2 An Indonesian orchestral ensemble comprised primarily of bronze-keyed
metallophones, gongs, and gong-chime instruments. The predominant texture of
gamelan music involves multiple layers of interlocked, repetitive, metronomic cycles of
sound.
3 ”At the heart of a true rave there’s the pulse of something intangible; a positive unifying
groove, an extraordinary feeling, a Vibe that transcends description” (“The Spirit of
Raving Archives” at http://www.hyperreal.org/raves/spirit). The Vibe is often
nostalgically referred to by ravers as a “lost” mode of experience to which human
beings inwardly yearn to return.
4 In using the term “alternative cultural event” (ACE) I follow Graham St John, who
defines alternative culture as “a diverse network of discourse and practice oppositional
to perceived deficiencies in the parent culture, which is the system of values, beliefs
and practices hegemonic under modernity” (1999:6). The ACE referred to here was
entitled “4x4,” put on by the San Francisco-based rave collective Harmony on August
16, 1997.
5 This group is an offshoot of a larger Balinese gamelan ensemble (Gamelan Swarasanti)
that is part of the curriculum at the University of California, Santa Cruz Music
Department. “Swarasanti” is roughly translated as “the sound of peace.” “Anak” means
“child.” Photos of various rave performances may be found at the group’s website at
http://www.sei.com/users/kk/swarasanti/anak.html.
6 The relationship between music and trance remains highly controversial. See the
classic text on the subject by Rouget (1985). A variety of arguments appear in James
Porter (1987).
7 My fieldwork has so far been limited to one regional expression of rave culture: the
San Francisco rave scene between 1997 and 2000. San Francisco ravers are typically
white middle-class youths between the ages of 18 and 30, often college students, and
are usually interested in alternative culture (Brown 1995: para. 4) Amongst rave
scenes, San Francisco is known for its psychedelic, New Age-y, idealistic ethos. This is
due to the “wishful anarchist/spiritualist agenda” of the scene’s British founders
(Silcott 1999:51–4), which catalyzed with San Francisco’s countercultural past in the
late 1980s. These themes are expressed in the titling of rave events such as Warmth,
Innercense, Expansion 2.0, and Unity. For an analysis of San Francisco rave music, see
Sellin (1999).
8 Nyoman Sedana, Balinese performing artist and scholar, explained in a personal
communication with the author in 2001 that, although the ensemble has traditionally
served a Hindu-Bali ceremonial function, performances of contemporary music or
adaptations of non-ceremonial pieces for gamelan angklung have more recently begun
to take place in secular settings. Indeed, gamelan angklung groups now take part in
government-sponsored gamelan competitions (Bakan 1999:97). And while
membership in gamelan angklung groups has traditionally been confined to males,
Sedana added that females currently perform this music in Balinese conservatory
settings.
9My experience with gamelan includes study of Balinese gamelan angklung, gamelan
gong, gamelan gendèr wayang, and central and west Javanese gamelan in the U.S., Bali,
and Java.
10 An opposition to this view of techno music is found within Australia’s alternative
cultural event ConFest (Conference/Festival), where nostalgia for the primitive and a
return to “pure,” earth-connected living are similarly core values (St John 2001). As206 GINA ANDREA FATONE