The industrial heritage of the Heads of the Valleys is providing the inspiration for an exciting new music project being developed in Blaenavon.

The arts organisation Head for Arts is working with local musician Chrys Blanchard to create a community “gamelan” – a collection of instruments based on the ensembles of gongs, metallaphones and metal bowls that are part of Indonesian culture.

The Blaenavon gamelan is being fabricated from recycled metal sourced from the area – including “bells” crafted from gas cylinders, lengths of old pipes, bits of railway line and discarded tools. The found objects are cut to size, tuned, decorated and transformed into instruments.

Creative Project Manager Kate Strudwick explained: “the idea is to create something that is both capable of making lovely sounds when struck with beaters and hammers and which is also an object of striking beauty, linking our communities directly to the iron and steel industries.”

The Blaenavon gamelan plays a central role in the development of a three-year “Cauldrons and Furnaces” Legacy Trust project based on the Ironworks site as part of the Cultural Olympiad.

A free “Come and Try” session open to the public will be taking place at the World Heritage centre, Blaenavon on Saturday 10 April (from 11am). The event also includes a free workshop for the 12+ age group (1.30-2.30pm) when it is hoped to enlist young volunteers for a new gamelan performance group, BLING! (echoing the sound made when the instruments are played).

The performance group will make its debut in a performance on the Ironworks site on World Heritage Day (26 June) followed by a Gamelan Prom at the beginning of July. The instrument will later be featured in a regional community play on the Ebbw Vale Works site on the eve of the National Eisteddfod.

For more information about this event and volunteering for BLING! contact:
info@head4arts.org.uk| (01495 357815/6) or Jay Ryan 01633 628991.