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On the island of Java there is a traditional form of performance
art in which a troupe of musicians, dancers, and puppeteers enact
famous tales from the Mahabarata, one of the Hindu classics.
The leader of the puppeteers is known as the Dalang. The performance
sometimes lasts all day or even for many days. Delicately carved
leather puppets dance behind backlit curtains, projecting phantom
shadows before the audience. Dancers wearing brightly painted
masks depicting gods, goddesses, and demons cavort to the rhythms
of a large orchestral ensemble. Unlike a western orchestra, the
music is composed in an exotic tuning and the instruments are
mostly percussive-including gongs, metallophones, drums, and zithers.
This orchestra is called a Gamelan.
Why did we use this weird name? Well, first of all, we liked it
because it sounds cool. Secondly, the Java Revolution had barely
begun and all the good coffee names were already taken (we discovered
this after fruitless hours searching the Internet for every coffee-related
domain name imaginable. Sun had taken many of them in a vast defensive
maneuver. By the way, java.com was already owned by Mr. Coffee,
Inc.!). We also liked the name because it related to the island
of Java and a few of us had actually played in real Gamelan orchestras
in college. Like a Gamelan orchestra, our Gamelan site would bring
together both creators and audience for an entertaining and educational
community experience. The only downside of the name has been the
large number of people who come up to us at trade shows and compliment
us on our cool "Game-Land" site. Gamelan is actually
pronounced as "gamma-lawn," and is actually not about
computer games-it's about gardening.
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