Gamelan Dharma Swara

Gamelan Dharma Swara, under the direction of master Balinese artists, studies and performs traditional and new works for Balinese gamelan ensemble. Through performance and education, we bring Balinese gamelan to the widest audience and participant base possible, and we endeavor to perform with spirit, dedication and gratitude.Under the direction of our Balinese directors I Nyoman Saptanyana and Ida Ayu Ari Candrawati, we study, perform, and teach the music and dance of Bali in New York City and surrounding areas. Existing members of about 20 individuals come from a variety of academic, professional, and artistic backgrounds. Rehearsals, which are 1-2 times a week, are open to the public, and we also teach basic beginners classes and hold workshops.The unique Balinese and Javanese gamelan orchestras, characterized by tuned gongs, developed sometime between 9th to 15th centuries when Central and Eastern Javanese Hindu-Buddhist empires expanded their cultural influence throughout present-day Southeast Asia. Today, instruments similar to those of the gamelan are found throughout the region. As in many areas of Southeast Asia, traditional Balinese theater and dance involves enactments of Indian Hindu epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata, Javanese legends such as the Panji tales as well as a number of local legends.Balinese lore maintains that, as the population of Central Java increasingly came under the influence of Islam between the 14th-16th centuries, large numbers of Hindus (primarily, it is said, from the noble ranks and including many artists) retreated to Hindu Bali bringing with them early forms of gamelan and dance styles. Today, the musical landscape of Bali, an extremely small, volcanic island in Indonesia, is incredibly dense. Much like Darwin’s famed finches, the few ancient ensembles and dance styles quickly evolved into an almost bewildering number of distinct and uniquely Balinese forms. Dharma Swara studies a variety of these forms, from ancient dances once performed to entertain the rajas in their palaces, to the loud and virtuosic repertoire of the contemporary kebyar ensemble and experimental seven-tone works performed on the newly created gamelan semara dana.