The gamelan angklung is a Balinese percussion orchestra played by about twenty musicians. The instruments include bronze metallophones, tuned gongs of various sizes, drums, and flute. Gamelan angklung has a distinctive four-tone tuning, producing an unusually sweet and, by Balinese standards, melancholy- sounding timbre. Angklung music holds a special musical role in the Bali-Hindu religion where it is often used to accompany temple ceremonies, processions and cremation rituals.
Gamelan jegog, found only in the Jembrana region of southwest Bali, consists of fourteen bamboo instruments with keys ranging in size from nine inches to thirteen feet in length. The three lowest instruments are so large that musicians must sit atop them to play them. The miniatures used in tonight's performance are the only instruments of their kind in the United States. As in other types of Balinese music, the lower-pitched instruments carry the main melody and the higher instruments feature figurations of that melody. But the jegog ensemble has its own style of melodic elaboration and rhythmic interlocking.
Gamelan Angklung Kembang Sari began as a workshop project of Gamelan Sekar Jaya in 1986 and has since become one of GSJ's most active ensembles, performing concerts and workshops, and providing musical accompaniment for special events. Gamelan Angklung Kembang Sari plays both modern and traditional pieces, including dance accompaniment and ritual compositions. A special part of its repertoire is the growing body of instrumental compositions written especially for the group by recent Balinese guest artists in residence.
I Made Arnawa is a prolific composer, musician, and teacher. He comes from the artistically rich village of Tunjuk in the district of Tabanan, Bali, known for its diverse performing arts traditions in music, dance, and shadow puppet theater. He is a graduate of STSI Denpasar (the National Arts College in Bali) in the music department, where he is currently a member of the faculty. He has composed extensively for Balinese gamelan orchestra, especially in the forms known as kreasi baru and lelambatan, and his works have won highest awards on several occasions in the annual Bali Arts Festival. Arnawa has also performed internationally, including tours to Australia, India, Spain, and the U.S. His current residency is his second tenure with Gamelan Sekar Jaya; in 1994- 95 he prepared the group for its third tour to Bali.
Gamelan Sekar Jaya is a nonprofit performing arts organization composed of San Francisco Bay Area artists dedicated to the study and performance of Balinese music and dance. Since 1979, Gamlelan Sekar Jaya has invited many of Bali's finest performing artists to join the group for residencies as Guest Artistic Directors. Under their direction, GSJ ensembles have presented more than three hundred concerts throughout California, and undertaken tours to the Pacific Northwest, the East Coast, Canada, Mexico, and Indonesia. Gamelan Sekar Jaya also offers educational programs including workshops, lecture- demonstrations, and school programs in Balinese music and dance.
The active community of artists that has formed within and around Gamelan Sekar Jaya reflects the living artistic traditions of Bali itself. Innovation has long been a part of these traditions, creating an unbroken continuum between old and new work. In keeping with this tendency, the group has sponsored the creation of more than thirty new music and dance works by Balinese and American artists. In recent years the group has also collaborated with other artists and organizations in a variety of unique projects.
For more information on any of Gamelan Sekar Jaya's activities, please contact: Gamelan Sekar Jaya, 6485 Conlon Avenue, El Cerrito CA 94530 tel. and fax. (510) 237-6849, http://www.gsj.org.