“Gamelan literally means ‘pukpukan,” said Pedro Abraham Jr. (or “Edru” to friends), who retired as a professor at the Department of Arts Studies at the College of Arts and Letters of the University of the Philippines Diliman in June 2012. He is also the founder of the very popular Kontemporaryong Gamelan Pilipino (better known as Kontra-GaPi), the resident ethnic music and dance ensemble of CAL and the resident performing troupe of the Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights.

The word gamelan actually comes from the Javanese word “gamel,” meaning, to hammer, according to material sent to Carillon by Kontra-GaPi.

“The gamelan is the quintessential orchestra of South East Asia. Africa may lay claim to massed polyrhythmic drums, Europe the symphony orchestra, and North America, jazz and rock bands; but no musical ensemble typifies this part of the world – its mysticism and timelessness, its beauty and grandeur, its heritage and ardor of community – the way the gamelan does,” Abraham said.

He added, “The wonder of it is that while the essential and multi-faceted tradition may be shared by many cultures, each has evolved a style, a sense of aesthetics and a mode of presentation unique to itself – a mirror of its people and society, history and lore, ecology and climate, (and) perceptions and values.”

Instruments

Characteristically, a gamelan consists of percussion instruments such as gongs and drums of graduated sizes; wood and metal xylophones of varied timbre; flutes and whistles; assorted bamboo, wooden and metal percussion and voices for singing, and for creative vocables, according to Kontra-GaPi.

The ensemble actually “uses” ideophones such as the kulintang, gangsa, tongatong, kalutang gabbang; chordophones like the hegalong, kulibet, gitgit and kuritang; aerophones such as the diwdiw-as, esmi, tonggali and suling; and membranophones like the debakan, solibaw and Cordilleran drums of varying timbre, sizes and shapes.” Furthermore, “There are quaint pieces like the kuribaw or mouth harp and the tambi or zither-drum in a store of several hundred instruments.”

Interestingly, the human body plays a prominent role as an instrument! And this can be done “by way of applause, stomping, chest pounding, clicking and other means” that produce myriad sounds. A full evening program of Kontra-GaPi typically assembles 15 to 20 performers.

Beginnings

Kontra-GaPi started when Abraham was commissioned to write a score of August Strindberg’s A Dream Play in Filipino in 1989. The sole instruction from the director appointed by Dulaang UP – the resident repertory theater company – was that “the music be distinctly Filipino and Asian.”

Consistent excellent reviews by critics, academics, students, and regular theater-goers encouraged the ad-hoc band “to transform itself into an independent performing organization,” according to Kontra-GaPi. It didn’t take long for them to be invited to have their first performance at the Heritage Arts Center in Quezon City on August 12, 1989.

In early 1993, the dean of CAL appointed Kontra-GaPi as the resident gamelan or ethnic music and dance ensemble. They also received from the UP Diliman Chancellor’s Office the Outstanding Achievement in the Arts (Performing Arts Category) “for their significant trend-setting and visionary contribution.”

What is Kontra-Gapi?

“It is the quintessential South East Asian orchestra, organized to draw inspiration from Asian and indigenous roots of our rich and diverse culture,” Abraham said. “Because of its over 180 ethnolinguistic groups, the Philippines is a virtually inexhaustible cultural resource from which creative achievement can be mined.”

“Kontra-GaPi draws inspiration from this ancient and profound source nurtured and sustained by the depth, wealth, and cultural diversity of the Philippines and her Asian roots. The group strives to express music and kindred arts from Indigenous well-springs, reaping from the people and giving back to them in a new form as magical as the moonlight and constantly changing as water,” Abraham added. 

“We don’t refuse anyone, as long as they’re willing to work,” Abraham further said, “We don’t even ask if they have talent or not. We have gifted performers sitting alongside average talents in the group. Everyone discovers what he or she is capable of doing. That’s pretty symbolic of community building, and of what we’re trying to do,” Abraham said.

In Kontra-Gapi, the concept is “the building of communities through music (and) the creation of excellence in people of varied abilities,” he said.