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composer	Evan Ziporyn (b. 1959)
performers	Robert Black, double bass Gamelan Galak Tika Evan Ziporyn, director, kendang (barrel drum) with Dan Schmidt, sampler Alex Rigopulos, gamelan sampling
publisher	Airplane Ears Music (ASCAP)http://www.airplaneears.com
label	New World Records 80565http://www.newworldrecords.org
duration	31:42

about the music

Evan Ziporyn:

"[Amok!] uses sample technology and the incredible virtuosity and dedication of the musicians to create an impossible musical landscape, a virtual gamelan and then some. Our voracious sampler eats up the whole gamelan and spits it out again, with chromatic gong scales, gigantic gangsa chord-clusters, six reong sections in different keys. Robert Black's effect boxes and triggering devices allow his bass to match the 25-piece gamelan blow for blow. Melodies begin in the gamelan and find themselves someplace else; simple bass melodies, transformed by delay and harmonization, find their way to Bali and end up sounding almost traditional. The technology makes anything possible with enough megabytes of memory, and the exhiliration this creates is matched only by the terror of figuring out what to do with it. As soon as one abandons the safety of traditional form, western or Balinese, what is to be done? Nothing but to run amok and see what's left standing when the smoke clears."

about the composer		back to top

Composer, clarinetist, and conductor Evan Ziporyn (b. 1959) cites the music of Balinese gamelan as a fundamental influence on his compositions. His twenty-year involvement with the music has included the accompaniment of shadow-puppets inside Balinese temples, the founding in 1994 and direction of the Gamelan Galak Tika ensemble in Boston, and the creation of a series of works for gamelan and western instruments.

Ziporyn received his musical education at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York; Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut; and the University of California at Berkeley. His primary composition teachers were Martin Bresnick, Anthony Davis, and Andrew Imbrie. Ziporyn has been a core member of the Bang on a Can Festival and its performing ensemble the Bang on a Can All-Stars since their inception in 1987. He has received commissions from the Kronos Quartet, NEA/Arts International, Orkest de Volharding, California EAR Unit, and Boston Musica Viva. As a clarinetist, Ziporyn has performed his own solo compositions at international festivals in Europe and the United States as well as such countries as Australia, Indonesia, Israel, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, and Swaziland. Previous collaborations have included such diverse groups as Steve Reich and Musicians, Netherlands Wind Ensemble, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Desperate Bellboys, and North End Bunko Parcheesi.

Ziporyn's recent projects include a solo clarinet recording on Cantaloupe Music and a puppet opera in collaboration with Balinese puppeteer I Wayan Wija. His music and performances can be found on the Cantaloupe Music, CRI, Nonesuch, New Albion, New Tone, New World, Point Music, and Sony Classical labels. Ziporyn is currently on faculty at the Massachusetts Insitute of Technology in Cambridge.

related websites
http://www.ziporyn.com

about the performers		back to top

Robert Black has performed solo double bass recitals at festivals and in residencies all over Europe and North America as well as in Brazil and Japan. He is a core member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars and also performs with percussionist Amy Knoles in the electronic duo Basso Bongo. Among his many collaborators include the Yoshiko Chuma Dance Company and the School of Hard Knocks. Black has commissioned over 35 works for the double bass from such composers as John Cage, Paul Dresher, and James Sellars. He currently teaches at the Hartt School in Hartford, Connecticut and the FUNDEC de Eleazar de Carvalho in Brazil. Black's performances can be found on the Gasparo, Hat Hut, New Albion, oodiscs, and Sony Classical labels.

Dan Schmidt and Alex Rigopulos are both members of the Balinese gamelan ensemble Gamelan Galak Tika who initially studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They develop music software at Harmonix Music Systems in Cambridge, Massachusetts, of which Rigopulos is president. Schmidt also leads the band Honest Bob & The Factory-to-Dealer Incentives.

related websites
http://www.dfan.org