Concert features the traditional and modern music of Bali

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Jun 04, 2009 (The Kansas City Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- GNTA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Kansas Citians can get a glimpse into one of the world's most fascinating cultures Saturday when a renowned Balinese music and dance family comes to town for a concert at UMKC's Pierson Hall.

The family will perform with the local Gamelan Genta Kasturi, or Ensemble of Blossoming Sound, and will present a rousing concert of traditional and modern Balinese music that includes gongs, drums and bronze metallophones (tuned metal bars) mixed with dancers in traditional costumes from the Indonesian island.

I Ketut Gede Asnawa and his wife and three daughters will travel from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where Asnawa teaches gamelan, a popular form of Indonesian music, at the Center for World Music. Asnawa also taught at UMKC in 2003 and stayed a few years as a visiting faculty member. It was during that time that he helped form the local ensemble.

"This is a community group," said Patrick Conway, director of the ensemble that is part of the UMKC Conservatory Community Music & Dance Academy. The conservatory owns the instruments and provides the Charlotte House rehearsal space.

"We're excited that Asnawa is coming back," Conway said. "It's like a homecoming."

Conway said he got hooked on gamelan music back in 2003 when Asnawa started bringing musicians together to create the ensemble. Conway, who's also a composer and has written pieces for the group, said the drum functions as the conductor for this dynamic performance.

"It's going to be very exciting to see and hear this integrated art with music and dance," he said. "It will be very rhythmic, and the costuming is visually exciting, too."

Gamelan is the orchestral music tradition of Indonesia and sometimes includes not only gongs, but xylophones, bamboo flutes, and bowed and plucked strings. Gamelan comes from the Javanese word "gamel," which means to hammer or strike.

"There are different types of gamelan," Asnawa said. "There is the quiet, contemplative 'Java' type of gamelan and the more bright, blessing, daytime type. My goal is to be a teacher and train people in this art and to love this music.

"In Bali, music is a way of life and a (religious) offering," he said. "I learned it from my uncles and my father."

Asnawa came to the United States in the late '80s, already a prominent composer, performer and scholar in Indonesia. He has taught gamelan for many years and has performed all over the world. Last year, he took a group of students and faculty from the University of Illinois to Bali to perform in the Bali Arts Festival.

"Asnawa is a big deal," Conway said. "Anyone coming to the concert will certainly understand what I'm talking about."

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saturday

What: "Gamelan Genta Kasturi"

When: 7:30 p.m.

Where: Pierson Hall, University Center, 5000 Rockhill Road

How much: Free, but $10 donation is suggested

For information: conservatory.umkc.edu

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