A rare chance to hear this unique gamelan and percussion ensemble in an intimate chamber setting. 

Ensemble Nist-Nah 

Charles Dubois, Paula Escobar, Will Guthrie, Irina Leach, Sven Michel, Julien Ouvrard, Ellen Pelé, Lou Voisin

(gamelan, percussion, drums)

Ensemble Nist-Nah was formed in 2019 as a hybrid Gamelan / percussion ensemble, led by drummer and percussionist Will Guthrie. The music of Ensemble Nist-Nah is informed, influenced and inspired by traditional musics from Indonesia and gong-based musics from Southeast Asia. Nonetheless, the music aims to distance itself from dry academic discourse or questionable exoticism. Rather, sonic and interactive issues are placed at the forefront.

The Ensemble developed out of Guthrie’s extensive work with pitched percussion and resonant metals, using gongs, singing bowls and bells as melodic and harmonic material, alongside polyrhythmic / polymetric 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 eight 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 its 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 regularily organise workshops and teach Gamelan, using these incredible instruments as a way to bring people together—old and young, beginner and advanced—and have taught in universities, prisons, squats, schools and community centres. 

Production by Studio D’En Haut, Nantes, France

A rare chance to hear this unique gamelan and percussion ensemble in an intimate chamber setting. 

Ensemble Nist-Nah 

Charles Dubois, Paula Escobar, Will Guthrie, Irina Leach, Sven Michel, Julien Ouvrard, Ellen Pelé, Lou Voisin

(gamelan, percussion, drums)

Ensemble Nist-Nah was formed in 2019 as a hybrid Gamelan / percussion ensemble, led by drummer and percussionist Will Guthrie. The music of Ensemble Nist-Nah is informed, influenced and inspired by traditional musics from Indonesia and gong-based musics from Southeast Asia. Nonetheless, the music aims to distance itself from dry academic discourse or questionable exoticism. Rather, sonic and interactive issues are placed at the forefront.

The Ensemble developed out of Guthrie’s extensive work with pitched percussion and resonant metals, using gongs, singing bowls and bells as melodic and harmonic material, alongside polyrhythmic / polymetric 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 eight 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 its 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 regularily organise workshops and teach Gamelan, using these incredible instruments as a way to bring people together—old and young, beginner and advanced—and have taught in universities, prisons, squats, schools and community centres. 

Production by Studio D’En Haut, Nantes, France