For the third time in ten years, the Governor of Bali invited Gamelan Sekar Jaya to participate in the Balinese Arts Festival (PKB) in Denpasar. The California-based group was in Bali from 25 June until 17 July, with five performances and a recording session for TVRI among the highlights. A special feature of the 1995 tour was its study component: a series of instrumental and vocal workshops and a lecture program, all conducted by prominent Balinese performers and scholars.
Joining GSJ from California were the members of "Crosspulse," an Afro-Latin-Middle Eastern quintet of percussionists and singers, to collaborate on a new work co-composed by Keith Terry and Wayne Vitale. The repertoire for the concerts included eight works (five for gamelan gong kebyar, three for gamelan angklung). Five pieces were Bali premieres (*).
As in 1985 and 1992, the village of Peliatan served as tour headquarters for the forty-four performers. Upon arrival, the group began intensive rehearsals. Residents of Banjar Kalah, who were about to celebrate the installation of the newly elected Kelian Banjar, invited GSJ to take part in the pelantikan ceremony on 29 June with several instrumental and dance pieces. This initial public event helped acclimate the group to Balinese audiences and solidify the already close ties with this banjar.
The recording session at TVRI Stasiun Denpasar resulted in several short segments that began airing the first week of July. Balinese continually stopped GSJ members in the street to say, "We saw Sekar Jaya play last night!"
The PKB concert of 3 July, held at the "Open Stage" at STSI, was attended by an overflow crowd of 2000 people. Subsequent concert events included sharing the stage with sekaha gong Bungkulan in Sangsit (Buleleng); a tooth-filing ceremony in Klungkung; and the odalan at Pura Apuan (near Baturiti, Tabanan).
GSJ honored recent teachers-in-residence I Md. Arnawa, I Dewa Putu Berata, I Kt. Partha, and I Ny. Windha by inviting them to join the group as guest musicians.
The Apuan event, on 16 July, was perhaps the highpoint of the 1995 tour, because of its intimacy, its isolated setting in the hills of Tabanan, and the fact that
Americans were performing gong kebyar and angklung music, with dance, at an important temple festival. Dozens of barong and masks had been brought to Pura Apuan for
blessings, and performances and the reading of kekawin poetry preceded Sekar Jaya’s appearance. The atmosphere was both serene and heavily charged. As a group, GSJ was
invited to join in sembahyang (prayer) in the temple and, following the performance, magibung (ritual meal) with temple officials.
Workshops began on 5 July, following the PKB concert. GSJ members chose from a variety of activities for individual and group study: kendang, gangsa, gender, reong,
suling, tembang/kidung singing, wayang Tantri, gamelan jegog, joged, balaganjur, and beginning/advanced dance, among others. Most workshops and classes took place
throughout Banjar Kalah and even Ubud; for the study of Tari Palawakya and gamelan joged, the group spent three days in Buleleng.
The lecture series included talks on music, dance, theater, wayang, and aesthetics by some of Bali’s outstanding performers and scholars: A. A. Md. Djelantik, I Gusti Bagus Ny. Pandji, A. A. Anom Putra, I Wy. Sinti, I Gusti Ayu Sukmawati, I Wy. Suweca, I Wy. Wija, and Ni Md. Wiratini. In addition, Sekar Jaya sponsored commissioned performances of wayang suling (dalang I Md. Sija), of wayang Tantri (dalang I Wy. Wija), and of music and dance by Gamelan Semara Ratih of Ubud.
As tributes to the residents of Peliatan, Sekar Jaya produced two evenings of special entertainment in Banjar Kalah. The first featured a Crosspulse show followed by the commissioned wayang Tantri. The second evening was a performance by the group "Kesenian Jegog Niti Suara" of Tegalcangkring (Jembrana/West Bali). The jegog group presented dance, martial arts, jokes, and spectacular bamboo music quite unfamiliar in south Bali. Members of GSJ who had participated in the jegog workshop that week joined their teachers from "KJNS" in a few of the pieces.
Dozens of Balinese performers, scholars, teachers, and friends were guests at the final event of the official GSJ tour, a pesta perpisahan (farewell party) on 17 July in Peliatan. In its sixteen years of existence, Gamelan Sekar Jaya has worked with many of the best artists in Bali. All were honored and thanked at this festive evening of food, performance, and conversation, which provided a satisfying and meaningful close to a successful tour.