Warszawska Grupa Gamelanowa (Warsaw Gamelan Group)

Warsaw Gamelan Group is the only band in Poland that presents the traditional Indonesian music from central Java. The music of Gamelan, which is the orchestra consisting various instruments and mainly metallophones, accompanies the Indonesians in almost every field of their lives. The instruments which are played by WGG were imported by Indonesian Embassy and some musicians improved their skills during special scholarships in Java. Warsaw Gamelan Group performs both ceremonial compositions as well as the ones illustrating traditional dances and the theathre of shadows.

History:

One of the most distinctive elements of Indonesian culture is gamelan - the traditional orchestra accompanying the dance and the wayang theathre. First gamelan concerts outside Indonesia took place in the 50. in the 20th century (soon after stating the independence of Indonesia). The Indonesian National Gamelan Group, while performing in 1958 in Europe, also gave a concert in Warsaw presenting the music, dance and theathre of various regions of Indonesia.

Nowadays the Indonesian gamelan music is well known not only in Indonesia but also both in West Europe and North America.

In 1985 the Embassy of Indonesia in Warsaw imported from Java the first set of gamelan instruments and at the beginning of the 90. the Embassy started to cooperate with the Faculty of Musicology UW thanks to what the first gamelan group was created.

The present gamelan group has been performing from October of 2001 and is the only such a music band in Poland. The music protector is Dawid Martin. The group cooperates with Mr Soegiyanto who is a former worker of Indonesian Embassy always with some helpful advice as to the gamelan music. The repertoire of the group is focused on the traditional music of central Java and most of the performed compositions traditionally accompany dances connected with the culture of aristocracy. The group also cooperates with dancers who have studied traditional dances in Indonesia - Renata Lesner i Magdalena Stajewska.

The style: