Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, February 3, 1972 Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, Februory 3, 1972 Rababs and zithers .. . The University's Javanesse Gamelan Recent releases on remew By DONALD SOSIN The unique sounds of tradi- tional Javanese instruments - gongs, bronze xylophones, zith- ers, flutes, rebabs-will fill Hill Aud. Monday evening as the University's Javanese gamelan performs in a variety of styles. Included in the program will be popular Javanese songs, one of which has been going strong for the past 12 years, and also con- temporary and traditional music. This will be the eighth per- formance at the University by the gamelan, whose instruments were purchased from Java by Prof. William Malm in 1966. For the past two years, the group has been under the lead- ership of the assistant director, Richard Wallis, while the regu- lar director, Judith Becker, was in Java. She has returned bring- ing many new instruments to enlarge the ensemble. Appearing with the group will be Ki Wasitodipuro, famed Java- nese composer and conductor, who has written more than 900 compositions. He is director of a Javanese court gamelan, and is presently teaching at the Cali- fornia Institute of the Arts. Al- though court musicians are tra- ditionally quite conservative, Ki Wasitodipuro has stirred contro- versy by orchestrating his music, requesting specific instruments, and initiating new methods of playing - something quite un- heard of in Javanese-music. He is also considered the foremost player of the rebab, a string in- strument, and will be performing on it at the concert. Two different tuning systems are used in Javanese music; they conform to Western scales in a superficial way, but are not exactly in tune with our system. Moreover, each gamelan,' while playing in the same modes, is tuned only to itself, so that in- struments from one group could not play with another. In ob- taining the new instruments for the University's group, it was necessary to record the sound of the old ones and send it to Java for comparison. Javanese music is regular in beat, and has set forms, but can. be difficult to understand with- out some knowledge of the func- tions of the instruments. The large gongs sound infrequently, and keep the players together. n a piece 32 beats in length (repeated many times) the gong might sound every 32nd beat, signalling the beginning of the next repetition. Other gongs play on strong and weak beats, de- pending on the piece. Drums help to keep the rhythm steady, but it may accelerate or slow down from time to time, depending on the action if there is dancing, or the words if sing- ing is involved. Melodies are played by small xylophone-like instruments, and above everything else, flutes, stringed instruments and larger percussion instruments p 1 a y, elaborate improvisations on the melody. Traditional Javanese costumes are worn by the 23 or so mem- bers of the ensemble and also the dancers, two of whom are the Becker children who have studied dance in Java. Several of the pieces on the program are of unusual interest. One, Swara Suling, is a popular tune that has been going strong for 12 years, and is played con- stantly on the radio. Another, Sri Redjeki, is a ser- ious work, sung to classical Java- nese poetry. Although larjely untranslatable,. s o m e of the verses deal with moralistic ad- vice to young people, such as "Don't play around with men, they are not as they appear," and "Don't play around with wo- men, or you will be falsely accused." From time to time in this piece, the s in g er interjects phrases such as "Mind myad- vice." Later in the song the lynes compare different person- ality traits to fruit, and liken scholar: to a particularly smelly Javanese fruit. THURSDAY and FRIDAY TG Delta Sigma Delta Fraternity FRI., FEB. 4-8-11 p.m. Live Bond & Refreshments 1502 Hill St. I The Place to Meet INTERESTING People ! Bach Club' Patti McCarty-viola Ginger Reynolds-piano BACH-Fifth Unaccom- panied Cello Suite Prelude and Fugue BRAHM--Sonata No. 1 in F Minor First Movement HANDEL-Concerto in B Minor Thursday-Feb. 3 8 P.M. South Quad, W. Lounge No Musical Knowledge Needed Absolutely Everyone Invited Further Info: 763-6256 or 663-4875 * 4 Program Information 434-1782 3020 Washtenow Nightly 7:00-9:00 Starring PAT BOONE as David Wilkerson I I Pmenmted CIAI Never has a motio" picture been more timely!l Directed by Produced by DON MURRAY DICK ROSS By HARRY HAMMIT The past weeks have been a time for the release of records by a cross-section of performers. The one thing that all these records have in common is that the music in all of them is above average. Kids Nowadays Ain't Got No Shame (A & M SP 4321). Jim Price has been heard as a side- man with Delaney and Bonnie, and on the Mad Dogs tour. He has now settled in England, and along with Bobby Keyes, pro- vides the horn section for the Stones. His first album is the same kind of funky rhythms and blues that Delaney and Bonnie play, and that Cocker used with Mad Dogs. All this is played with the intensity of the Stonees by such pros as Keyes, sax; Jim Kelter, drums; Nicky Hopkins, piano; and Klaus Voorman, bass. The album is produced by long- time Stones producer Jimmy Miller. A clean, satisfying first album with promise of better things to come. Tiger Time, The Grambling Colleg Marching Band (Mercury SRM-1-618). This record really floors me. What can I say about a group that admits right from the start that it's a marching band? "I'll give it eighty-five. It's got a good beat. You can Joni Mitchell Folk-freaks prepare: Joni Mit- chell will appear in Detroit on February 18 at the M a s o n i c Temple Auditorium. Tickets to the concert, spon- sored by WRIF and Triangle Productions, can be purchased for $4, $5, and $6 in Detroit at Hudson's, Grinell's or the Ma- sonic Temple. MUCK by KURT CARPENTER HELLO OUT THERE, by WILLIAM SAROYAN Friday, Saturday-Feb. 4, 5 RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE AUDITORIUM 8 P.M. march to it." I man, are there criteria for judging marching band records? Is there someone out there, fond of performing close-order drills in his living room perhaps, who's been just dying for a rally good march- ing band record to com out? If so, then I guess this is it. The Declassified Jean Shep- herd, Jean Shepherd (Mercury SRM-1-615). Evn if you're al- ready a Jean Shepherd fan, I'd advise you to stay away from this one. Not only is the humor poor, but it's interrupted about evry minute by some music from Shepherd's psychedelic sideshow, Th Sons of the Whisky Rebel- lion, whose only redeming fea- ture is the occasional inclusion of Shepherd himself, who "thumps upon his head in mus- ical fashion," hopefully with a hammer. There's Gotta Be a Chang, Albert Collins (Thumbleweed Records /tws 103). And- now, from the very same company that brought you Arthur Gee, we'have Albert Collins! He plays fast, h plays slow; he plays loud, he plays soft; he opens his mouth, he closes his mouth: no wonder they let him make a rec- ord! Bull Angus, Bull Angus( Mer- cury SRM-1-619). Bull Angus has made a trmendous contri- bution to Rock. They've hit up- on a suitable euphemism for that brand of Rock that has assumed such eminence in the last fw years: Riff-Rock. Riff-Rock was a bastard off- spring of the gymnastic impro- sations of .Hendrix and Cream.. Its major premise is that its neither the singer nor the song but the riff, that's important. The song is merely a more-or- less arbitrary framework that holds together a number of riffs. The requirements for the riffs. themselves are that they should be fast; they should have abso- lutely no emotional impact in- dividually; and, most important, there should be no connection between riffs. What's happening? We'd like to let you know, what's happening on campus every weekend, but we need your help. Please send any in- formation about local concerts, plays, readings and other aes- thetically exciting events to the Michigan Daily c/o the Arts Editor. I MATINEES Wed.-Sat.-Sun. 1:00-3:00--5:00 Daily Classifieds Bring Results I ALEXANDER *. SAT. "PLANET OF THE APES" BURSLEY HALL 25c POPCORN CHARGE DIAL 665-6290 "NEVER GIVE A INCH" was the motto of the Stampers of Oregon. and live it they didi MM REMI ''-mic assa wi lEE REnIDK ,016 A UnversalNewmanForeman, Pctue TECHNICOLOR -PANAYISIONp ' Program Information 8-6416 IT'S SO FANTASTIC YOU FIND YOURSELF FEELING SORRY FOR EVEN THE BAD GUYS! BILY JACK I *' - Interested in LSA STUDENT GOVERNMENT? Meet the Members TODAY at the LSA Coffee Hour Thursday-3:30-4:30 2549 LSA Bldg. Students, profs, and deans meet one another over good food and hot coffee! FRIDAY & SATURDAY Special Mystery Weekend TWO GENRE CLASSICS: ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, 1951 (7:00 P.M. ONLY) A great suspense movie in which two men meet on a train and form an unholy alliance involving murder. Death comes at the strangest places (tennis matches, merry-go-rounds) and the absolutely breathless climax incorporates everything Hitchcock is famous for. As for the star, critics worldwide agree that this is Farley Grange.r's finest film. BILLY WILDER'S WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, 1958 (9:00 P.M. ONLY) The director of Sunset Boulevard turns himself to Agatha Chris- tie's classic and excellently recreates the cleverness and suspense of the original. It stars Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, and Marlene Dietrich, and they are, uniformly brilliant. A GREAT WAY TO SPEND THE EVENING " vvv. I the ann arbor fi lm cooperative ANIMATED BEATLES in GEORGE DUNNING'S THE YELLOW SUBMARINE Eleven songs! I