Gamelan Anak Swarasanti is an award-winning Balinese gamelan
orchestra performing professionally throughout the San Francisco
Bay Area and beyond in a wide variety of settings. Based
in Santa Cruz, the group has its origins in UCSC's teaching
gamelan, Gamelan
Swarasanti - the name "Anak Swarasanti" means
"Child of Swarasanti".
Gamelan
Anak Swarasanti plays traditional and contemporary Balinese
gamelan on both the sitting angklung and marching beleganjur
sets of instruments. Our repertoire consists of the more
advanced pieces played by Gamelan Swarasanti, collected
over ten years from all over Bali, as well as new pieces
composed for the gamelan in the US, and new extended arrangements
of traditional pieces. In keeping with the spirit of Balinese
gamelan, pieces are constantly evolving and permutating,
with new pieces being created out of existing ones, and
parts of old pieces being reused in new arrangements.
Gamelan Anak Swarasanti is especially interested in pushing the
frontiers of gamelan, and introducing gamelan to new audiences.
We have collaborated with several Bay Area ambient electronic
musicians, including Rob Rayle, Randy Cone, Charles Uzzell-Edwards,
AndyW, and DJ Lorin, and have pioneered gamelan in the San
Francisco underground dance community, bringing gamelan
music to raves and other contemporary music events in the
San Francisco Bay Area and as far afield as the Sierra mountains.
Our logo reflects our outlook on gamelan music - a combination
of beauty (the purple and yellow orchids), spirituality
(the green sacred Sekar Sandat flower used in Balinese
prayer), and music (the gongs, considered the spiritual
heart of the gamelan).
|