Matthew Clough-Hunter - Reyong and Suling

Hirotaka Inuzuka - Reyong

Cordey Lopez -- Modular synthesizer

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Gong Gaada is an experimental trio based in Los Angeles bridging traditional Balinese gamelan with West Coast electronic and avant-garde music. They perform a deconstructed form of electroacoustic gamelan through both original compositions and reinterpretations of traditional pieces, using Balinese instruments alongside modular synthesizer and electronics.

 

The name Gong Gaada -- which literally translates from Indonesian as "there is no gong" -- is a play on the naming conventions of gamelan ensembles, which often begin with the word Gong. The title of this album, Sing Wenten: Electronic Gamelan, literally means "there is no electronic gamelan" in Balinese. While echoing the band's name, it is also an homage to I Nyoman Wenten, who has taught gamelan in Southern California for over 50 years.

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Video: Gong Gaada performance at College of the Holy Cross

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Original album artwork was created by Kuncir Sathya Viku (b. 1990, Bali, Indonesia). Viku is a visual artist and painter working with rerajahan, a form of Balinese sorcery composed of sacred symbols and text. Through automatic painting, he subconsciously channels surrealist imagery that responds to social and cultural conditions, while deconstructing traditional Balinese visual tropes. He holds a degree in Visual Communication Design from Indonesian Institute of Art, Denpasar (2013) and has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Bali and Indonesia.