Gamelan Sekar Jaya
Encyclopedia
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
nese gamelan
Gamelan
A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
ensemble located in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
. It has been called "the finest Balinese gamelan ensemble outside of Indonesia" by Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
’s Tempo Magazine. It performs the music and dance of Bali in many different genres of Balinese gamelan, mainly gamelan gong kebyar
Gamelan gong kebyar
Gamelan gong kebyar is a style or genre of Balinese gamelan music. Kebyar means "the process of flowering", and refers to the explosive changes in tempo and dynamics characteristic of the style. It is the most popular form of gamelan in Bali, and its best known musical export...
, gamelan angklung
Angklung
The Angklung is a musical instrument made of two bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame. The tubes are carved to have a resonant pitch when struck and are tuned to octaves. The base of the frame is held in one hand, whilst the other hand shakes the instrument rapidly. This causes a repeating note...
, gender wayang
Gamelan gender wayang
Gamelan gender wayang is a style of gamelan music played on Bali, Indonesia. It is used for wayang, but also for other ceremonial purposes. In I Wayan Loceng's book on gender wayang, he reports that "Gender wayang, one of the most ancient musical ensembles existing in Bali, accompanies shadow...
, and gamelan jegog
Gamelan jegog
Jegog is a form of gamelan music indigenous to Bali, Indonesia played on instruments made of bamboo. The tradition of jegog is centered in Jembrana, a region in Western Bali. In recent years jegog has started to become popular in other regions of Bali with a few groups being established in...
. Past performances have also featured ensembles playing in other styles as well, including gamelan joged bumbung
Gamelan joged bumbung
Joged bumbung is a style of gamelan music from Bali, Indonesia on instruments made primarily out of bamboo. The ensemble gets its name from joged, a flirtatious dance often performed at festivals and parties. This style of Gamelan is especially popular in Northern and Western Bali, but is easily...
, kecak
Kecak
Kecak is a form of Balinese dance and music drama, originated in the 1930s Bali and is performed primarily by men, although a few women's kecak groups exist as of 2006....
, gender batel, gamelan gambuh
Gamelan gambuh
Gambuh is an ancient form of Balinese dance-drama. It is accompanied by musicians in a gamelan gambuh ensemble.-History:Gambuh is one of the oldest surviving forms in Balinese performing arts, dating to the late Majapahit era with very little known change since this time...
, genggong
Genggong
The genggong is a kind of jaw harp used in the music of Bali. It consists of a wooden frame and tongue cut from a single piece of the leaf stem of the sugar palm. The left end is held firmly against the cheek, while a string tied to the right end is jerked rhythmically to set the tongue into motion...
, and beleganjur
Beleganjur
Gamelan beleganjur is one of the most popular styles of gamelan music in Bali. Its closest Western analogue is probably the Western military band.-History:...
. GSJ has also performed contemporary pieces featuring instruments from the Western tradition.
History
Founded in 1979 by I Wayan SuwecaI Wayan Suweca
Wayan Suweca is one of the most highly respected performers of Balinese gamelan. Since the 1970s, he taught and performed extensively around Asia, Europe and America. In the early 1980s, along with his student Michael Tenzer, he founded and led the famous Sekar Jaya gamelan ensemble in Berkeley,...
, Rachel Cooper and Michael Tenzer
Michael Tenzer
Michael Tenzer is a composer, performer, educator and scholar.Tenzer was born in New York City and studied music at Yale University and University of California, Berkeley...
, Gamelan Sekar Jaya (GSJ) was the first community-based Balinese gamelan in the United States. Most of its performers are American volunteers, taught and led in performance by visiting Balinese master artists.
Popular both in the States and abroad, the group has performed all over North America and has toured Bali six times (1985, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2003, and 2010). In 2000, Gamelan Sekar Jaya was awarded the Dharma Kusuma Award for Cultural Service by the Balinese government, the highest such honor given.
Gamelan
Gamelan
A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
is the Indonesian term for orchestra, and the name "Sekar Jaya" translates roughly to "Victorious Flower."
Collaborations with Other Artists
Along with performing Balinese music and dance, the group has produced a number of cross-cultural collaborations. For example, GSJ commissioned the creation of a new score to the 1935 silent film, Legong: Dance of the Virgins, performing with the Club Foot OrchestraClub Foot Orchestra
The Club Foot Orchestra is a music ensemble founded in 1983 by Richard Marriott. After a brief career playing dramatic, complex music in San Francisco clubs, they became known for their equally dramatic and complex scores for classic silent movies. The ensemble got their name from a performance art...
. A DVD of the film with this new score was released in 2004. In 2011, GSJ and I Made Moja collaborated on a multimedia performance piece that that fused music, dance, and other traditional art-forms of Bali, notably wayang kulit
Wayang
Wayang is a Javanese word for theatre . When the term is used to refer to kinds of puppet theatre, sometimes the puppet itself is referred to as wayang...
, Balinese shadow-puppetry
Shadow play
Shadow play or shadow puppetry Shadow puppets have a long history in China, India, Turkey and Java, and as a popular form of entertainment for both children and adults in many countries around the world. A shadow puppet is a cut-out figure held between a source of light and a translucent screen...
.
External links
- Balinese Dance Drama a Sensuous ‘Dream’, San Francisco Chronicle, 2/19/2001
- ‘Virgins’ From Bali A Beautiful, Rare Treat, San Francisco Chronicle, 5/7/1999
- Ravishing ‘Ramayana’ Fuses Cultures, San Francisco Chronicle, 4/21/1997
- Hindu epic Ramayana reborn with modern touch, San Francisco Chronicle, 3/30/1997
- California Symphony Rings With Gamelan, San Francisco Chronicle, 3/7/1996