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Palaran (Bolero)

from Jarak Jauh by Nick Brooke

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Possibly the most popular musical form in gamelan, the palaran is based on Javanese poetry with subtle moral teachings. Pangkur is the most well-known palaran, based on a poem written by a 19th-century sultan. The poem extols subtlety and integrity, as well as the properties of being two-faced, “wrapping oneself in irony” and never expressing oneself directly. The music of this palaran—an elastic groove that stretches to fit the verse—also has a two-faced quality to it, as these moral teachings are accompanied by elok-elok, meaningless syllables that are somewhat flirtatious. In my piece I mix a translation of the Pangkur text with fragments of Ravel’s Bolero(another piece with a constant ostinato and a free melody). As the piece progresses the bolero and palaran fight for dominance, as do themes of seduction, instruction, and competition. I’m inspired by the impassive style of Ravel’s one-theme piece (Ravel once called Bolero his great work, but said that it was “without music”), and the ways that crosscutting the two works adds subtexts into the older Javanese poetry.

credits

from Jarak Jauh, released November 1, 2017
Sample from Lokananta CD Aneka Palaran. Javanese translation by Nick
Brooke with help from friends and the Atmopuro/Hatch translation of the
Serat Wédhatama.

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Nick Brooke Bennington, Vermont

Nick Brooke mixes musical sampling, lipsynching, and theater into a genre all its own. In his works, vocalists and actors are trained to mimic sampled collages of sound effects, pop songs, and musical ephemera, blurring the line between recording and live performance. His works have been performed at the Lincoln Center Festival, HERE, and Mass MoCA. ... more

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