UH Gamelan Ensemble

Dedicated to the late director of the ensemble, Pak Hardja Susilo, the concert will feature performances by three different gamelan ensembles, Balinese gamelan angklung, Balinese gong kebyar, and Javanese court gamelan.

The gamelan program at UH began in 1970 with the arrival of both the Javanese gamelan Kyai Gandrung and Pak Susilo, who directed the ensemble as a member of the Music Department’s ethnomusicology faculty until his retirement in 1999, and then on a voluntary basis until 2015.

Pak Susilo taught both Javanese gamelan and Javanese dance, directed many dance-drama performances and gamelan concerts, and inspired a generation of students, many of whom continue to play gamelan today at various locations worldwide.

With the 1990 gift by the governor of Bali to UH of the Balinese gamelan Segara Madu, he also helped helped establish a Balinese gamelan ensemble.

Over the years, Pak Sus welcomed visiting master musicians and dancers from both Bali and Java to Hawaii to provide additional training for the ensembles.

The current ensembles carry forward the Hawaii gamelan tradition that would not have been possible without Pak Hardja Susilo.

The concert is cosponsored with the Hawaii Gamelan Society.