Ensemble Nist-Nah was formed in 2019 as a hybrid Gamelan / percussion ensemble, led by Nantes-based Australian drummer and percussionist Will Guthrie. The music of Ensemble Nist-Nah is informed, influenced and inspired by various traditional musics from Indonesia and gong based musics from South east Asia, however the music aims to distances itself from dry academic discourse or questionable exoticism. Rather, sonic and interactive issues are at the forefront, and the band since it’s inception, has aimed to produce music that is continually evolving, relevant, respectful and adapting to the current members and their current interests. Ensemble Nist-Nah develops out of Guthrie’s extensive work with pitched percussion and resonant metals over the years, using gongs, singing bowls and bells as melodic and harmonic material, alongside polyrhythmic / poly-metric rhythmic possibilities.
The music presented is grounded in Guthrie’s travels in Indonesia and appreciation of various forms of Gamelan music, from the stately suspended temporality of the courtly Javanese Gamelan Sekatan, to the delirious, thuggish repetition that accompanies the Javanese trance ritual Jathilan, to the shimmering acoustic glitch of contemporary Balinese composer Dewa Alit and his Gamelan Salukat. Though Guthrie is broadening his palette to explore Gamelan instrumentation and pay tribute to his love of this sophisticated yet elemental percussion music, the influences are rich and varied, taking into account Roscoe Mitchell’s percussion works, Henry Threadgill’s multi-directional improvisatory music, as well as cross cultural adventures from the likes of Trevor Watts, Michael Ranta and Mike Cooper.
Bringing together 8 musicians coming from eclectic and mixed backgrounds, Nist-Nah hosts a wealth of experience and expertise, and also regularly invites guests such as Jennifer Torrence, Sarah Hennies, Toma Gouband and Jessika Kenney. In 2024 the group enters into it’s second phase, bringing together younger Nantes based musicians, a new group and new music to go with it. In parallel to Nist-Nah’s artistic endeavours, various members of the group regularly organise workshops and teach Gamelan, using these incredible instruments and teaching possibilities, as a way to bring people together, old and young, beginner and advanced., and have taught in Universities, Prisons, Squats, Schools and community centres.
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