In reply to:

For instance, and I hope Bingley will take no offence at this, gamelan music fits the "poison" category for me.

Well, there's gamelan and gamelan. I find Sundanese music pleasant background music, but I'm not too keen on Balinese -- it sounds very jerky to me. Javanese can be very soothing. Of course, Indonesians have a very different attitude to it from what we have. You're not really supposed to sit down and listen to it as "great art". It is there for accompaniment to other activities. It's always fun to watch foreigners sitting very seriously at a performance while the locals wander about chatting and occasionally glancing at the stage.

Bingley


Bingley