Ghomma

The materials of Ghomma take on an embroidery of indigenous Malayan music interwoven with an interplay of orchestral sonorities and textures. In other words, the work aims to combine typical elements from Malayan music such as the sounds of guitars, banjo and ghomma drum, with other exotic sound colours. In order to unify the diverse material, the composer uses a simple rhythmic pattern of two long notes followed by two short ones, something that was also derived from a Malayan song called: AG ROS A LEM. This rhythmic “motto” occurs several times throughout the work – in places it acts as an ostinato figuration, at other times, as a punctuation of a phrase or section. Ghomma is cast in one movement subdivided in three sections of fast-slow-fast tempi.