THE classroom turned into a huge wind chime, as 30 musicians wielding wooden mallets hammered on Balinese gamelan instruments, the mallets rising and falling in unison. Melodies from a dozen bronze xylophones shimmered over incessant drumbeats, and as a deep gong rippled, every face became more intense.
"Sometimes I feel the music late at night, long after class is over," said Evan Phillips, a UCLA ethnomusicology major, as he pulled his shoes on at the session's end. "Once you've heard it, it's in your blood."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday May 31, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 48 words Type of Material: Correction
World music: An article in the May 20 Calendar section about the UCLA department of ethnomusicology said that it was established in 1995. The correct year is 1989. Also, the name of the department chair is Jacqueline DjeDje, not Djedje, and drummer Francisco Aguabella is Cuban, not Spanish.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday June 03, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 48 words Type of Material: Correction
World music: An article in the May 20 Calendar section about the UCLA department of ethnomusicology said that it was established in 1995. The correct year is 1989. Also, the name of the department chair is Jacqueline DjeDje, not Djedje, and drummer Francisco Aguabella is Cuban, not Spanish.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday June 03, 2007 Home Edition Sunday Calendar Part E Page 2 Calendar Desk 1 inches; 44 words Type of Material: Correction
World music: An article May 20 about the UCLA department of ethnomusicology said that it was established in 1995. The correct year is 1989. Also, the name of the department chair is Jacqueline DjeDje, not Djedje, and drummer Francisco Aguabella is Cuban, not Spanish.
Phillips' perception of the Indonesian gamelan orchestra is nothing new. In 2,000 years of mythology, its music has been said to summon the gods. Some people, who offer flowers and incense and take care not to step over so much as a finger cymbal, believe the instruments are guided by spirits.
Though a gamelan -- each a unique set of metal xylophones, drums and gongs -- may seem exotic, many Westerners already know its sound from their everyday lives. Not only has the celestial music influenced composers such as Pat Metheny and Steve Reich but its instruments are heard on "Battlestar Galactica" and the classic Nintendo videogame "Secret of Mana."
But UCLA's gamelan ensemble will perform more traditional music during the university's Spring Festival of World Music and Jazz, which began Thursday and will run through June 5 at the university's Schoenberg Hall. Other groups, using many of the hundreds of string, wind and percussion instruments from around the globe that the university owns, will play Afro-Cuban tunes, gospel and the music of West Africa, Brazil, Korea, China and the Philippines.
Once a curiosity, music from these nations and others has gone mainstream in an increasingly diverse America. Today, world music has its own chart in Billboard magazine, concerts in upscale venues and CDs marketed nationally through companies such as Starbucks.
"As the world gets smaller and smaller, world music is a wonderful way to experience cultures firsthand rather than through someone else's lens," says Jacqueline Djedje, chair of UCLA's ethnomusicology department. "In many ways, UCLA is where it all began."
Indeed, UCLA is something of an ethno-epicenter. In 1960, the university started an Institute for Ethnomusicology, which in 1995 became the only stand-alone U.S. ethnomusicology department. Its alumni have founded nearly every similar program in the country.
