With this project "umbrella" I have created the following four projects:
1. "The Bali Tapes" - with the research question: Can I create fusion music between gamelan and sixties modal/free jazz?
2. “Mantra” - a work for gamelan and sinfonietta composed by Ellen Lindquist, commissioned by me in 2016.
3. "Own compositions" for western percussion and for gamelan.
4. “Espen Aaalberg / En En En”- an open improvisation ensemble with a South-east Asian soundscape as a starting point. Exploring the sonic qualities in the gamelan instrument.
These projects and their artistic products are the basis for reflection.
- Can I, through my practice as a performer and composer, create new musical expressions where inspiration from gamelan instruments and concepts is a prominent element?
My artistic research project "Eastern Rebellion - with gamelan as inspiration for new musical expressions" is focusing on a meeting point where I, as a musician and composer, has searched for inspiration in gamelan music, instruments, and concepts. I have a broad practice as a performer and composer/music creator with a professional career in both jazz and classical-contemporary direction. This experience, in collaboration with inspiration and instruments from gamelan, will be illuminated in different musical expressions and contexts.
I have always been interested in the music of other cultures and the multicultural music expression in jazz. This music can be exemplified through the music of Don Cherry, Yusef Lateef, Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, and John Coltrane among others, all prominent jazz musicians from the sixties and onwards. The common element in all this multicultural jazz music is the use of drone and modal scales. This music can be open in form or based on rhythmical structures and musical periods.
My interest in other cultures music led to a six-month stay in Bali in 2012, where I met gamelan-master Tjokorda Raka. Raka introduced me to gamelan, its traditional playing technique and composition principles. He also brought me to ceremonies and concerts, which is not a part of the ordinary tourist thing to explore. After this stay, I felt an urge to find a way to connect my new knowledge of gamelan music into my practice as a musician and composer. This urge formed the basis for my application to PKU in 2015.
To shed light on different aspects of my experience as a musician and composer in the context of gamelan inspiration, I have divided the artistic research into four sub-projects. This to highlight:
- me as an improviser
- me as a jazz musician
- me as a composer
- me as a contemporary musician
