< Back to Balungan

BALUNGAN

Since 1984, Balungan is the American Gamelan Institute’s journal for artists and scholars, dedicated to documenting, preserving, and advancing innovation in gamelan and related traditions.

All Articles View
All issues View

Vol.16 2023/2024

Wayang Beber Metropolitan: a contemporary Javanese picture-scroll theater group
Directory of Selected Wayang Beber Groups and Museums​
Directory of Canadian Gamelan Groups
PanGamelan: Upcycling Pans into Collective Musical Instruments
Kantaka (score)
Beyond Expo ’86: A History of Gamelan in Canada
Lholands (score)
Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan at 40

Vol.15 2021/2022

The Gifts of the Pandemic
Dewa Alit and Gamelan Salukat
The Spoken and the Unspoken: A Pedagogical Perspective on Balinese Gamelan
Notating Sundanese Kendang: Historical Approaches and a New Font
Korona Suminggah: a prayer for an end to the Coronavirus Pandemic (score)
Two Experimental Gamelan Makers Respond to a Changing Environment: Muhammad Sulthoni and Sigit Pamungkas
Rocky Mountain Balinese Gamelan Festival

Vol.14 2020

Maguru Maya: Teaching Balinese Gamelan at a Distance
From Performance to Pedagogy: Transforming the Role of a Freelance Gamelan Teacher
“Prepare Your Bandwidth!”: Teaching Gamelan Online at ISI Surakarta
Nusantara Arts Gamelan Masters Series
Gamelan Sekar Jaya: Bali’s Living Arts Series
Our Identity and Our Heritage: the Preservation of Javanese Dance
Golden Dragons Online: How Do We Keep Resonating?
Only the Shadows Know: the Evolving Performance of Wayang in Java
A Thousand Singing Voices: the Power of Javanese Macapat
Two Poems by Otok Bima Sidarta
Macapat from the Kraton Yogyakarta: Classic Poems for a Contemporary Catastrophe
The Upside of Chaos: Bard Gamelan Gets a New Home
The Gongs Hang Silent: Gamelan in New Zealand
Gamelanhuis: A Collective Home in Amsterdam
We Will Survive: Global Gamelan in a Worldwide Pandemic
Scrapbook: photos and posters from Indonesia

Vol.13 2019

Djoko Waluyo: How Can I Explain Feeling? (interview)
Lintang (score)
Recipe for Starting a Gamelan Group
Mostly Slendro Passacaglia (score)
Making Bamboo Angklung
International Gamelan Festival Solo 2018
Gamelan: A Cross-Cultural Creative Context for Community Music Making
Prelude: Anyone Can Play (score)
Allahuakbar (score)
Formal Aspects of Performance Practice in Central Javanese Gamelan Music
5 (lima) (score)
Pamor [As One] (poem)

Vol.12 2017

Alternative Methods in Composition of New Karawitan
The Macapat Style of Pak Netra
Does an Indonesian Composer Need a Regional Identity?
Compositions for Gamelan by Lou Harrison
Mahambara: New Music from ISI Solo
Terus dan Terus (score)
Yellow Flower Burial (score)
A Cornish Lancaran (score)

Vol.11 2010

Gamelan in Japan
Air Naga (score)
I Gusti Bagus Nyoman Pandji
Notes on the Balinese Gamelan Musik
The New Wave of Jaipongan Dance
Enculturation and Cross-Cultural Experiences in Teaching Indonesian Gamelan
Beginning Gambang

Vol.9/10 2004

Gatra: A Basic Concept of Traditional Javanese Gending
Wayang Wong Priangan: Dance Drama of West Java
Divining the Diva: Nyi Tjondroloekito (interview)
Sinta Wullur and the Diatonic Gamelan (interview)
Komang Astita: the performance of sound (interview)
Gambang Cengkok in Slendro Manyura
Tetabeuhan Sungut (Onomatopoeia) (score)
a little piece for pianoforte (score)
Rag for Deena (score)
Gending Moon (score)
Waton by Komang Astita (score)
Trimbat by Ida Bagus Made Widnyana (score)
Homage to Tradition: CD notes
The Mills College Gamelan

Vol.7/8 2000

Waves (score)
Ghosts (score)
Woodstone (score)
Al Het (score)
The September Vision (score)
Philemon and Baukis (score)
The Cave (score)
In That Bright World (score)
Gong Kundali Shakti (score)
A Lion Does Not Read Books (score)
In Celebration of Golden Rain (score)
Rain (score)
5 Inventions for 2 Bonang and Percussion (score)
The Sycamore Tree (score)
Gotong Royong (score)
Kembalikan Indonesia Padaku (poem)

Vol.6 1998

Singing round the table: vocalized wayang and gamelan in Jemblung and Purwacarita
Ra Ngandel: Martopangrawit’s last “experimental” composition
The New Order and Reformasi: The Wayang Scene in Semarang
Madura Journal: encounters with strange ensembles
gonjanganjingnegeriku
Musical Transcription: from sound to symbol and back again
Joko Sutrisno: “Penataan — many different feelings in a short time” (interview)
Beat the gong “until it laughs”: Panggiyo Resowiguna (interview)
“Why do we dance at all?”: Liong Xi, performer and choreographer (interview)
Reong Lenggong (score)
Kerinduan / Ketawang Yitmo (score)
Gamelan on the World Wide Web

Vol.5(2) 1993

Creative Musical Practices in the Performance of Pantun Sunda
Tembang Sunda Poetry
“Our laughter balances our tears”: Humor in Sundanese Arts
Sundanese Dance Accompaniment: the Career of Pa Kayat
Linking Past and Future: Asep Sunandar Sunarya, Irawati Durban Arjo and Endo Suanda (interview)
Nano S.’s Warna: A Life in Music
Warna (score)
Gamelan Town: Sundanese Arts at U.C. Santa Cruz (profile)
Gamelan Freiburg (profile)

Vol.5(1) 1991

Across Three Generations: a Solo Piece for Thai Gong Circle
Phya Sok (transcription)
Teachers on Tape: Innovation and Experimentation in Teaching Thai Music
Sam-Ang Sam: We Live Through Changes (interview)
The Term Karawitan
Gelas 1091 (score)
Yokaze (score)
Thai Music at Kent State (profile)
Gods, Giants and Monkeys: Thai Music at Southwestern University (profile)

Vol.4(2) 1990

Kotekan: the technique of interlocking parts in Balinese music
I Wayan Dibia: the relationship of music and dance in Balinese performing arts (interview)
Sindu Arsa (score)
Gamelan Sekar Jaya (profile)
Gamelan Angklung in Denver (profile)

Vol.4(1) 1989

Pekan Komponis VIII: a national composers' festival
“It’s not official till the gong is hung”: Dr. Sri Hastanto, S. Kar. (interview)
Gamelan in Britain: the story so far
Changes (score)
Mas in 1 minor (score)
The Monkey Puzzle (score)
Profiles of UK Gamelan

Vol.3(3) 1988

An introduction to the musical traditions of Cirebon
Dancing in Cirebonese Topeng
An introduction to wayang kulit Cirebon
Tarling: modern music from Cirebon
Coast (score)
Weraspati Gong, Sweden (profile)
The Hawaii Loa College gamelan ensemble (profile)

Vol.3(2) 1988

Balungan
The construction and use of the knobbed gong in Taiwan
An informal chronology of gamelan in Japan
John Cage (interview)
An introduction to the slendro gender panerus including cengkok notation
National Institute of the Arts, Taiwan (profile)

Vol.3(1) 1987

Sardono Kusomo: a world without boundaries (interview)
Letter from Banyumas
Gending Erhu (score)
Indonesia Group EXPO ’86 (profile)
Suhirjan: musician and gamelan maker (profile)
Gending Jody (score)

Vol.2(3) 1986

First International Gamelan Festival and Symposium
Sasak Music in Lombok
Philip Corner: You Can Only Be Who You Are (interview)
Bila Bali di Tangan Bule: If Bali Were Held By Bules (translation)
Marta Budaya (score)
NightWaters (score)
New Music for Gamelan at ASKI Solo
Gamelan in Texas (profile)
Gamelan in New Zealand: a chronology (profile)

Vol.2(1-2) 1986

Suratno: Recent Innovations in Javanese Wayang Kulit (interview)
Notation or Not: Some musings about writing it all down
The Angklung Ensemble of West Java: Continuity of an Agricultural Tradition
Friends of the Gamelan, Chicago, Illinois (profile)
University of Michigan: an interview with Judith Becker and Rene Lysloff (profile)
University of Wisconsin at Madison (profile)
Five Inventions for Two Bonang and Percussion (score)
Northern Illinois University: an interview with Han Kuo-Huang (profile)
Ethnomusicology at Oberlin College (profile)
The Bonang Barung in Contemporary Gamelan Performance Practice
Bali Swing (score)
Gamelan Festival Expo ’86 Vancouver

Vol.1(3) 1985

I Wayan Sinti: Combining the Old with the New (interview)
Aesthetic Tradition and Cultural Transition in Java and Bali (book review)
KOKAR Den Pasar: An Annotated List of Gamelan on Campus
Gamelan at Rockland Project School
Lancaran Siborupastima (score)
Earth Music: A Catalogue of Indonesian Music
Cambridge Gamelan Society (profile)
Gong Dance à 7 (score)

Vol.1(2) 1985

Daniel Schmidt: composition and the design of American Gamelan (interview)
Tuning Systems in American Gamelan
Karawitan: source readings in Javanese Gamelan and vocal music (book review)
Network (news bulletin)
Main Bersama-sama (score)
Cengkok for the Gender (notation)
Beginning Gender Technique

Vol.1(1) 1984

Harja Susilo: 26 years of flexibility and tolerance (interview)
West Java Arts: the Spirit of Sunda (profile)
Javanese Wayang Kulit at UC Berkeley (review)
In That Bright World (score)
Sigramangsah: bonang of Ki Wasitodipuro (transcription)
Concert Programs: Hawaii, Sonoma State, Mills College, Berkeley Gamelan, Diamond Bridge
Topeng Babakan (film review)