Bali and Burnaby students make music
Mepalu Sari recording project lets the youth of two worlds collaborate alongside professionals
What was something you did in high school that was cool?
After you read about this class project recently completed by students in a special program at Burnaby North Secondary School, ask yourself the question again. Was anything in school ever as cool as the Mepalu Sari recording project?
Developed over a year in a working partnership with boutique gamelan label Insitu Recordings, co-founders Jonathan Adams and I Putu Gede Sukayana and Burnaby North students under teacher Kevin Ault, this new album’s title translates as “Essence of a Collision.”
This cross-cultural collide features 29 tracks of reworked new gamelan — an Indonesian traditional orchestra ensemble typically including many arrangements of bronze percussion instruments, gongs and cymbals — music crafted by celebrated Canadian electronic composers as well as participating Burnaby North Secondary students.
The recording is available on the Western Front’s bandcamp page. All proceeds support Western Front’s artistic program.
The source material for the album came from new gamelan works composed, performed and recorded by three teams of high school students in Bali. Each of these teams was led by an Insitu Recordings’ team member/ mentor and were recorded at Antida Studio in Sanur, Bali. The sessions yielded 15 new pieces. These were then sent to students in Canada and composers such as Brian Topp, Yu Su, Kiran Bhumber and Minimal Violence for sonic experiments.
Almost all of the student participants were coming in “blind” to making cross-cultural musical fusions. To prepare, students attended workshops in gamelan music with Insitu Recordings’ founders Jonathan Adams and UBC School of Music sessional lecturer and composer I Putu Gede Sukaryana (a.k.a. Balot) where they learned the history of the Balinese gamelan and got to play the instrument. Students also worked with Vancouver composers
Brian Topp, Yu Su and Kiran Bhumber in electronic composing sessions.
“I didn’t have the slightest idea what gamelan was before the music came to our music production class, but then we took classes at the Western Front regarding gamelan and all that it entails,” said recent Burnaby North grad Maria Alvarez. “It’s a district course, technically, that took place at my school, and is an all-inclusive class where you do everything that involves music production and technology, so you learn a lot. Mainly using the Ableton Live program after instruction from artists in the community that teacher Mr. Ault knew or who had graduated from the program, we learned how to make mixes and develop the songs that we did.”
Admitting that getting to her mix, titled Light to Grey, was “at times quite frustrating,” Alvarez now feels pretty excited about her involvement in the release.
Ault started the music production and technology course 11 years ago under the wing of the industry and professional programs. Students spend two to three days in four hour segments within the class.
“Everything occurs all kind of within the goal of writing, recording and releasing an album and then doing a work experience opportunity,” he said. “In the case of Maria’s group, the idea was that they would have a performance at the Western Front alongside professionals in the industry. That didn’t happen because of COVID-19, but the album is pretty incredible.”
Ault has often worked with Western Front to provide work experiences as well as to give students the chance to get exposed to one of Canada’s most enduring experimental arts organizations. Kathy Feng, now studying at Simon Fraser University’s School for Contemporary Arts had an internship at the Western Front and was a student of Ault’s four years ago. Her class group produced an album, titled Ninety, in 2016 that is available — as are all the other recordings to come out of the program — on Square One recordings’ bandcamp page.
“It was a really amazing experience I would never have had were it not for Kevin and the program,” said Kathy Feng. “And the program just keeps getting better and better and doing things that I never imagined would have been possible when I was sixteen. The program jump started so many opportunities due to the audio editing experience, but the recording we did is, um, cool for high school.”
Western Front music curator and acclaimed guitarist Aram Bajakian, Jonathan Adams and Balot had aimed to develop a rich exchange between the students in both Bali and Vancouver, as well as the artists involved. The enthusiasm for the project was addictive.
“Our goal was to give more opportunities to young new musicians and composers to make music and send if outside of Bali,” said Balot. “Where my generation is still deeply influenced by the older generations, these young people are freeing up gamelan and making new music for them.
“It really made me want to go back and learn again because it’s so exciting.”
Contributions to the album from the Balinese school students do indeed range in style and form. Tidak Selalu Segar (Not Always Fresh), by I Kadek Anggara Dwianta, is the opposite of its name; a fast-paced workout over various gongs, the piece is completely fresh.
Other works, such as Bedy by I Kadek Wahyu Baskara Dewangga is more traditional in pacing, but also brings in interesting harmonics.
Juxtaposed against composer Sarah Davachi’s near-ambient Rose Hue or student Bianca Greco’s trippy Looking Glass, the recordings become all the more striking.
No matter what track on the album you choose to listen to, there is a good chance it’s cooler than anything most of us ever did in school.