Hyperkembangan X
Dion Nataraja’s new work with Sandikala Ensemble.
The attempt to stretch the concept of irama by exploring the liminality between pulse and noise is at the heart of this piece. This idea, coming from Central Javanese gamelan, organizes the temporal density within a piece; starting from irama lancar with one saron panerus beats per balungan notes, to irama rangkep with sixteen saron panerus beats per balungan notes. Hyperkembangan is based on a central question: what would the sound of an extremely high level of irama be, where the balungan notes is imperceivably sparse, while the elaboration is extremely dense? This hypothetical situation leads me to conceptualize a piece based on a progression from pulse, to complex sound (represented by spectral harmonies), to noise—noise here functions as a representation of an overload in the elaborative part. The piece is played with two gendèrs with pair tuning consists of customized 14-notes system that could accommodate spectral harmonies (based on the spectra of note 1 in gendèr struck with hard mallet) and its various manipulations. The "X" in the title—as well as a reference to Boulez's "Polyphonie X"—suggests a kind of cultural defacing, where new content is imposed on the cultural memory of the music, yet still maintains parts of those memories; a form of a musical palimpsest. Here is the soundcloud link: https://soundcloud.com/.../hyperkembangan-x/s-04MfQGesGbh
Perfomers - Sandikala Ensemble
Gendèr I - Yustiawan Paradigma Umar
Gendèr I - Suseno Setyo Wibowo
Gendèr II,Rebab I - Roni Driyastoto
Gendèr II, Rebab II - Mustika Garis
Percussion - Daniel O'Connor
Gong and electronics - Dion Nataraja
Mixing and Mastering - Luke Taylor
Recording - Adnan
