Music: Bubaran Udan Mas

You can listen to two versions of the same piece played by two different gamelan ensembles. The recordings are very different; the court gamelan recording was done specifically to capture the sound of the gamelan while the UW gamelan recording was done to record the music of the concert. Do not get caught up with the differences in instrumental balance, ambient noise, etc. Instead, try to listen to the differences between the tunings of the two gamelan ensembles. One thing to notice is that the UW gamelan is somewhat higher in pitch. Also notice that the intervals between notes are different between the two gamelan. This individual character is why many gamelan ensembles have names (read more information about scales and tuning).

Bubaran Hudan Mas [excerpt] (MP3 format, 776 KB). Played by Kyai Telaga Muntjar, a Javanese court gamelan, on 10 January 1971.

This excerpt is one gongan of Bubaran Udan Mas recorded by a Javanese court gamelan. The CD is published by the Elektra Nonesuch label under the Explorer Series (#9 72044-2). I purchased my copy at Amazon.com and I copied just a short section here so you can compare it to another version of the Udan Mas.

From the CD insert:

Bubaran Hudan Mas ("Golden Rain")

A bubaran is an ending piece played at the close of a function while the audience departs. Hudan Mas is one of the better known bubarans, and can be played either in pélog patet lima or pélog patet barong.
The strong playing style is typically Jogyanese, with principal elaboration left to the bonangs.

--Robert E. Brown
San Diego State University

Bubaran Udan Mas [excerpt] (MP3 format, 836 KB). Played by Kyai Telaga Rukmi, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Javanese gamelan ensemble, on 27 April 2002.

This excerpt in the pélog scale is taken from a live performance of a dance drama called "Sinta Obong". In this piece, I am playing the bonang barung. This excerpt begins with swelling applause because the dancers had just walked off the stage at the end of the previous piece and the audience thought the concert was finished. The concert was not quite finished--the dancers had to walk in again for their final bow to Udan Mas. You will hear me play the buka (introduction) and then one gongan of the piece.

Other Javanese gamelan music excerpts.