Gamelan Sekar Jaya is a

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

nese

gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

ensemble located in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. It has been called "the finest Balinese gamelan ensemble outside of Indonesia" by

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

's Tempo Magazine. It performs the music and dance of Bali in many different genres of Balinese gamelan, mainly gamelan gong kebyar,

gamelan angklung The (Sundanese: ) is a musical instrument from the Sundanese people in Indonesia made of a varying number of bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame. The tubes are carved to have a resonant pitch when struck and are tuned to octaves, similar t ...

gender wayang ''Gamelan gender wayang'' is a style of gamelan music played in Bali, Indonesia. It is required for ''wayang'' (shadow puppet theatre) and most sacred Balinese Hindu rituals. The smallest of gamelan ensembles, it requires only two players and is ...

, and gamelan jegog. Past performances have also featured ensembles playing in other styles as well, including

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 especiall ...

kecak ''Kecak'' (pronounced ("kechak"), alternate spellings: ''kechak'' and ''ketjak''), known in Indonesian as ''tari kecakilolahhe'', is a form of Balinese Hindu dance and music drama that was developed in the 1930s in Bali, Indonesia. Since its ...

, gender batel,

gamelan gambuh ''Gambuh'' ( ban, ᬕᬫ᭄ᬩᬸᬄ) 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 ...

, genggong, and

beleganjur ''Gamelan beleganjur'' (also spelled ''balaganjur'') is one of the most popular styles of gamelan music in Bali. Its closest Western analogue is probably the Western military band. History Like the Western military band, the original purpose of ...

. GSJ has also performed contemporary pieces featuring instruments from the Western tradition.

History

Founded in 1979 by I Wayan Suweca, Rachel Ann Cooper and

Michael Tenzer Michael Tenzer (born 1957) is a composer, performer, and music educator and scholar. Tenzer was born in New York City and studied music at Yale University (BA. 1978) and University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D. 1986). After teaching at Yale from ...

, 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 seven times (1985, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2003, 2010, and 2014). In 2000, Gamelan Sekar Jaya was awarded the Dharma Kusuma Award for Cultural Service by the Balinese government, the highest such honor given. The group regularly performs locally.

Gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

is the Indonesian term for orchestra, and the name "Sekar Jaya" translates roughly to "Victorious Flower."

Collaborations

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 Orchestra The Club Foot Orchestra is a musical ensemble known for their silent film scores. Their influences include Eastern European folk music, impressionism, and jazz fusion; ''The New Yorker'' described their style as "music that bubbles up from the int ...

. A DVD of the film with this new score was released in 2004. Major GSJ collaborations include projects wit
AbhinayaCrosspulseShadowlightDestiny ArtsChitresh Das
Sekar Jaya and some of its members have collaborated with the artist and musician collective

The Residents The Residents are an American art collective and art rock band best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, ''Meet the Residents'' (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music vi ...

at a few of their live shows such as "Wormwood" (1998) and "Icky Flix" (2001). In 2011, GSJ and I Made Moja collaborated on a multimedia performance piece that fused music, dance, and other traditional art-forms of Bali, notably wayang kulit, Balinese shadow-puppetry.

Notes

External links

*
Gamelan Sekar Jaya's web site
{{Authority control Sekar Jaya Asian-American organizations Musical groups established in 1979 Musical groups from the San Francisco Bay Area