Work
Rona e te marama
for Balinese and Javanese Gamelan
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About
Rona e te Marama was written for a collaboration between dancer Didik Nini Thowok, and Gamelans Taniwha Jaya and Padhang Moncar. In the traditional Maori Story, Rona goes out one night to fetch water. As she walks through the bush the moon disappears behind a cloud in the darkness Rona trips over a tree root. She curses the moon for making her fall. In retaliation the moon tries to pull Rona up into the sky. Rona grabs hold of a small shrub but the moon is too strong for her. Ever since, the story goes, if you look at the full moon you can see Rona there, still clutching the shrub.
The unusual combination of Balinese and Javanese gamelan in this piece contrasts the different tuning systems which are generally thought to be incompatible.
Gareth Farr
Commissioned note
written for Didik Nini Thowok
Performance history
10 Jul 2007: Performed by Didik Nini Thowok (dancer) with Gamelan Padhang Moncar and Gamelan Taniwha Jaya at the Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival, Taman Budaya, Jogjakarta, Indonesia
16 Feb 2008: Didik Nini Thowok
Performed by the Javanese and Balinese gamelan based at the New Zealand School of Music