Eberhard Schoener ‘Bali Agúng’

01 Tjandra (5:34)
02 Rawana (3:04)
03 Nadi (10:32)
04 Surija (3:43)
05 Ramayana (3:15)
06 Ketjak (2:18)
07 Agúng Raka–Dalang (5:40)
08 Gong–Gede (5:44)

Total time 39:30
LP released on Celestial Harmonies, 1980

A multifaceted German composer, Eberhard Schoener (born Stuttgart, 1938) studied classical music (violin and conducting) before broadening his scope through extensive Far East travels and electronic music. He even provided incidental music for Derrick in 1988. Bali Agúng was a German TV program about German musicians in Bali meeting a Gamelan orchestra, the latter later touring in Germany. This was the 3rd edition of the original 1975 Harvest LP reissued by Celestial Harmonies, a US label ran by German expat Eckart Rahn who moved to the US to distribute Popol Vuh and Henry Wolff & Nancy Hennings LPs from German catalogues. The music on Bali Agúng blends ambient synth, space rock, Raymond Scott-like early electronics, Gamelan orchestra and Ketjak singers. It doesn’t seem German and Indonesian musicians actually collaborated but the location recordings are used to good effect, counter-balancing the occasional synthesizer tracks. The result sounds original to this day. Eberhard Schoener’s project is quite different from Wendy Carlos’s own ‘Beauty In The Beast’ 1986 LP where she expertly programmed synthesizers to perform Gamelan rhythms. The electronics on Bali Agúng never tries to imitate Indonesian music, but they are used as a counterpoint. The last track, Gong-Gede, mixes Gamelan metallophones with fierce drum-kit solos and spacey electronics, coalescing together via studio montage technique. The LP is an impressive and unforgettable experience, not mere cross-over, but Westerners-meet-Balinese music experiments. [see official website]

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