Gamelan Sekar Jaya

For nearly five decades Gamelan Sekar Jaya has set the standard for Balinese music and dance in North America. The only foreign group ever awarded the Dharma Kusuma, Bali’s highest honor for artistic achievement, the Berkeley-based company is credited with helping spark a cultural renaissance in Indonesia that continues today. Commissioning leading Balinese composers and choreographers and collaborating with Bay Area artists across an extravagant array of disciplines, GSJ gracefully navigates a twofold path marked by both reverence for tradition and creative innovation. Returning to the Gardens, GSJ brings a varied program that includes western Balinese jegog, an ensemble directed by local Balinese artist I Gede Artha Negara. Rarely heard outside of Indonesia, it’s a loud, fast, and precisely rhythmic tradition performed on bamboo instruments. GSJ also presents the bronze-keyed, metallophone-powered gong kebyar, the most prevalent type of orchestra in Bali, directed by Balinese guest music director I Bagus Made Widnyana. Tightly coordinated to represent an ideal of perfect unity with every gesture, nuance, expression, phrase and rhythmic change, GSJ dancers accompany the gong kebyar, directed by Balinese guest dance director Ida Ayu Wayan Arya Satyani.