Like his contemporaries Terry Riley, La Monte Young, Philip Glass and, somewhat later, John Adams, American composer Steve Reich says he was deeply influenced by gamelan (Indonesian metal percussion orchestra music) and Indian music.

Everyone is familiar with the work of the renowned Canadian composer and ethnomusicologist Colin McPhee, who analysed, transcribed and recreated gamelan compositions for Western instruments, one of which is featured in this programme. Balinese Ceremonial Music is accompanied by works by Philip Glass, one of the fathers of repetitive music, and John Adams, perhaps the two most popular American composers today.

Thierry Pécou and his Gamelan dans la roulotte  creates a direct link with Colin McPhee, but also with Tom Johnson, a composer whose music, structured according to mathematical models, recalls the interwoven patterns of gamelan music. With Moondog and his composition Oasis, it is a legendary figure of American minimalism who once again shows us the influence of South-East Asia on this movement.

From gamelan to minimalism and repetitive music, there is an obvious path, which this concert will showcase in a festival of colourful sounds and brilliant energy.