Nicolette Boaz, composer for 'The Burning Season', outlines the recent recording session:
To find the right session players for this documentary, I went to a young drummer called Deva Permana who is a conduit for Indonesian musical events as well as being a fine kit drummer amongst other instruments. We spent many hours talking through the instruments, scales, styles and purposes of music from the some 6000 islands of Indonesia. As I am not Indonesian I cannot and would not pretend to write Indonesian music; that could be done with a Cd from that part of the world. Instead the music should evoke a feeling of that part of the world. The gamelan is the most well known of the instruments- but it is only found in Java and Bali and much of the doco is set in Aceh , Kalimantan and Jambi. Also the gamelan is difficult to work with as the tuning, (scale) does not work easily with the scale known to most of the people in the Western world – the Tempered scale.
Deva also introduced me to Ron Reeves who he plays with, who is known as being one of the best suling players in Australia.( He also has a treasure trove of knowledge and instruments. ) This is the instrument I could imagine as being the equivalent of the orchestral flute but in an earthy Asian way. Between them they showed many of the possibilities of instruments we could use.
Ron who has played in western orchestras was the perfect player as he could easily vasilate between the two scales and he played not only the suling (flute) but is also the proud owner of two magnificent gongs, which I must confess to falling in love with-being big, bold, bronze coloured, loud and meaningful.
The alien looking saucers are known as bonung and although they are normally played with mallets , I liked the way they sounded when he hit them with his hand.
He also had a bone instrument called a Saruni which we call a shawm in the west , which we may not use as it is quite bizarre and grating to our Western ears, but as the music goes north in Indonesia it becomes more Arabic in nature so we recorded some 'wild' which means without a backing track or timeing click.
Deva played a kendang, ( also known as gendang) which sounds a lot like a conga but uses not only both hands but his foot as well to control pitch much like the African Talking drum. He found some funky sounds as well as traditional rhythms for the score I had already written.
It is not an easy brief, walking into a studio, never having heard the music before and being asked to play in a variety of styles. This is the method I prefer, as then you get a fresh unthought- out performance. It is advisable to always to get the first take if you can.
Then although there can be some shaky beginnings, the performance is straight from the heart and bypasses the brain so to speak. It is also possible to make inspired pieces by cutting and pasteing the most creative parts.
Many times I have been into a small Tibetan shop and eyed off the Tibetan bowls, so given the opportunity to introduce some Tibetan context into this film, I happily set off to but a Tibetan Singing Bowl. By hitting the bowl and then running the beater continually around the edge of the bowl , it hums in a singing way with a sound that evokes mystery and beauty. The bells also come from that part of the world, so high up and full of spiritualism. The topic of the film requires at times some very meaningful music- after all –we are talking about the survival of the Human Species. These old styles and instruments bypass a lot of the modern pap that goes with contemporary music. Mixed with electronic music they cover all bases.
Nicolette Boaz, composer, 'The Burning Season'
