The Gamelatron is many things; one could call it a sculpture, a multimodal installation, an instrument, a robot, a feat of engineering, a vision\u2014and it is all of these things. More importantly, though, it is a concept sustained by Aaron Taylor Kuffner, aka Zemi17, whose Gamelatrons are \u201csound producing kinetic sculptures\u201d designed to create an immersive, visceral experience for the listener. Not a small feat, and yet the ambitions of Zemi17 are absolutely realized in this long-standing project, culminating now in his third release for The Bunker NY: Gamelatron Bidadari.<\/p>\n
The Gamelatron Bidadari is not just a name\u2014it is one of seventy-plus musical sculptures that Zemi17 has conceptualized, designed, and fabricated. Therefore, it would be inaccurate to think of this release as simply a series of arrangements composed in a finite period of time. Rather, it\u2019s a window into a project and a process that is much larger than any single album can encapsulate. Gamelatron Bidardi is the culmination of more than a decade of work, and is central to Zemi17\u2019s evolution, not only as a musician but as an artist.<\/p>\n
Having studied gamelan for many years in Indonesian villages and at the Institut Seni Indonesia in Yogyakarta, Kuffner is a musician, an artist, technologist, and craftsman. The gongs in his sculptures are co-created with master Indonesian artisans. Each Gamelatron composition is site-responsive, meaning its sounds are composed for the acoustics and intentions of the space it inhabits, whether it\u2019s an art gallery, a wooded landscape, or the inner temple of Burning Man. The Gamelatron does not stand alone: it is in constant co-creation with its physical environment, and in dialogue with gamelan\u2019s long-standing history.<\/p>\n
Originally exhibited at the Smithsonian Renwick as part of a show entitled, No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, the Gamelatron Bidadari produces sounds that are delicate yet strong, and deeply hypnotic. Textured chiming creates intricate polyrhythmic patterns that are both complex and simple, or in a word, elegant. On Gamelan Bidadari, Zemi17 refrains from adhering to the strict musical structures; his approach to composition is free flowing.<\/p>\n
He says, \u201cI want to evoke what the music tells me it has to offer. It is like following water to its conclusion (or non-conclusion).\u201d The arrangements on this album, written by Zemi17 and performed by the robotic arms of the Gamelatron, leaves the listener feeling enchanted, nourished and enriched.<\/p>\n
A sense of the mystical comes through in the tonal quality of the instrument, and is conceptually felt in the sculpture\u2019s name: the Bidadari, which loosely translates to \u201cforest nymph.\u201d The music conjures up natural wonder, and the four sculptures that make up the Gamelatron Bidadari, in fact, resemble trees. They are four independent yet connected entities, each with a large gong situated at their structural base\u2014the sonic \u201croots\u201d of the sculpture\u2014while smaller gongs branch off of a golden, trunk-like spine. The Gamelatron Bidadari is as physically stunning as it is mesmerizing to the ear. A kind of divinity is invoked through its sound, or a sacred cohesion between past and present, tradition and new form. Meant to be viscerally experienced, the sounds of the Gamelatron call for sublime togetherness. Gamelatron Bidadari is not just an album but the crystallization of Kuffner\u2019s work; it is a condensed yet spacious glimpse into the sonic power of Zemi17\u2019s Gamelatrons, which have already been heard and experienced live by over a million people.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":559161,"template":"","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[12362],"product_tag":[32264],"giftcard-category":[],"musicartist":[25640],"musiclabel":[25629],"musicstyle":[37890,37937],"distributormusic":[38271],"musicyear":[],"musiccountry":[39512],"weekmusic":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-559347","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-out-of-stock","7":"product_tag-discogs","8":"musicartist-zemi17","9":"musiclabel-the-bunker-new-york","10":"musicstyle-ambient","11":"musicstyle-experimental","12":"distributormusic-rush-hour","13":"musiccountry-us","15":"first","16":"outofstock","17":"taxable","18":"shipping-taxable","19":"purchasable","20":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/559347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=559347"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=559347"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=559347"},{"taxonomy":"giftcard-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/giftcard-category?post=559347"},{"taxonomy":"musicartist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/musicartist?post=559347"},{"taxonomy":"musiclabel","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/musiclabel?post=559347"},{"taxonomy":"musicstyle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/musicstyle?post=559347"},{"taxonomy":"distributormusic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/distributormusic?post=559347"},{"taxonomy":"musicyear","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/musicyear?post=559347"},{"taxonomy":"musiccountry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/musiccountry?post=559347"},{"taxonomy":"weekmusic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yoyaku.io\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/weekmusic?post=559347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}