Yudane performing in Wellington
One of Bali’s most outstanding composers, Yudane splits his time between Bali and New Zealand. In Wellington he has directed Gamelan Taniwha Jaya and has taught Balinese gamelan at the New Zealand School of Music. He has composed for both Gamelan Padhang Moncar and Gamelan Taniwha Jaya.
In 2020, Yudane received the Indonesian Cultural Award for the category of Creator, Pioneer, Reformer. He is the subject of Sonic Dissonance: The Music and Life of Composer Yudane by Robyn Yuwell (2021) which is available in electronic and paper form.
In Bali, Yudane he runs Kubu Art Space. He collaborates with many musicians, artists and composers in Bali, including Gamelan Wrdhi Swaram who performed concerts of his new works in Paris and Brussels in December 2017 as part of the Europhalia Arts Festival Indonesia. Included in the programme was his work “Aquifers”, part of which can be seen in the video below and is available on CD.
“The focus of our concerts is on new music for gamelan which steps into structures of music that are linear and asymmetrical, rather than cyclical. As composers, we present our own ideas which can at times be based on traditional Balinese gamelan and at times based on Western traditions of music”
- Yudane
Video of live performance of “Aquifers” by Yudane
Yudane’s most recent CD, Water, as well as earlier CDs Sita, Arak are available for purchase from Yudane.
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- Water (Front Cover)
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- Water (Back Cover)
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- Arak
Previous Highlights
In 2007, Yudane toured with the NZ Trio to Indonesia, Singapore and Australia. Their performance of his collaboration with Jack Body received the following review:
Paradise Regained, a work dedicated to the victims of the Bali bombing, is succinct, dramatic and technically ferocious and was beautifully executed by pianist Sarah Watkins and I Wayan Gde Yudane on an Indonesian xylophone-like gangsa.
Rhythmically fevered fragments were exchanged between the players on and off the beat, framed within a mercilessly driving pulse.
The quickfire exchanges and emphatic unison points seemed to represent not only a powerful interaction between two discrete cultures, but also a successful example of fusion.
Review of Encounters II,
Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Brisbane, November 22-25 by Gillian Wills, The Australian, November 30, 2007
He has participated in the Wangaratta Jazz Festival in Australia (2001), and in 2002 was Artist-in-Residence at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, supported by a Ford Foundation grant.
Jack Body with Yudane (Photo credit: Gerry Keating, VUW Photography)
Honours and collaborations
His score for the 2000 Adelaide Festival production of The Theft of Sita (in collaboration with Paul Gabrowsky) won the Melbourne Age Critics Award for Creative Excellence and the Helpmann Award for Best Original Music
Score.
He has been the recipient of the annual award for the Best Composition (Kreasi Baru) for Balinese Gamelan on nine separate occasions as well as the 1999 Adikara Nugraha Award for the Creator of New Musical Composition, from the Government of Bali.
In Indonesia, he has participated in “Kemah Komponis” (AKI), “Temu Musik September”, Surakarta (1998), and the Bali Millennial Percussion (1999).
In Europe, he has worked with the Temps Fort Theatre, France and Cara Bali Group, Munich and has had works commissioned by La Batie Festival.
You can also see a list of Yudane’s selected works. Scores for some compositions are available through the SOUNZ website.
