This summer, Gamelan Dharma Swara, one of the most celebrated American gamelan and dance ensembles, is making our long-awaited return to Bali.

As we make this journey for the first time since 2010, our organization is at a pivotal moment for significant artistic growth. Having formalized our mission in the last decade to focus on driving the creation of new works for gamelan, the cultural immersion and artistic exchange made possible through travel to Bali will result in an LP that will capture a new height of creative ambition and document an exciting chapter of musical exploration.

LP Recording Project

Our trip to Bali is the culmination of years of artistic work. While Dharma Swara has been actively performing at top New York City venues such as (le) Poisson Rouge and Symphony Space and cultural institutions such as MoMA and Asia Society, the ensemble has not produced a new album in 15 years. In Bali, we will not only have the opportunity to create a recording inspired by the environment where our artistic practice originated, but also to rehearse in the presence of the originating composers or ensembles. We will be working with our Artist-in-Residence Gusti Komin’s family, rehearsing daily and performing under his direction, workshopping with the pre-eminent composer Dewa Alit, and learning from the musicians of the famed gong kebyar group Abdi Budaya.

Dharma Swara will also have the honor and privilege of inaugurating a new set of instruments (currently in production) commissioned by Gusti Komin—the first full set of gamelan instruments that his family has ever owned. The album will be recorded on this set, a semara dana gamelan made by pande Wayan Suparta.

A Significant Opportunity for Artistic and Cultural Exchange

In the lead-up to recording our LP, we will take part in daily intensive rehearsals with and among some of the best musicians from Bali. In addition, the tour agenda will entail artistic and cultural exchange, including “friendly competition” performances (mebarung) with gamelan groups in various villages. Dharma Swara is also delighted to be a featured performer and representative of American gamelan at the prestigious annual arts and culture festival, Pesta Kesenian Bali (PKB).

This tour will also serve as a unique occasion for our dancers to study with prestigious dance artists Made Cat, an internationally acclaimed gambuh and mask dancer, and Cok Pring, an award-winning dance and Balinese opera teacher in Singapadu. The enrichment and guidance dancers will receive by working with these artists will elevate the execution of our current repertoire. The dancers will also take this significant opportunity to learn new classic pieces.

Tracklist:

Pagar Ayu - co-created by Komin with Shoko Yamamuro, esteemed Balinese dancer and previous DS teacher, this piece is a reimagined version of a traditional penyambutan (welcoming dance). Pagar Ayu is a reference to the guardians who line the streets during processions and important events; the focus is on notions of reception and spiritual protection alongside purification and blessing. While penyambutan are typically performed in the “female” style, Pagar Ayu is performed in the bebancian--androgynous--style, as it considers the group's identity as New Yorkers performing Balinese arts via the lens of expatriate artists. Members of Komin’s family will be involved in the performance of this piece.

Nomaden - commissioned by Dharma Swara in 2014 Nomaden was written during an itinerant period of the life of pre-eminent Balinese contemporary composer and founder of Salukat, Dewa Alit. For three months of the year, he commuted between Boston and New York and slept on couches, hopping between engagements with gamelan groups. Ambulatory and unsettled, Nomaden seeks resolution, wandering between 5- and 7-tone scales, unconventional cyclic frameworks, and at times encountering different meters running in parallel. Dharma Swara will get the opportunity to workshop the delivery of Nomaden with Dewa Alit while in Bali.

Nor’easter - A work conceived collaboratively by members of Dharma Swara, with composition by Joel Mellin, and choreography by Ilona Bito and Ndaru Kartikaningsih. The piece is inspired by the awe and wonder embodied by a child immersed in the experience of a uniquely powerful—and North Atlantic—storm.

Sapta Bhuana - Originally from Buleleng, the composer I Gusti Bagus Suarsana wrote many gong kebyar kreasi (compositions) in the late 1960s to early 1970s for the renowned gamelan group Abdi Budaya, based in the remote village of Perean in Tabanan, Bali. Interpreted loosely as the "seven sounds of the world", Sapta Bhuana continues to be a signature piece in Abdi Budaya's repertoire, and has now been passed down over two generations of musicians. Dharma Swara is grateful to have the opportunity to refine its performance of Sapta Bhuana with third-generation Abdi Budaya when they visit Bali in 2026.

We are raising $10,000 towards the recording project, which includes the following costs:

Recording engineers
Rental of recording venue
Gamelan transport fees
Offerings (asking for divine inspiration and good auspices during recording)
Compensating of Balinese artists involved in recording and who contribute to the development of the group in the weeks leading up to the recording (Komin, Komin’s family members, Dewa Alit, Abdi Budaya)
Post-production
Record pressing
Album artwork

This recording project accounts for 10 percent of the cost of Gamelan Dharma Swara’s Bali tour ($100,000). Should the funds raised exceed actual expenses, any surplus would be reinvested in the ensemble’s learning activities in Bali.

Photo credits: Andy Gullion, Tara Bryan for The New York Times, Nicole Simorangkir

What is gamelan?

Gamelan refers to the large traditional percussion orchestras found on the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali. Balinese gamelan music typically accompanies theater and dance performance or serves as an acoustic offering within Balinese Hindu temple ceremonies. Gamelan was introduced in university and community settings in the late 1950s in North America where there are today approximately 150 ensembles. Gamelan Dharma Swara, an ensemble of American musicians and dancers under the musical direction of Balinese artist and composer I Gusti Nyoman Darta, performs on a semara dana set of gamelan instruments, which combines several traditional modes, enabling a wide range of classical repertoire, while also inviting experimentation in contemporary gamelan composition.

Help Dharma Swara Record a New Album in Bali!