recordings, electro-acoustic ethnography, Asian industrial soundscapes

by kiwis in South Korea, 2007–2008

Listen

Before there was ‘Gangnam Style‘ there was 영통동버스 노래 (Yeongtongdong Bus Song) 

Credits

Recorded in Suwon and Busan, Republic of Korea, 2007-2008

Dave Black – field recordings, laptop, gayageum, loops, bass, acoustic guitar, vocal

Cylvi M – tangso, shakuhachi, shaker, vocal

  • Busan, South Korea
  • Dave and Cylvi at Dadaepo beach, Busan, South Korea
  • Korean gayageum, 2007
  • Busan, South Korea
  • Busan, South Korea
  • Geumjeong, Busan, South Korea
  • Busan, South Korea
  • Suwon, South Korea

The pieces here are made from remixed field recordings of traditional Korean musicians, and instruments such as the gayageum, taepyongso, buddhist chants and samulnori drumming, plus our live version of the folk song ‘Arirang’.

Tracklist

1.영통동버스 노래 (Yeongtongdong Bus Song) 02:30
2.음악에 귀 결정적인 음악 관리자 (A Decisive Music Administrator (with an ear for music)) 03:18
3.물주세요 (Mool Chuseyo (give me water)) 01:47
4.동래의 행정 장관의 사무실 (Office of the Dongnae Magistrate) 03:34
5.동쪽에서 서쪽을 충족 (Konglish Cananglish (east meets west)) 01:49
6.부산 대학교 땅땅 (PNU Pounding (Arirang Blues)) 03:28
7.아리랑 (Arirang (live in Busan)) 04:43

Further listening

Continue reading “First Time Around: South Korea (2008)” →

New Year’s Day 2020

2005

2005

The year got off to a good start, with Ascension Band: Evolution

The successful collaboration with Nigel Patterson, Ryan Prebble, and over a dozen other musicians, from jazz-schooled to untrained punks, won the best music award in the NZ Fringe Festival.

I had my first taste of success (the fame part of Fame & Oblivion 2005-2012)…

Melbourne, VIC, Australia 2005

…But by this time I was ready to see the world beyond Aotearoa.  I shifted across the Tasman Sea to Melbourne – in Australia, the West Island.

 

For the next few months I lived in Brunswick, and worked in temp jobs around the city and in rural Victoria.

 

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The results became After Maths & Sciences

Continue reading “2005” →

Isa Lei, and the Yasawa islands, Fiji

This rearrangement of a traditional Fijian folk song was inspired by hearing the song sung there.

In May I visited the Yasawa Islands, to the northwest of Nadi and the main Fijian island Viti Levu.

Yasawa islands, Fiji
Yasawa islands, Fiji
Yasawa islands, Fiji

The boat ride took 3 hours, and enjoyably scenic. Each of the many small islands we passed was different in some way but all stunning

The marine life included

Part of Other Islands: 2012-2018

– recent highlights recorded in New Zealand, Western Australia, Fiji, Indonesia and Okinawa

Other Islands: 2012-2018

“The 20 song album covers traditional Javanese and Balinese gamelan, Asian folk music, to free jazz, and free noise. It’s not for anyone with narrow preconceived ideas about what music is, but it is for everyone else.

“If you have an open inquiring mind and love hearing a variety of sound, this is excellent.” – Darryl Baser, muzic.net.nz

by Dave Black (acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, harmonica, laptop, bass, tenor saxophone, field recordings, piano, ukulele, sanshin, saron, jublag, demung, vocal), with

Featuring tracks from the albums

If you enjoy this, try the previous compilations

Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005 

and Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012
Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2013

安里屋ユンタオーバードライブ Asadoya Yunta Overdrive (Okinawa)

Here’s a new bonus track we’ve added to the album ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes – our version of a traditional shima uta (island song) from 沖縄 (Okinawa).

Dave Black – sanshin, harmonica, field recordings
Nat da Hatt – acoustic & electric guitars, electronics
Cylvi Manthyng – shakuhachi

As you can hear, the music of Okinawa is quite distinct from that of mainland Japan.

Bali, Indonesia

There’s my first video from Bali, from footage taken on my earlier visit in August.  Note the gamelan (bronze percussion) and rindik (bamboo percussion) soundtrack.

I left my job in Perth and am on my way home to New Zealand, so I’m nervous about jobhunting & starting all over again (again).  On the way home I’m spending a week on a smaller island, Nusa Penida, doing conservation volunteer work with www.fnpf.org  If you’d like to help me afford to stay longer and make more of a contribution  ($20 = 1 day’s expenses) please  – or even better, buy some of our music.

Bali is (once you get away from the main city and the tacky resorts in the south) an almost absurdly beautiful place… frangipani and Indonesian flags (preparing for the August 17th independence day celebrations) everywhere, majestic hillsides lined with centuries-old rice terraces, and too many Hindu temples to count (each family has t…heir own). That plus the many international flights, and entertainment options from adventure sports to nightclubbing to traditional arts make it easy to see why it’s such a popular destination (I read somewhere that 80% of visitors to Indonesia go to Bali and nowhere else, which makes me glad I saw Java first).

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Continue reading “Bali, Indonesia” →

ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes (Japan, 2012)

Music by Dave Black & Nat da Hatt – two New Zealanders living in Japan.   楽しむことができます!

Listen

About

 Like 日本 itself, this music offers a surrealistic fusion of ancient and modern.                 released 31 January 2014

Crossing the Japan Alps

As well as recording music together, we completed a six-day hiking mission across the northern alps in July 2012, from Kamikochi to Toyama.

Asadoya Yunta Overdrive (Okinawa)

The album closes with our rendition of a traditional Okinawa shima uta (island song). It’s a tribute to Japan’s southernmost island prefecture, where Dave lived in 2011/12. The ‘overdrive’ is a tribute to early Pink Floyd, reflecting the psychedelic update of the tune.

Credits

Nat da Hatt – electric & acoustic guitars, drum machine, synths, laptop, samples

Dave Black – bass, banjo, acoustic guitar (5), electric guitar (3), loop pedal, electronics, laptop, field recordings

Tracklist

1.東京から槍ヶ岳 Tokyo to Yarigatake 03:38
2.携帯電話 Keitai Denwa 05:43
3.幸せとは何？What actually is happiness? 04:17
4.剃毛電球ブルース Shaved Lightbulb Blues 04:18
5.福岡に到着 Arrival in Fukuoka 04:41
6.電機市 Denki Ken 03:58
7.平仮名 Hiragana 04:57
8.薬師岳から漓江まで Yakushidake to Li Jiang 05:07
9.安里屋ユンタオーバードライブ Asadoya Yunta Overdrive (Okinawa) 05:20

Further listening: see ethnomusicology

Dave solo trip across Kyushu, March 2012

Nat da Hatt solo albums

Other duo tracks

Nat da Hatt also contributes guest tracks to

in a Wildflower State (WA, 2013)

and

Gamelan Dimensi Kelima (Indonesia, 2014)

Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012

“This is something that he has to do, that he will do, come fame or oblivion” –Chris Knox

“As Dave Edwards he has explored fuzzy punk, free-jazz, spoken word, alternative-folk and demented pop… as Dave Black, the palette is broadened” – Simon Sweetman

by Dave Black (acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, harmonica, laptop, bass, tenor saxophone, field recordings, piano, gayageum, vocal), with

“Experimental and avant-garde…. There is a clear passion, and a commitment to pushing the boundaries… This will challenge your perceptions of what constitutes music and open the mind to new possibilities of sounds that surround us – muzic.net.nz“

Continue reading “Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012” →