Gamelan Padhang Moncar‘s second tour to Indonesia included the group’s first appearance at the Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival, performing three times at the festival and also at Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia (the tertiary performing arts institute) in the nearby city of Surakarta.

The group presented new works by I Wayan Gde Yudane, Leila Adu-Gilmore, Judith Exley, Megan Collins, Jane Hebberd, Leon De Lorenzo, Katie Lissette, Sue Street and Mike Jones.  Sue and Mike’s work incorporated wayang figures of native birds of Aotearoa created especially for this show.

Wayang of native birds of Aotearoa (Photo: Marie Direen)

A particularly special performance was a part of the traditional Javanese wedding ceremony of one of our members to his Javanese fiance.

The group also spent a week in Bali attending local performances at the Bali Arts Festival and participating in workshops in Gamelan Semarandana and Selonding.

Acknowledgements: Gamelan Padhang Moncar acknowledges the following institutions for their support of this tour:

• Asia 2000 Foundation (now Asia NZ Foundation)
• Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka (Vice-Chancellor’s Fund & NZ School of Music)
• Kedutaan Besar Republik Indonesia, Wellington
• New Zealand Indonesia Association