Five Questions for Paul Grabowsky
Can you tell us about the process by which you and Yudane collaborated on this music?
Finding Yudane was a laborious process. Nigel Jamieson (Director, Theft of Sita) and I visited various authorites at the performing arts school in Denpasar to enquire about potential collaborators among the alumni, and whenever the name of Yudane came up it was in a tread-with-caution sort of way. He was clearly a 'bad boy'. There was, however, no doubt in the mind of one of our writers (I Ketit Yulliarsa) that he was the man for the job, and he was right.
Yudane and I met. The next day, he returned with a band of five, including himself. We worked through the script scene by scene. After a brief discussion, a piece of music would emerge from the treasury of collective memory which each of these master musicians hold within. I recorded these on mini-disc and brought them back to Australia.
On my next trip I brought Ren Walters with me to Bali and we spent several days experimenting, mainly with tunings. Ren was, unfortunately, unable to use his vast array of customised sounds, as the Denpasar power group only allowed him to experience a series of mild electric shocks every time he plugged in. During the next few weeks, I composed the music (that) the Western musicians would play.
You would have had some knowledge of Indonesian music coming into the project and maybe some ideas about how it could accommodate western sound and instruments. Did you have to re-think any of those ideas, as a result of Yudane's input?
When we all met to rehearse, many changes occurred, and many creative decisions were made as a response to the puppetry. The biggest challenge was the tuning of the western instruments, alternative fingerings for microtones and the invention of the foot-mounted plunger extension for the bass trombone, to allow for maximum use of pedal tones. One further point: the cyclical structures of Balinese music, their rhythmic cadences and elegant shifts of dynamic and tempo all play a role in the score. Also the use of kotekon, which is a kind of rapid hocket divided between the genders and which is adapted to the treble instruments in the western ensemble.
I am sure that you wrote this music with these specific soloists mind. Did they have any active role in the composition process?
I chose the musicians for their ability to adapt to situations requiring imagination and courage. It is asking a lot of musicians trained in a particular discipline to completely change their playing style, particularly when the normal paradigms of tuning are absent. These musicians contributed enormously during the rehearsal process and I can say that the successful outcome is largely due to their efforts.
The music was composed specifically for a music theatre production but it stands up very effectively as a pure listening experience. How much did it have to be modified for this format?
Some pieces remain the same, for example, the Overture and The Road to Lanka. Others are shorter simply because the puppetry demanded that things be a certain length. In order to give pieces musical coherence, solo lengths were fixed and routines were created. Some pieces were very short, and are organised into medleys. The songs are essentially the way they appeared in the production.
I know that the AAO's collaboration with Indian musicians including Karaikudi R. Mani in 1998 has led to a series of performances here and in India and a recording (Into the Fire, ABC Classics). Do you have any plans to further develop the AAO's collaborations with these or other Indonesian musicians?
Given that a vast amount of discord is being sown between the different cultures that exist in the Asia-Pacific basin, it seems more important than ever that we take an active interest in the incredible musical worlds that surround us. I know the Balinese people to be generous and humane in a way that we are not, and I can only assume that the same is true of other peoples. Music is above politics. It is a language not based on words. Musicians have a way of communicating with each other that politicians can only dream of. I hope that we do not miss any opportunity to collaborate and explore.
Having said that there are no plans at present to remount Sita unless we can perform it in Indonesia. It has travelled the world several times now, from New York to Berlin, from London to Adelaide, but is still has not been seen in its birthplace. Perhaps part of the healing process after the bombing of the Sari Club could be a return of Sita to her home.
- Rhythms Magazine (Adrian Jackson), March 2003
