Sound Community: Weekly podcast from Gamelan Spréacha Geala

Sound Community is a short weekly podcast from Gamelan Spréacha Geala, a community music group from West Cork. Currently they are unable to share physical space with their voices and instruments of the gamelan orchestra in Skibbereen. Until they can, they are sharing stories, practices and philosophies that have brought them comfort during the pandemic.

The group play music on a Javanese gamelan orchestra, which is a tuned bronze percussion ensemble consisting of 30 different instruments (gongs, metallophones, xylophones and others). The instruments have an enchanting, otherworldly sound, and come from the ancient musical court tradition of Java, Indonesia.

Gamelan is by its very nature participatory and sociable and all are welcome regardless of their level of musical experience; if you can hit a gong with a mallet, you can play!

Gamelan Spréacha Geala invite you to join them as they reflect on community and wellbeing, share good news stories, and present a specially-composed soundscape to provide a space for listening and contemplation. They will be light-heartedly exploring philosophy of ecology, community and aesthetics, and discussing particular aspects of musical ensemble performance. Some of the topics covered are: community, generosity, humility, ecology, time, and the role of the arts in human flourishing.

The purpose is to maintain a loosely-bound connection to the members of the local community and beyond without the obligation of a timetabled video conference. It can be experienced away from the screen and in accordance to the listener’s own schedule. The group hope though that there will be a chance to have live interactive meet-ups, whether online or in person, depending on the levels of restriction.

The Sound Community weekly podcast can be found at
https://soundcloud.com/user-864593203

Listen to the first episode:

Please get in touch by sending an email to kevin.mcnally@ul.ie or find Gamelan Spréacha Geala online at www.facebook.com/WestCorkGamelan/

Gamelan Spréacha Geala is supported by Cork ETB, the HSE, 49 North Street, Music Alive and The Well-Being Network.