Al Suwardi's 'Music of the Spheres'

Pairs of steel bars are arranged in groups and placed along the length of boards. Each set of plates are of different lengths. One is eight millimeters long, another six millimeters. The ends of the bars are held in place with wood. The musicians stand and strike the string of bars with small metal sticks.

The bars produced an amazing sound, like the thrum of an old organ. This was a recital by composer Aloysius Suwardi titled Not Ordinary Music #43 at Wisma Seni in the Central Java Cultural Park in Surakarta. Al, as Aloysius is usually called, is known as a karawitan (pentatonic traditional music of Java) composer who has long been dedicated to creating modified gamelan (gong ensemble) orchestral instruments.

December 16, 2014