Colin McPhee Tabuh-Tabuhan Argo, 1995 McPhee was a rum-soaked composer who enjoyed the climate of the South Pacific; he was so overtaken by Balinese gamelans that upon returning to the States, he was unable to do anything other than compose in gamelan style. Now, this was both good and bad, depending on how you look at it: for us today, it was a blessing; McPhee introduced Balinese music to the West--he transcribed it and got it played. Thank you. For him, however, it was a disaster. He became very depressed and basically drank himself to death in the early '60s as a result of being ignored (or perhaps being labeled as a one-trick-pony). Little did he know that the Minimalists were just around the corner and had he lived, he would've been canonized by them. Oh well, listen and enjoy the fruits of this early modernist classicwritten in 1935. Lift your glasses high to the memory of McPhee as you lilt to the warm breezy gamelan-inspired sonic wealth of this oddball work and composer. home