Gamelan Son of Lion (GSOL) is a new-music

American gamelan American gamelan could refer to both instruments and music; the term has been used to refer to gamelan-style instruments built by Americans, as well as to music written by American composers to be played on gamelan instruments. American gamelan ...

ensemble based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The group was founded in 1976 by Barbara Benary (who constructed most of the instruments), Philip Corner, and Daniel Goode. It is a composers' collective as well as repertory ensemble. Current composers in the group in addition to the co-founders are: David Demnitz, Laura Liben, Jody Kruskal, Lisa Karrer, Marnen Laibow-Koser,

Jody Diamond Jody Diamond (born Pasadena, California, April 23, 1953) is an American composer, performer, writer, publisher, editor, and educator. She specializes in traditional and new music for Indonesian gamelan and is active internationally as a schola ...

, and David Simons. Gamelan Son of Lion's keyed instruments have bars constructed of

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

, in the Javanese style. The group uses both the ''

pelog Pelog ( su, ᮕᮦᮜᮧᮌ᮪, translit=Pélog /pelog/, jv, ꦥꦺꦭꦺꦴꦒ꧀, ban, ᬧᬾᬮᭀᬕ᭄, translit=Pélog /pelok/) is one of the essential tuning systems used in gamelan instruments that has heptatonic scale. The other ...

'' and ''

slendro Slendro ( jv, ꦱ꧀ꦭꦺꦤ꧀ꦢꦿꦺꦴ, ban, slendro, translit=Sléndro) ( su, salendro, translit=Saléndro) is one of the essential tuning systems used in gamelan instruments that have pentatonic scale. Based on Javanese mythology, ...

'' tuning systems, sometimes in conjunction with one another within a single composition.

Discography

*1979 – ''Gamelan In The New World'' ( Folkways) *1992 – ''Macedonian Air Drumming'' (

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

) – includes 1 track performed by GSOL *1992 – ''Interaction: New Music for Gamelan'' (

Leonardo/ISAST Leonardo, The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (Leonardo/ISAST) is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit formed in 1982 as an umbrella organization for the journals ''Leonardo'' and the ''Leonardo Music Journal''. In 2018, ...

) – includes 2 tracks performed by GSOL *1995 – ''New Gamelan/New York'' (GSOL Records) *1996 – ''Gamelan as a Second Language'' (GSOL) *2002 – ''Bending the Gending'' (GSOL) *2004 – ''The Complete Gamelan in the New World'' ( Locust Music) *2004 – ''Prismatic Hearing'' (

Tzadik Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The ...

) *2005 – ''Metal Notes'' (Locust Music) *2006 – ''Sun on Snow'' (

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

) *2007 – ''Dragon Toes'' (GSOL) *2008 – ''Sonogram'' ( Innova) *2009 – ''Fung Sha Noon'' (Tzadik)

References

Facts Become Sounds
The Village Voice. November 27, 1978.

– The New York Times. May 4, 1991.
New York Music – Rock Happens
The Village Voice. November 29, 2005.

External links

Gamelan Son of Lion website
* * Son of Lion Contemporary classical music ensembles Musical groups established in 1976 Musical groups from New York City 1976 establishments in New York City {{Classical-ensemble-stub