Founded in 1979 by I Wayan Suweca, Rachel Ann Cooper and Michael Tenzer, Gamelan Sekar Jaya (GSJ) was the first community-based Balinese gamelan in the United States.[4] Most of its performers are American volunteers, taught and led in performance by visiting Balinese master artists.[5][6]
Popular both in the States and abroad, the group has performed all over North America and has toured Bali seven times (1985, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2003, 2010, and 2014).[7] In 2000, Gamelan Sekar Jaya was awarded the Dharma Kusuma Award for Cultural Service by the Balinese government, the highest such honor given.[8] The group regularly performs locally.[9][10]
Gamelan is the Indonesian term for orchestra, and the name "Sekar Jaya" translates roughly to "Victorious Flower."[11]
Collaborations
Along with performing Balinese music and dance, the group has produced a number of cross-cultural collaborations. For example, GSJ commissioned the creation of a new score to the 1935 silent film, Legong: Dance of the Virgins, performing with the Club Foot Orchestra.[12] A DVD of the film with this new score was released in 2004.[13] Major GSJ collaborations include projects with Abhinaya, Crosspulse, Shadowlight, Destiny Arts,Chitresh Das. Sekar Jaya and some of its members have collaborated with the artist and musician collective The Residents at a few of their live shows such as "Wormwood" (1998) and "Icky Flix" (2001).
In 2011, GSJ and I Made Moja collaborated on a multimedia performance piece that fused music, dance, and other traditional art-forms of Bali, notably wayang kulit, Balinese shadow-puppetry.[14]