Mestizx (NL/BO/US) – Gosheven Galangolong (HU) – Radio Hito (IT/BE)
After several years’ hiatus, Gosheven, the solo project of Bálint Szabó (Decolonize Your Mind Society, 12z), returns to the stage in an expanded ensemble format with Galangolong. The project marks a new stage in Szabó’s exploration of speculative folk and alternative tuning, experimenting with how the instruments of a distant non-Western culture – in this case Java – can be integrated into an individual sonic world.
In the Javanese gamelan tradition, instruments exist in pairs by type, which do not normally sound at the same time. In Gosheven’s compositions, however, these instrument pairs begin a dialogue with one another: sometimes sounding alternately, at other times speaking simultaneously. The resulting harmonic world is shaped by a unique interaction between the two most fundamental gamelan tuning systems, slendro and pelog. The slenthem and saron heard in the concert are performed by members of the Hungarian gamelan ensemble Surya Kencana A (Ágnes Győrfi, Dóra Győrfi, Márton Szatai and András Térfy), joined by Áron Porteleki on percussion and electronics and Anastasia Razvalyaeva on electric harp. Additional instruments enter into dialogue with the Javanese sound world not as part of a conventional crossover, but by following and responding to its musical logic in their own way. Together, they create a shared language: the language of a not-yet-existing future – galangolong.
