Homage to Wayan Lotring
Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, March 2020, World Music Choice
The works here, recorded over five evenings, show his gamelan music at its apogee, each piece fastidiously constructed and immaculately played, court music as it had been performed for centuries...
Homage to Wayan Lotring
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Awards:
-
BBC Music Magazine, March 2020, World Music Choice
The works here, recorded over five evenings, show his gamelan music at its apogee, each piece fastidiously constructed and immaculately played, court music as it had been performed for centuries...
About
Compositions by Wayan Lotring, one of the greatest Balinese musicians of the first half of the 20th century, finally a part of the musical mythology in a country where the soul of an artist is nature's most coveted gift, and the most sacred that the gods can grant. Lotring was born in 1898; every night at the age of six he played with the members of his family and accompanied the performances of the shadow theater. A few years later, he has a semar pegulingan made and it will be the most beautiful gamelan of Bali. Because the semar pegulingan, is pure crystal, it’s water that flows from the still limpid spring, it’s the voice of the gods – gamelan once being reserved for princes, they were built with infinite care. Never before will one have heard a more beautiful, a more limpid, a more perfect one than his. As of the 20’s, his fame crossed the borders and in 1936, he spent several weeks in Ceylon – in the meantime Asia had heard of him: the greatest Indian dancers made
the trip to visit him, artists from Siam and even Japan met him, thus recognizing his reputation for being the greatest musician in the Far East of his time.
Contents and tracklist
- Homage to Wayan Lotring
Awards and reviews
-
BBC Music MagazineMarch 2020World Music Choice
March 2020
The works here, recorded over five evenings, show his gamelan music at its apogee, each piece fastidiously constructed and immaculately played, court music as it had been performed for centuries and much of it written for dance. Lotring was old and sick but still vibrantly on form as a performer, and he would only pass them for release after numerous retakes; they have exquisite refinement.