- Worldlines from Gamelan Sekar Jaya: I'LL TAKE YOU THERE! ▶
Gamelan Sekar Jaya is within steps of everybody else in here, artists mutually reachable and discoverable by anybody anywhere on the planet per the same seemingly miraculous small-world principle which dictates that there are between most human beings on earth 6 or fewer degrees of separation.
The matrix was developed a record shop in Bahia, Brazil, mindful that when all artists can be steps away, the Brazilians can be too.
ma·trix /ˈmātriks - originally "source", from "mater", Latin for "mother". We're real mothers for ya!
Who's taking you???
- Outgoing curation by: The Matrix
Who I Am & Where I Live
- Name: Gamelan Sekar Jaya
- City: Berkeley, California
- Country: United States
My Life & Work
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Bio:
In October of 1979, when we first met in a borrowed Berkeley living room to begin a workshop in Balinese music, none of us were thinking of anything but the challenge at hand: learning gamelan. We had the idealism of beginners, a fresh love for Balinese music, and — overfilling the cramped space — a fine set of instruments just off the container ship from Bali. Among us was I Wayan Suweca (co-founder of the group with Rachel Cooper and Michael Tenzer), whose supreme skill and artistic fire made us putty in his hands. Soon, by some alchemy of culture contact and group experience, something marvelous began to grow.
Gamelan Sekar Jaya is seen in Indonesia not only as a flowering of traditional Balinese arts in a distant land, but also as a laboratory for the creation of new ideas, many of which have an impact on artistic development in Bali. Through our Master Artists in Residency program, GSJ serves as an incubator for the world’s top creative minds in both traditional and innovative Balinese arts.
In 2000, during Gamelan Sekar Jaya’s fifth tour to Bali, the Governor of Bali awarded GSJ the Dharma Kusuma, Bali’s highest award for artistic achievement, never before awarded to a foreign group. The name “Sekar Jaya” is now a household term in Bali.
Locally, GSJ is a thriving multi-generational community that provides invaluable cross-cultural benefits to its members, the larger Bay Area community, and beyond. Through performance, educational programming, and community outreach, the group introduces thousands of people each year to the beauty and complexity of Balinese arts and culture. GSJ’s community, and the spirit of cultural exchange at its core, is also of great importance to the Indonesian population of northern California.
My Media
- ▶ YouTube Music: http://music.youtube.com/channel/UCm_sC-lxqvBSYtNyq-Qbk7w
- ▶ Vimeo Channel: http://vimeo.com/gsj
- ▶ Twitter: sekarjaya
- ▶ Instagram: gamelan.sekar.jaya
- ▶ Website: http://www.gsj.org
Contact Information
- Email: info@gsj.org
- Telephone: 510-655-1227
- Address: 3023 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA 94705
More
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Quotes, Notes & Etc.
“The success of this group has far exceeded its founders’ wildest dreams as the ensemble has become an honored participant in the evolution of Bali’s musical culture.”
- The Boston Globe
“Most of Bali’s population of 2.8 million has seen Sekar Jaya in live performance and television broadcasts, and the group continues to receive special coverage from the Indonesian electronic and printed media…their cross-cultural works not only have been accepted eagerly by American and Indonesian audiences; their innovative compositions have directly stimulated creativity on the part of Balinese musicians themselves.”
- Andy Toth, Ethnomusicologist and former US Consular Agent in Bali
