We are continuing with our occasional Friday musical feature, as suggested by Bob H. Today we are showcasing some works he recommended, this one percussion performances, in all cases particularly tuneful percussion instruments.
A general suggestion: if you are recommending works similar to the one featured (“If you enjoyed what you heard today, you might like this too”), please post that in comments. If you want to highlight something in a different vein, as the subject of a future post, please send it to yves-at-nakedcapitalism-dot-com with “Musical Interlude” in the subject line.
I spent ten weeks in Bali and so this gamelan piece (and even the look of the performance stage) brings back fond memories.
This one is contemporary, with a hang drum:
And in a reader ‘stump the band,’ how many of you have ever seen a cas cas performance?
This one cheats a bit. It’s not all percussion instruments but it’s exotic and distinctive, so I trust you’ll enjoy it:
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Second link is duplicate of first. Here is more Indonesian percussion, if wanted!
I think this was the intended link.
Heidi Joubert, Geronyom – Cajon box & Hang drum 3
https://youtu.be/K0s6sxxNG-I
Aargh, fixed. Been having a lot of trouble with Safari with “copy” not taking.
Salliou was great fun to watch as well as listen to. Thank you for the clip!
brilliant London-based radio station NTS has some top gamelan content from over the years. Including this show which opens with a gamelan performance of one of my favourite pieces of music – John Cage’s ‘In A Landscape’.
The instrument also had a significant influence on Debussy, inter alia.
Sylvain Luc is a modern day Django Reinhardt. Django was the first to play jazz-style on the acoustic guitar. (He and Stephan Grappelli. on violin were a popular musical duo in 1930’s Paris.) While the last musical video is not a percussion piece, the jazz swing rhythm allows any instrument to be a percussive/rhythmic force.
Note the difference in style between the first musical video and the last. The Indonesian style is strongly rhythmic and employs a different harmonic scale than the melody-centric jazz of Sylvain Luc.
at 15 mins he tunes down to d on the fly, then at 16 mins goes into bringing it back.
I really like this music thing and it’s probably blowing my u tube algos mind too!
I didn’t think I’d like the gamelan…that’s another good thing about being exposed to it
Not to nit-pick but the great Django was not the first person to play jazz on the guitar!
Whom is your choice? Oscar Moore? Charlie Christian? Of course, if one considers the Blues an early form of “jazz” then Lead Belly (Huddie Ledbetter) would be a consideration, but his guitar was a 12-string and LB was notable more for his singing.
Early jazz in the 30’s in America was made by Big Bands and an acoustic guitar was relegated to rhythm support (chord harmony, not jazz melody). Django played in clubs with Grappelli, where his unique jazz style melodies mesmerized many in the early 1930’s He used an acoustic guitar with “gut” strings.
I chanced to visit the Freer on the day of an Indonesian festival, lots of gamelan ensembles. A dozen? Hypnotic when OK, entrancing when done well. This group though is special. Thanks!!!
From South India, musical brilliance:
Ten Graces of the Vina, by M. Nageswara Rao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uQ-ir_FY7A
Second half “Emi jesite nemi” has the loveliest progression from pure melody to pure rhythm in 3+2+2.
I had this on vinyl but lent + lost it long ago. Great to be able to hear it again.
Thanks for the link!
This was glorious, thanks for recommending!
Had to look up what a cas cas was as I have never seen them before-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashaka