Cambridge Gamelan Practice

Gamelan is the traditional music of Indonesia; an ensemble includes tuned bronze gongs and gong-chimes, drums, a bamboo flute, metallophones (a kind of xylophone) and bowed or plucked strings. The music faculty has a complete set, presented to them by the Government of Indonesia in 1983 . The ensemble rehearses on Tuesday evenings from 7.30 to 9.30pm and you don’t need to be able to read music to join them; traditionally the music is learned by rote and memorised as you play. It can be tricky but it is definitely worthwhile, come and give it a go!

Individual Gamelans are often given names, and the one given to Cambridge is called Gamelan Duta Laras, meaning ‘Ambassador of Harmony’. Its music is at once eerie, outlandish, and beautiful, and the instrument is also a treat for the eyes: red and gold carved with dragons galore. Alice Rudge

See their website (http://www.cambridgegamelan.org.uk/) for more information.

Institute of Astronomy

With the success of television programmes like Stargazing Live and Wonders of the Solar System, we’ve been looking at the skies in wonderment like never before. Astrophysics has gone from boring and stuffy to cool and chic. It’s no surprise then that this year’s series of popular public talks at the Institute of Astronomy have been so popular. Starting at 7pm on Wednesday nights, the talks are followed by an observation session (weather permitting!) with the Institute’s historical Northumberland and Thorrowgood telescopes.

The talks are an engaging look at the cutting edge research taking place at the Institute, from simulating supermassive black holes to detecting elusive gravity waves and discovering how stars are born, evolve and die.

The scope is enormous: explaining the large scale workings of the universe in its long fourteen billion year history. It’s certainly not simple stargazing, though one of the hottest topics in astronomy recently has been exoplanets: planets outside of our solar system. Dr Nicholas Walton, a research fellow at the Institute, leads a European-wide effort to find more of these exoplanets, some of which may even support life. The detection of these faint objects has required developments in imaging technologies, a major area of research in the department. The varied topics of upcoming talks include the historical ‘Pinafores at the Observatory? The story of the female computer’ and ‘The transit of Venus’ so there’s something for everyone! David Wade

See their website (http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk)for more information. The talks are free and there’s no need for individuals to pre-book. 

Kettle's Yard Lunchtime Concerts

Kettle’s Yard is one of those unique places incorporated into the university that betrays the stamp and individualilty of a single mind. Kettle’s Yard house was donated by art collector Jim Ede, himself a minor painter in his own right, and the house has a wonderful cross section of his personal artistic tastes. Provincial and ignored British painters — many of them highly accomplished - rub shoulders with Brancusi and other luminaries.

To go to Kettle’s Yard house is not to visit a ‘curated’ space. Unlike the main gallery space, the house is that most Deleuzeian of things, an assemblage. There is no story here -save for the mysterious all-pervasive feeling that Jim has just gone out and will be back in a bit.
This of course ignores the many superlative exhibitions put on that are curated, in the gallery space. The best of these I have seen was Andrew Lanyon’s show about St Ives, which, with its stories of German spies, reclusive bohemians, and sculptures of hairy fish, provided much of the idiosyncratic context behind Ede’s collection.

Kettle’s Yard has also championed contemporary music from university students, Cambridge citizens, and professionals. Wide-ranging, sometimes inspired, often frustrating, these concerts periodically punctuate Cambridge musical life. It provides a platform for individual projects - last year’s ‘The Rake’s Progress’ was particularly memorable - as well as on-going collectives, all of which continue to incite response. New Music for Old Instruments’ concerts also provide pieces of curios, discarded harpsichords furnish the original compositions made under purposefully unusual instrumental constraints.

While the exhibition space - which doubles as the music venue - is currently being refurbished, the Kettle’s Yard ‘lunchtime concerts’ run every week from 1.10 to 1.50pm in St. Giles’ Church opposite the gallery. Lawrence Dunn

http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/music/lunchtime/

King's Art Centre

If you ever feel that complacently academic Cambridge isn’t catering to your art needs then perhaps you need to visit the ‘A’ staircase of King’s College.

A day at King’s Art Centre could mean a visit to an exhibition of the work of one of the most interesting contemporary artists on show anywhere – and it’s probably a mere walk away from wherever you’re sitting now. This weekend sees the opening of an exhibition of four local artists working in media including painting, illustration and pottery and includes some of the work of exhibition coordinator Natalie McIntyre. Previous artists have hailed from locations as diverse and distant as Sarajevo, Zambia and France.
You could also attend a class teaching you how to ‘learn from the masters’ or get more creative with paint and mixed media – free of charge.

A friend told me how great the ‘masters’ class was (she used watercolours and ink as well as wax painting and oil pastels) before lamenting the lack of attendees, of which where there were “four at tops”. The centre also runs two life drawing classes for which there is a small fee.

Once you’ve discovered King’s, search out your own college art centre – it may not exist, be sadly dormant or you might be pleasantly surprised. A group of students at Christ’s have recently set up a space for studio work and discussion on art, coming together weekly to discuss and produce work on a theme – from ‘roccoco’ to ‘nglayap’. My own college, Fitzwilliam, has an ‘art studio’ which I have yet to locate, but also a very much active darkroom – Caius and Girton can say the same. In an era in which education is most definitely not for free, we should be making the most of these facilities that rival many art colleges! Holly Gupta, Arts Editor

Cambridge Botanical Gardens

This 40-acre plant-paradise has over 8000 plant species; it holds the research and teaching collection of living plants for the University. If you’re one of those people who has to see everything that might be a challenge at the Botanical Garden, plants tend not to flower on demand. Do not fear though, there are always seasonal highlights. The most recent heads-up on the plant to see here is the spectacular, multi-branched Torch Aloe. The African shrub is producing deep choral flowers above whorls of blue-green foliage at the moment, and is not one to miss.

Not all of us like seasonal constraints to our enjoyment of nature though, and the Botanic Garden is well-equipped for such fussy day-trippers. The Glasshouse Range on the north side of the main lawn is full of year-round interest. Get to the display house for carnivorous plants to see Dionaea muscipula, more commonly known as the Venus Flytrap.

For the more animal-inclined amongst you, the Garden is also a haven for wildlife-enthusiasts. Look for grass snakes in the lake, or chilling in the rock garden. Varsity, a serpent-savvy publication, happens to know that a snake called ‘Hissing Sid’ is regularly basking in the heat of the palm house in the Glasshouse Range. If you’re looking for smooth newts, then you’ll be happy to hear they’ve crawled out from their moist shelter under rotting logs and at this time of year they can be found near the ‘fen display’.

And if you just want a bit of scenery with your cup of tea, the cafe’s one of the best in Cambridge. Helen Cahill, Science Editor

The Gardens are open 10am till 5pm and admission is free if you have your trusty student card.

Byron's Pool

Many legends surround Lord Byron’s time as a Cambridge Undergraduate. Arriving in 1805, he wrote a letter complaining: “this place is wretched enough – a villainous din of chaos and drunkenness”. Not much has changed, you might argue. Nonetheless, it seems as though Byron did manage to pass the time pleasantly enough – and I’m not just talking about the pet bear he kept in his rooms.

As a member of the ‘Grantchester Group’ (which later went on to include big names such as the poet Rupert Brooke, the economist Maynard Keynes and Augustus John), Lord Byron spent a great deal of time walking in the village and through the Grantchester meadows. Rumour also has it that on occasion he swam naked by moonlight in this lake, which is now known as Byron’s pool.

A couple of miles past Grantchester in the south Cambridgeshire countryside, it is surrounded by beautiful circular walks around the fields. Stunning fen patches and the cries of invisible moorhens make the walk from Cambridge a lovely experience, and on the way home you can drop into The Orchard in the village for afternoon tea. If you don’t trust me, then perhaps you’ll take it from Virginia Woolf – over a century after Byron, she reportedly took a trip to swim in the same pool.

I like to think some poetic genius escaped into the water. Zoe Large, Senior Arts Editor

http://lnr.cambridge.gov.uk/reserves/byrons_pool/

...or even a weekend break? Portugal's Porto

A mid-term trip to London? Fun, but a little too close to Cambridge for comfort. How about getting the Eurostar straight on from King’s Cross? After all, Paris steps up the escape-game with its boulangeries and vides-greniers; stepping out onto the Boulevard Magenta feels a world away from any supervision you were sat in only a few hours before.

With Stansted just 35 minutes from Cambridge on the train, though, why not take things a step further still by flying to Porto, Portugal’s second largest city, for as little as £50 for a round trip? The perfect size for discovering on foot, wander without a map through the sloping streets to the riverfront, dotted with port-wine warehouses. If you get lost, navigate by the bell tower of the Clérigos church, visible from almost everywhere in the city. In the square beneath the church lies a host of bars lined with long, communal tables serving litre glasses of beer for less than €2 - be sure to accompany with a Pasteis de Nata, the famous Portuguese custard tart. Round the corner lies the Livraria Lello, with its extraordinary red-carpeted central staircase that has consistently placed it in lists of the world’s most beautiful bookshops. Stay at the Rivoli Cinema Hostel, where rooms are themed on everyone from Kubrick to Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira - all for under €20 a night. Louise Benson, Editor