Creating sounds of Indonesia

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Published: 12:00am, 14 May 1998

Indonesian gamelans are community instruments and the University of Hong Kong Music Department is celebrating the arrival of its second with a series of workshops aimed at anyone in the community who would like to help make the mesmerising watery music of Java. No experience necessary.

These 14 bronze chime instruments were recently acquired from the Indonesian Consulate-General, complementing the Balinese gamelan (the sounds of gamelan are more staccato in Bali) bought three years ago. Gamelan lesson number one: it is not as easy as it sounds. Lose concentration for a second and the rhythm starts to tangle uncontrollably.

It takes years to develop the gong skills of the musicians in Javanese villages who manage to keep the music going for eight-hour stretches, smoking and discussing local gossip, or student riots, as the music takes on a life of its own. Workshops run on Thursdays from May 21 to June 25, from 6pm to 7.30pm. Call Christine Ma on 2859 7045 or e-mail Manolete Mora on [email protected] Orphans' dreams for sale It was a leading question: 26 young orphans in rural China were asked to draw their dreams, and the results are to be auctioned tomorrow night at the China Club - with extra value added by exotic framing from creative names like Leo Fan, Shanghai Tang and Simon Jackson.

The proceeds go to Sunbeam, which is building a children's village, for 140 children who either have no parents, or who live so far away from other families that schooling is impossible without boarding. Some of the children painted themselves playing on the remote mountains of northern Guangdong, some painted welcoming homes, others even drew concrete high-rises, Hong Kong-style, for a little urban dreaming. Call 2529 0356.

Fruitful discovery The wild jackfruit was supposedly 'discovered' in southern China by a Mr D. Hance, who was part of the colonial British administration in 1850. But a 220-year-old Chinese fruit painting on sale at Christie's London next week shows that the wild jackfruit - or guimo - has been part of Cantonese plant classification for centuries.

The rare album, thought to have been executed in Canton around 1780, shows 49 coloured drawings of fruits, including pomelos, star fruits, custard apples and that blotchy jackfruit. All were made for Western tastes: not only is there no concession to the Chinese tradition of abstraction, but there is not a durian in sight. Tuesday May 19, 2.30pm. Call 2521 5396.