Gareth Farr’s solo percussion work Macet (Balinese for traffic jam) combines drums, Balinese gamelan and electronics.
As Chris Archer noted in his review of the concert “Noteworthy: Celebrating 150 Years of University of Canterbury”:
Certainly one of the highlights of the concert is Associate Professor Justin DeHart’s premiere performance of a newly commissioned gamelan-inspired solo percussion and electronics piece by Gareth Farr: Macet.
Having this work in this part of the programme is genius. Nothing like a bit of structured cacophony to shake one from the contemplation on the songs in the programme and create a talking point for audiences during the interval!
The work has an electronic backing track that includes real and sampled sounds. It requires the performer to wear an in-ear monitor, adding to the complexity level. The musical insanity is at a way more intense level than the stylistically predictable musical traffic depiction in Ritchie’s overture.
The sound world of the work takes me back to the days of Gareth’s Drum Drag tours around the motu – minus the gamelan gangsa.
Read the full review here.
