Gamelan Madu Sari (SFU)
Art Center · Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
About Gamelan Madu Sari (SFU)
Simon Fraser University's gamelan program in Vancouver centers on a complete set of Javanese instruments known as Kyai Madu Sari, a name given to it by the late gamelan teacher Pak Cokro that translates roughly to the venerable essence of honey. The instruments arrived in Canada for Expo 86, the 1986 world exposition held in Vancouver, and were afterward donated to SFU, where they have anchored a continuous teaching program for close to four decades. Since 2010 the gamelan has been housed at the Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre inside the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, SFU's downtown campus building at 149 West Hastings Street.
The university's School for the Contemporary Arts offers the instruments for study through for-credit courses, Gamelan I and Gamelan II, described in the course calendar as a practical and theoretical study of ensemble music drawn mainly from Javanese tradition; a section was still scheduled to meet twice weekly through the fall 2026 term. Student musicians regularly perform alongside the Vancouver Community Gamelan Society, a group of non-student community members who rehearse on the same instruments, at concerts the school opens to the public free of charge. The ensemble has also performed and recorded under the name Gamelan Madu Sari since the late 1980s, led for many years by instructor Sutrisno Hartana, who has taught the instruments at SFU since 1999, following founding leadership from the late composer Martin Bartlett.
Past projects credited to the ensemble include the original theatrical work Semar's Journey in 2007, a successor production, Semar in Lila Maya, that toured Ontario and Quebec in 2008, and the 2010 album Hive, released on the Vancouver jazz and world-music label Songlines Records. A related chamber group, Gamelan Alligator Joy, performs on a separate set of instruments commissioned in 1990. Specific rehearsal schedules and the process for joining the community ensemble were not independently confirmed and are left out here; those interested in attending a concert or taking part are directed to contact the School for the Contemporary Arts directly.
Address
149 West Hastings Street, Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaContact
- Website: https://gamelanmadusari.com
Category
Indonesian Art Center in Canada
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