June 12 & July 7*
Traditional and contemporary practises face off in two uniquely West Coast adaptations of Indonesian Gamelan music. Both sides of the tradition (Sundanese and Balinese) are represented in starkly different ways from renegade rock fusion to bicycle-driven inspirations.
Concert
Gamelan Si Pawit | we just stole a car
June 12 @ 8pm, Grand Luxe Hall, Western Front
Advance ticket sales are now closed. Tickets will be available at the door for $20/$15
What happens when you mash up renegade experimental rock with Sundanese Gamelan music? John Mutter, leader of we just stole a car, and Jon Siddall, leader of Gamelan Si Pawit, flip conventions upside down in a evening of contemporary music for gamelan inspired rock and rock inspired gamelan. This convention-defying evening is a literal cross over as the members of we just stole a car, Daryn Cassie (piano) Dominic Conway (sax) Elliot Langford (bass) John Mutter (guitar) Kevin Romain (drums) and Daniel Ruiz (percussion), flit between a gamelan set and rock outfit. Together with Jon Siddall they reference and satirize current jazz/classical new music ideologies, and combine them with traditional South-Asian harmony and rhythm, noise, improvisation to create a very unique performance structure.
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Concert/Shadow Play
Speed Stunned Imaginations | Gamelan Bike Bike
*July 7 @ 9 pm, *Weather Permitting, In case of Rain July 8, 9 pm
Guelph (Dude Chilling) Park, 2390 Brunswick Street, Vancouver
By Donation
Get the real Indonesian experience of an outdoor shadow play with a grungy Vancouver make over. Artist collective Publik Secrets –Robyn Jacob and George Rahi- turn philosopher Ivan Illich’s essays on transportation and modern life into an all original Shadow Play. This incredible team of DIYers tell fantastical stories with zeal using all repurposed materials. The entire program is accompanied by Gamelan Bike Bike, their ad hoc assemblage of instruments made out of recycled bike parts. Their captivating Balinese-styled gamelan music showcases interlocking patterns to invigorate any whimsical plot.
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Artist Biographies
John Mutter is a Vancouver-based artist, photographer, director, and composer. He is the leader of alternative pop project JOHN MUTTER WAS RAISED BY WOLVES, and experimental alternative ensemble we just stole a car and both associated with Vancouver label MUNT records. He is an active performer of both improvised and composed music. He studied composition with Giorgio Magnanensi and Jon Siddall in Vancouver and with Benoit Delbecq in Paris after receiving a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. He studied visual arts at UBC and the School for Visual Arts in New York, and has shown critically acclaimed works in both group and solo shows internationally.
Composer, music producer, performer and educator John Siddall is a guitarist with a big interest in gamelan, the bronze percussion instruments originating from Indonesia. In 1983, I founded the Evergreen Club gamelan in Toronto. While leading that group he commissioned many new works for gamelan amongst them works by John Cage, James Tenney and Henry Kucharzyk. In 1999, he founded a new ensemble, Gamelan Si Pawit at Vancouver Community College which continues to perform regularly under his direction. His work as a music producer is more often with popular music in it’s many guises and also with classical and world music. He has produced studio and concert recordings with many Canadian and international artists for television, the web and radio. The range of styles is very wide from Noel Gallagher to Metric to K-os and The Killers. He has also had the honour of working with Quincy Jones. In the area of classical music Siddall has produced many recordings of the CBC Radio Orchestra, one of which was nominated for a Juno Award. With that orchestra, he also produced an album of music by Gavin Bryars.
Publik Secrets is comprised of a team of musicians, fabricators, and visual artists. our work creatively re-imagines public spaces as participatory gathering places. we strive to invoke wonder and play through multi-disciplinary, community-driven arts. With a focus on participation, we create collective experiences through projects that reunite art with the daily life of the community. George Rahi is a welder, designer, and musician. He enjoys working with his hands making anything from custom bicycles to unique musical instruments and shadow puppets. Between teaching students of all ages piano, improvisation, and music theory, Robyn Jacob enjoys making zines and writing songs for her band Fist Full o’ Snacks. She also produces and facilitates improvisation workshops with group ‘Sound out Loud’.
Gamelan Bike Bike found its musical inspiration from Bali, Indonesia and its raw materials from the scrap metal bins of Vancouver. Members of the ensemble collected over 100 discarded bicycle frame to build their instruments, tuned to the musical scale known as ‘pelog’. The result is a colorful array of metallophone instruments that are brought alive by the ensemble’s ten musicians. Influenced by the fierce rhythmic energy of a gamelan gong kebyar, Gamelan Bike Bike is composing new and original works for gamelan music on the West Coast, presenting one-of-a-kind performances, workshops, and installations at events across BC. Featured at the Parade of Lost Souls, MAKE MAGAZINE, Bikes Inside, CBC, International Children’s Festival, and the Western Front.
