Album Info
| 1. Sekati | Year of Recording: 1999 | |||
| 2. Rejang Dauh Tukad | Record Label: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings | |||
| 3. Nyanjangan | Produced and Recorded: Mickey Hart | |||
| 4. Palawakia | Edited: Mickey Hart, Fredric Lieberman, Ph.D. | |||
| 5. Genggong Solo | Liner Notes: Fredric Lieberman, Ph.D., Sue Carole DeVale, I Wayan Dibia | |||
| 6. Gelaga Puhun | Translations: I Made Subandi, Wayne Vitale, I Wayan Dibia, David Harnish | |||
| 7. Angklung Sekar Jati | Engineers: Tom Flye, Kevin Sellers | |||
| 8. Semara Guna | Bali Recording Coordination: Ketut Gede Asnawa | |||
| 9. Jayan Tangis | Production Management: Howard Cohen | |||
| 10. Sarwa Manis | Photography: Tati Photography, John Werner | |||
| 11. Gegilak/Gilak Suwud | Design: Adam Larson | |||
| 12. Kepandung Sita | Preface to the notes: Mickey and Caryl Hart | |||
| 13. Shanti Mantra | Series Ethnomusicology Consultant: Fredric Lieberman, Ph.D. | |||
| 14. Damai | ||||
| 15. Wibhuti | ||||
Description
In 1999, five years after releasing Music for the Gods: The Fahnestock South Sea Expedition: Indonesia, Mickey Hart sought to record an album highlighting the more contemporary musical adaptations of Bali in Living Art, Sounding Spirit: The Bali Sessions. “I have geared this recording toward rarer ensembles and new compositions,” says Hart, “omitting the most popular styles such as kebyar, since they have been often and well recorded elsewhere.” The album features kecak (a vocal orchestral form characterized by interlocking voices),gamelan jegog (a little-known ensemble of large bamboo instruments popular in isolated villages of far-western Bali), and new styles kreasi baru and musik kontemporer (which incorporate both traditional and contemporary elements into pieces calling for peace and unity during in the throes of the late 1990s Asian financial crisis). Hart produced the three-disc set with the help of ethnomusicologist Fredric Lieberman, author of the liner notes. Living Art, Sounding Spirit: The Bali Sessions was issued in 1999 as part of “THE WORLD” series.
Quotes
On my 1998 trip to Bali to record some of their incredible music, I asked Gede, one of their senior scholars, to show me what he considered the finest recorded examples of their musical traditions. One of the CDs that he gave me was Music for the Gods, a collection of rare and unpublished pre-WWII gamelan music that I had produced for the Library of Congress the previous year. These recordings had been unknown in Bali, and represented a period in their culture otherwise unavailable to them—it was the homecoming of a long-lost family member, very much like the welcome return of a Prisoner of War, long thought to be dead.
I was of course proud and excited to think that they viewed this recording as a cultural treasure. When I showed them that I was the producer of this album, their natural courteous and welcoming manner changed dramatically. I was no longer just a respected musical tourist, I was considered one of the family. As the word spread the buzz of excitement among the musicians was palpable, and they went to great lengths to prepare for the recording sessions. The energy in those sessions was electrifying.
This ability of music to open doors and make connections between people from different cultures is both common and at the same time extraordinarily powerful: another testimony to its magic.
- Mickey Hart
©2011 360° Productions, Inc.
