- It may
be valid to argue that raving is essentially a continuation
of an ancient performative behavior and nothing fundamentally
new. However, the essential components by which a rave identifies
itself as a rave are technologically produced, and beyond this,
social relations between participants are mediated by technology.
I’ve mentioned that the liminal phase of the rave process
is experienced spiritually. It has been noted by several writers
that a main motivation for participation in a rave is to become
immersed in the feeling of communitas that is generated
at the event. It is significant to note that this communitas
(or even ecstatic trance) is achieved through hi-tech means—particularly
through mass dancing to music comprised of simulated and sampled
sounds, often enhanced by pharmaceutical technology.21
In Generation Ecstasy, Simon Reynolds refers to the various
musics (or “hallucinogenres” of rave) as “sampladelia,”
or “perception-warping music” which deconstructs “the
metaphysics of presence” (Reynolds 41, 44). Ravers, involved
in what they themselves term “ecstatic trance dancing,”
speak of submitting themselves to the will of the DJ, often
referred to as a shaman. Hence the term “technoshamanism“
is used by participants to denote this essentializing aspect
of the rave.
House music is the sound of the cultural blender running
at warp speed. It’s a techno-shamanic dervish. (Heley)
Watch
dancing at Innercense, October 1998
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Watch
video of DJ at Innercense
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- As René
Lysloff writes, “trance is actualized via the interaction
of the human and the machine, implicating a postmodern “secular
religion” where technology itself is
worshipped” (“DJ Shamanism” 11). In fact, the
credo of technopaganism may be found at hyperreal.org,
along with prayers such as “We thank the Technology Goddess
for giving us the ability to rave”…“We finally
wish that the Technology Goddess will receive our ecstasy while
raving as an offering and a celebration of her omnipotence.”
This ethos of abandoning oneself to the will of the machine
and dissolving into a communal mass of dancers has remained
one of rave’s most salient aspects, dating back to proto-rave
techno of the early 1980s.22
- The rave
event is also distinguished as a technocultural artifact by
the fact that its planning phase, as well as its restoration
phase, takes place in virtual space. This forum, in scope and
nature of social relationship, is not something that could be
replicated in reality. The anonymity afforded
by faceless interaction in virtual space, it has been noted,
leads to the kinds of interactions that would not take place
in real life, due to actual or perceived censure of the content
of the message. As the drug Ecstasy removes fear, allegedly
the element which controls our behavior23
for the purpose of establishing a greater communitas,
I suggest that the virtual forum serves as an extension of this
chemical agent for the raver. Technology additionally mediates
social interaction in the rave scene through the sheer volume
of the music—a situation which dictates that the nature
of communication between participants will be non-verbal.
We construct our technologies, and our technologies construct
us and our times. (Turkle 46)
- It is interesting,
and perhaps seemingly contradictory, that the aesthetics of
both “the primitive” (described earlier) and hi-technology
are core identifying components of the rave. This essential
“techno-primitive” ideology became evident to me as
I tried to understand the process by which
a gamelan has recently been incorporated into the San
Francisco rave scene. In August of 1997, at a rave in the foothills
of the Sierra mountains, a five-member American version of a
Balinese gamelan group based in Santa Cruz, California
became part of the Vibe.24
Via an emotionally powerful performance experience that fused
techno with traditional Balinese gamelan music, the group’s
participation in this event (Harmony’s “4x4”)
led to subsequent
invitations to perform at raves in the San Francisco area,
as well as an invitation to cut a collaborative CD with a rave
musician in May of 1998. The gamelan, Anak
Swarasanti,25
has since performed repeatedly at raves hosted by various Bay
Area collectives, descriptions and photos of which can be found
on their webpage.
Anak Swarasanti is a type of ceremonial orchestra known
in Bali as gamelan angklung.
It is a 4-tone ensemble consisting primarily of four-keyed
bronze metallophones of different sizes or registers, the
keys of which are suspended over bamboo resonators. Other
instruments of the gamelan angklung include
a horizontally mounted row of knobbed gongs, two drums,
a small pair of cymbals, bamboo flute, a small vertically
suspended gong, and a small horizontally mounted gong used
for time-keeping (Tenzer 86).26
 In
Bali, the ubiquitous gamelan angklung ensemble—usually
1-2 per village (Tener 87)27
—traditionally performs at temple anniversary ceremonies,
processions, cremations, and village festivals.It is one of
three theoretically required ceremonial gamelan in village
ritual life (along with the larger gamelan gong,
and the processional orchestra gamelan beleganjur)
(McPhee 6; Bakan 11). Although the ensemble has traditionally
served a Hindu-Bali ceremonial function, performances of contemporary
music, or adaptations of non-ceremonial pieces for gamelan
angklung have more recently begun to take place in various
secular settings (Sedana, letter). gamelan angklung
groups now take part in government sponsored gamelan
competitions (Bakan 97). And while membership in gamelan
angklung groups has traditionally been confined to males,
females have lately been seen performing this music in Balinese
conservatory settings (Sedana, letter).
Watch
gamelan angklung rehearsal in Denpasar, Bali
(September 1990)
|
Listen
to secular music adapted for gamelan angklung (angklung
kebyar genre)
|
- In Northern
California, gamelan angklung Anak Swarasanti rehearses
weekly and performs fairly regularly in the Santa Cruz community.
Some of the group’s appearances have included “ceremonial”
functions (such as First Night Santa Cruz, and the opening of
a film festival at a downtown movie theater), but most performances
are purely for entertainment (e.g., a benefit for a Tibetan
health program, summer music festivals, college performances,
and local garden parties).
Watch
Anak Swarasanti play marching gamelan at Camp Harmony
2000
|
The Anak Swarasanti website includes descriptions and photos
of its various performance venues. The gamelan’s
membership is mixed in gender (currently 3 females, 7 males)
and age (24-45). Members are either working professionals
(most are in the hi-tech industry) or university students
(including one music major).
The repertoire performed by this American group includes traditional
and contemporary compositions for gamelan.
|
Listen
to excerpts of traditional angklung pieces from
Anak's 1998 CD
|
"Pebaktian"
"Gilak"
"1941"
|
- Compositions
for gamelan angklung are cyclical in form, enabling
them to be shortened or lengthened depending on the demands
of the performance context. In the rave context, in which Anak
Swarasanti is normally expected to play a set several hours
long, the group collectively arranges extended versions of traditional
ceremonial pieces.
At raves the group always performs in what is known as the “ambient
space.”(pictured below)This is a room or space set apart
from the main dance location(s), where ravers can come at any
point during the evening to “chill out,” or take a
breather from the more extreme goings-on at the event. Although
some dancing does take place here, people usually use the space
to be still (sometimes frighteningly still). There are usually
mattresses to lie on or rugs to sit on. The music in the ambient
space (usually of the ambient subgenre) is generally calmer,
quieter, may be rhythmic or non-rhythmic, and is meant to function
in an atmospheric way.
Watch
video of ambient space at Harmony 2000
|
A
traditional blessing: watch
a musician sprinkle holy water on the gamelan
|
- The gamelan
(although always rhythmic), with its seamless, minimalist, and
repetitively structured sounds, fits well into this scheme.
However, its presentation is almost always mediated by the addition
of a layer of technologically-produced music added to the texture.
This is not meant to be a simple overlay of synthesized music
contributing to the generalized ethereal soundscape of the ambient
space, but an interactive relationship between rave musicians
and the gamelan. This ideal is illustrated by the following
excerpt of an email sent by a member of Anak Swarasanti when
the group was in the planning stages of a rave appearance in
the spring of 2000.
- start off with a fast piece, followed by a slow piece.
that will keep
people interested from the start, and then you can decide
from their reactions if they want an ambient meditative
set or a more upbeat dancable set. basically, have two lineups
ready to play, one more ambient, the other more energized,
and then just choose which one is appropriate based on the
response of the first two songs.
- cut the gig in half. it was a little long for people who
are there to rave.
- use more of the big gongs. for example: have the gongs
match beats with the dj, phase the dj out, bring in the
gamelan, and reverse that at the end of the gamelan
set. possibly even keep the gongs (in different varieties)
playing continously between songs, so there is no silence.
participation (like dancing or meditation) is much easier
with continued sound, rather than silence between songs
(which is more like a concert, where concerts are generally
nonparticipatory).
And this
from a DJ to the sfraves list:
I’ve been banging my head against a rock trying to
figureout what to play during my slot. So…
I will be taking the eternal crack posse into a musical dimension
of
sounds from just about every genre because I can’t think
of anything elset o play on the techno system from 6pm till
7:30 (right after Joey Mazolla and before MAC of the North).
Should be interesting… we’ll see what happens.
Immediately afterwards, I hope to be joining the gamelan
Anak Swarasanti in the ambient area for a special marathon
sunset peformance. For those of you who have missed previous
performances of this gamelan… these are an incredible
performance experience, practicing an ever developing traditional
form from Bali that has elements that have only really been
explored in western music at an esoteric level through the
20th century composers and a few really interesting bands
in more popular music (sonic youth, primus, king crimson,
mbv). If you’ve been looking for music historically associated
with hypnotic mental states, this is the real stuff…
all presented with great reverence for the culture from which
it came (and a gong that I love sitting next to cause it just
goes BBBBBBAAAAAAAAAHAHHHHHHHnnnnnHnnnHHHHHHHHHMMMMmmmmmmmmm
nnnnnmmmmmm…).
I’ll be joining them with a [computer] notebook running
some bizarre german sound design software and digital effects
on some instruments in the ensemble… so expect a collage
of audio textures that balances somewhere between futuristic
electronic experimental works with the awe inspiring interlocking
cyclical progressions from across the pacific. (DJ AndyW,
posted 15 August 2000)
Listen
to an excerpt from Anak Swarasanti’s first appearance
at a rave in 1997
|
-
Although
I have yet to discuss this with the event organizers, I believe
that the sound of the gamelan “unplugged,”
with its sharply contrasting non-synthesized timbre, would
be like a rip in the acoustic fabric of the carefully designed
aural space, causing a disturbance in the ravers’ aesthetic
experience.28  With
regard to additional technological mediation, aside from the
dialogue between sample-based music and the gamelan,
Anak Swarasanti is usually located within a psychedelic “set”
in the ambient space. The group normally performs on a platform
surrounded by blacklight-activated banners and other lighting
paraphernalia.
Watch
Anak Swarasanti at early evening ambient space, Harmony
2000
|
Watch
Anak Swaransanti in the ambient space at Expansion
2.0
|
Watch
Anak Swarasanti's early evening performance at Harmony's
4x4
|
- Comments
posted to the sfraves discussion list, along with repeat invitations
to perform at raves in the Bay area, underscore the successful
appropriation of the gamelan by the San Francisco rave
scene.
 …as
I melted through the visible sound atmosphere plastic polyester
neon vibrant flower piece, my soul radiating from my eyes
and every other inch of my joyful physical and spiritual
being. Got there and Hak was just tearing that room to pieces
making the floor bounce with his wicked vibey jungle....then
I reached a nirvana/euphoric state sitting right in front
of the gamelan orchestra, absorbing their message
and sending it back with equal love. (posted 26 March 2000)
i must say that it is rare these days for parties to be
throw for the
right reason at all… i grew up in the early moon tribe
era and have always used dance to find my Self but lately
the parties seem to be all about getting fucked on 3 hits
of e and running around yelling plur (which most people
don’t live by to begin with), excuse me if i sound
jaded, it is not my intention…warmth was a lovely party,
i especially enjoyed dancing to the space of the gamelan
(despite the mocking i received from the muscle boys)…
all in all though, it was a wonderful event and i hope this
time is a turning point within the scene (underground or
not) and that the events will return to their spiritual
roots… (posted 26 March 2000)
Well, I figured I’d put down my thoughts on Warmth
this past Saturday. Overall I thought the party rocked.
I definately loved the gamelan. I have heard gamalan
before of a different style, and saturday’s set was
much more listenable to me. I danced a bit toward the end
of the gamelan set, but wished more folks were dancing
so I wouldn’t feel so self conscous :-) But maybe ya
shouldn’t dance when folks is prayin :-) I also wished
they had orchestrated the switch from gamelan back
to dj’s a bit better so that there could have been
more of a conection. . . .It just kinda felt like BAM! back
from ecstatic music to THUMP THUMP THUMP. (posted 27 March
2000)
 To:
sfraves@hyperreal.org
Subject: Re: Help! I need Complex Music!
If you want to step outside of electronic dance music, Bach
fugues are the most complex things you’ll find in western
music prior to about 1900.
I STRONGLY recommend that you listen to some gamelan.
There are two types of gamelan, Javanese and Balinese,
which are closely related to one another (I personally prefer
Balinese). The music is played on sets of tuned gongs, metallophones
(sort of like xylophones), one drum, and occaisionally a
stringed instrument or voices. The slower pieces tend to
sound like trance, the faster stuff is like jungle played
at twice the normal speed. I believe COTS had a gamelan
group play at sunshine of your love--can anyone post some
reactions to that? (posted 23 March 2000)
- How might
we interpret this appropriation? There are several reasons or
possible combinations of factors leading to this phenomenon.
For the purposes of this article, I suggest two possibilities:
the shared use and value (in both Balinese and rave contexts)
of a particular kind of musical structure that is commonly present
in communal participatory events leading to altered states of
consciousness—specifically, the use of repetitive, minimalistic,
seamless cyclings of sonic patterns accompanied by a relentlessly
driving or metronomic rhythm; and, the self-conscious desire
of ravers to associate themselves with icons of a generic “ethnic-ness.”
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