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  1. Jali's Dream

Originally written for kora soloist and gamelan degung, this version of Jali's Dream has the lead voice divided between steel pan and kacapi (an Indonesian zither). The piece is a kind of fantasy inspired by the kora music of Gambia and the Latin American derivative dance music called salsa.
In Gambia, the word jali is a title and term of respect given to a class of musicians whose function goes beyond playing music and singing songs for entertainment. A jali carries the historical, social and philosophical roots of the Mandinka culture in his songs and thus acts as teacher and general spokesperson at most social events.
In this piece, jali (musically characterized by the steel pan) dreams of traveling eastward to Indonesia and westward to the Americas where he meets several different characters represented in the gamelan by the suling (bamboo flute), gambang (wooden xylophone), and bonang (small pot gongs). The piece is divided into three large sections which correspond to the initial dream, encounter and dialogue, and a final dance.