History of Kecak, Zither and Piano, Debussy and Gamelan

Kecak Dance History

In class, I was really intrigued by the kecak dance that we watched a video of. I was curious about its history, so I decided to do some research on it. I assumed that it was an ancient tradition, but it actually didn't begin until the 1930s. A musician and painter named Walter Spies was traveling in Bali and became fascinated with the culture. He collaborated with Indonesian dancer Wayan Limbak to make what is today the kecak dance. Spies was inspired by a different, and much older, traditional Balinese dance involving young, female dancers who are believed to be in a trance-like state due to a spirit entering them. It is accompanied by male chorus. Though the kecak dance was developed for Western audiences, it still definitely holds depth and meaning. It is mesmerizing to watch the dance, and I imagine it must be such a powerful experience to be a part of. Below is a video of a kecak dance from a documentary as well as a video of a women's group. Women don't traditionally do the dance, but all-women groups have begun to form in the 21st century. I think it is interesting to consider the contrasts. The women are more stationary, and this particular group sings a much
more obvious melody.

Further reading: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/apr/13/bali-monkey-dance-kecak-indonesia

Chinese Zither and Piano

When we watched the video of the zither player in class, I noticed how much the technique the musician used resembled piano technique. I think it's likely she was also a pianist, but in watching other zither videos the technique does seem to be similar. I tried to do some research to confirm this, but there's not a lot of overt information out there. I did find a New York Times article which includes an interview with one of the most famous and successful Chinese zither players in the world, Yuan Sha. She says that, "When I was at university in the 1990s, the pieces we played had nothing to do with Chinese music. They were all from piano. The technique came from piano, too. Back then we thought, the harder the better; the more Western, the better." Yuan Sha is now known for her internationally influential passion for Chinese music. Her comments about technique and the outdated belief that Western musical ideas are superior leads me to believe that perhaps piano technique was superimposed onto an existing, and already effective, zither technique. The way Yuan Sha plays does look a little different, so maybe she utilizes a technique born in Asia instead of Europe. The video below shows Yuan Sha combining Western and Eastern styles in a class in New York City.

New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/arts/12iht-guqin12.html

Gamelan's Influence on Debussy

When it was mentioned in class that Debussy was influenced by gamelan music, I was curious to learn more. I love Debussy and also really enjoyed learning about Indonesian music. He heard a Javanese gamelan group play in the 1889 World's Fair, and is said to have drawn inspiration from it for several of his works. A particular example is his work Pagodes from the larger work Estampes. If you listen to the piece, it is obvious that Debussy was not trying to overtly replicate gamelan sounds, but instead drew inspiration from them. This makes sense because he probably had his memory alone to rely on. Portable recording devices, LPs, cassettes, CDs, and the internet all were not yet in existence. I think the Pagodes sounds particularly like gamelan from 1:49 to 2:13. It's something about the bold, insistent rhythms. I also think the melody imitates the sounds made by mallet instruments in the gamelan. Additionally, Pagodes has a fluctuating tempo, which is a characteristic common in gamelan music.

                                

Further reading: https://bibliolore.org/2012/08/22/debussy-and-gamelan/