Post-Minimalism Meets The Indonesian Gamelan Traditions: An Ethnomusicology Study

Minimalist and post-minimalist music is often characterized by a stasis of layered harmonies, repeated pulses, and minute phrasal modulations that gradually progress the movement. Post-minimalism departs from minimalism in its deconstruction of minimalism's structural linearity.

-Here is an example of minimalist music:

-Here is an example of post-minimalist music:

While, in the Western sense, these genres are relatively new, only blooming since around the 1960's, post-minimalism often draws from sources outside of the typical "Western" canon for inspiration and has found a wellspring of historically calcified minimalist traditions residing in the Eastern hemisphere.

On the island of Bali, off the coast of Indonesia, a musical performance known as gamelan garners a heavy cultural significance. A gamelan is a musical ensemble composed of gongs, bowls, xylophones, plucked instruments, flutes, and occasionally vocal accompaniment. Below is a video of a gamelan performance containing choreography to tell a narrative.

The musical thrust is grounded in a metronomic pulse that provides the stasis for the ensemble's other parts to layer with polyrhythms. Most gamelan performances are of a religious hue and are used simultaneously as the soundtrack and storyteller to choreographed and shadow puppet renditions of Hindu folk tales. Below is a picture of the Javanese shadow puppets called wayang kulit that are commonly found in gamelan performances.

Post-minimalist composer Evan Ziporyn has immersed himself in the Balinese musical tradition since he was twenty. While Balinese gamelan typically is not written down, Ziporyn's determined years of study in Bali have resulted in written compositions for performance that are then memorized by the ensemble's members. Situating himself within Balinese culture, Ziporyn's own artistic creations intend to respect the agency of his performers and the musical background they inhabit.
Here is a video detailing Evan Ziporyn's experiences with Balinese music:

Here is a brief video for Ziporyn's "A House In Bali" which was performed at the 2010 Next Wave Festival:

As post-minimalist composers seek alternative avenues for musical expression, their listeners will continue to encounter different cultures and engage in a dialogue which not only blends musical genres, but the musical worlds which deepen their palette of understandings. The conditions of possibility with technological advancement may open even further frontiers for cross-cultural exchange as seen in Aphex Twin's "Didgeridoo" which can be found here: Aphex Twin- "Didgeridoo". Traveling composers like Ziporyn offer audiences on both ends of the globe the opportunity to hybridize their cultural wells and invest in a brave, new, musical world.