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Gamelan Sulukala is a group of fifteen people in central Vermont who come together at the dead end of a dirt road in the basement of the Goddard College library, to play Indonesian music on an ornate, court gamelan made on the island of Java. There is no harmony. Instead, each sound is part of an intricate layering of patterns. No one instrument, or musician stands alone.
Except the people in gamelan are people who very much stand alone. Writers and strawberry farmers and scientists and Renaissance music lovers…I guess what I’d say they have in common is they all seem to need to be alone a lot…which describes most central Vermonters I know. Also…they come here with a common purpose….to get lost in something that’s more than the sum of their parts…
Thanks so much to Steven Light and Kathy Light, who lead and inspire this group. Thank you Tobin for all your help on this show. And thanks also to all the gamelan players who talked with me.
Here’s a great article in Seven Days about Gamelan Sulukala.
This show is sponsored by the best restaurant in Burlington, Honey Road, at the corner of Church Street and Main Street. It is amazing. Go eat there and tell them I sent you! And click below to learn more….
Another fascinating episode; thank you Erica. I’m intrigued by the mention of the gamelan player who has lived off-the-grid in the woods for 30 years. I’d love to hear about her experiences of that lifestyle. Maybe a subject for a future episode?
Listen to the soundtrack made for the anime Akira! It uses this instrument to make crazy music.
Erica, your podcast is the BEST! I love the random sampling technique for determing show topics! The Gamelan discussion was a delve into a layer of existence that I often seek out, but rarely find in the modern world. Just like the instruments are able to harness and translate a vibration that is already in the atmosphere, the stories and perspectives presented here by those unique individuals (of stars as individuals, of the sound of frogs, etc.) align with a different frequency of consciousness – and I revel in each little string of words spoken by this group! I love that certain spaces within my mind can find their correspondences here on your show. You rock.
Thank you Jess! This is pretty much exactly what I hoped people would…hear. So thanks for taking the time to write. It makes my day.
Ahh, the echoing vibrations of gamelon. Nothing like it. Thanks, Erica!
This Gamelan show is informative weird magical ear candy. Cool editing! LOVE IT! Thanks for always making shows with creative integrity and not having a standard show format. I never know what I’m going to get when I press play and I love that. Thank you for all of it Erica!
Thanks! Reminded me that gamelan music does something weird and wonderful to the back of my neck. Love the quotes about gamelan music always existing in the universe and the thing that’s greater than ourselves that will always endure.