Gamelan Pacifica

Seattle’s Gamelan Pacifica performs music of ensemble member Jessika Kenney, including Bahar Amad (based on a poem of Mowlana Rumi) and Her Sword (based on a poem of Attar), which also feature the mercurial viola stylings of soloist Eyvind Kang. Her music combines aspects of Persian and Indonesian traditions, particularly in the sense of tonality, and are often based on intensive, almost exegetical readings of classic Sufi poetry in Persian, Arabic, and Javanese. The second part of the concert features Lou Harrison’s A Soedjatmoko Set (1989) for gamelan, soloist, and mixed chorus.