Andy McGraw (oncampus.richmond.edu/~amcgraw) and Shahzad Ismaily (Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, Two Foot Yard, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.) team up again with American and Balinese musicians from Dharma Swara, the gamelan in residence at the Indonesian Consulate (www.dharmaswara.org) for an evening of experimental gongs, rare, sacred and contemporary seven-tone gamelan and Indonesian-inspired duets for vibes and electronics. This will be an evening of spinned, bowed, rolled, dragged, and artificially stimulated gongs, wavering overtones and raucous (musical) beatings alongside some of the most intricately designed gamelan music–the repertoire of the gamelan semara pegulingan: the Music of the Lovegod, originally composed to entertain the rajas in their amorous exploits.
Matthew Welch’s Blarvuster
Labyrinthine and florid melodies streaming over alien funk counterpoint make the ecstatic music of Blarvuster, the brainchild of critically acclaimed bagpiper/composer Matthew Welch. Inspired equally by Celtic lines and South East Asian ensemble textures as well as avant-garde rock and minimalism, Blarvuster’s line-up of some of the brightest young stars in the New York experimental scene ardently evoke a seamless hybrid of musical languages that issues forth its own fictional tradition.
“The Brooklyn-based composer leaps vast geographical distances, imagining statistically implausible musical melting pots that sound utterly natural…a composer possessed of both rich imagination and the skill to bring his fancies to life.” - TimeOut NY
In a New York Premiere, Blarvuster will perform the second composition in a new series of long form pieces called Blind Piper’s Obstinacy: relentless mayhem in rhythm and color designed to make you feel ecstactic and dizzy!
Blarvuster
Leah Paul: flutes
Karen Waltuch: viola
Mary Halvorson: guitar
Ian Riggs: bass
Brian Chase: drums
Matthew Welch: bagpipes, reeds, vox