Gangsapura Gamelan Studio

Art Center · Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

About Gangsapura Gamelan Studio

Gangsapura occupies unit GM-8-13A on the eighth floor of GMBB, a creative mall on Jalan Robertson in the Bukit Bintang district of Kuala Lumpur, where it runs as a dedicated studio for Malay-style gamelan. The ensemble tradition centers on bronze and wooden percussion instruments, among them the keromong, gambang, saron, gong, gendang and kenong, and traces a documented presence on the Malay Peninsula back to 1811, reaching the royal court in Pekan, Pahang, through a wedding tie to the Riau-Lingga sultanate in the seventeenth century. The studio was founded by Teuku Umar Ilany Teuku Iskandar, a lecturer at the National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage (Aswara), who runs it together with his wife, Nur Diyana Nadirah Shaharuddin, with help from instructor Ahmad Syamiem Mohd Sukarno. The three lead a performing group also called Gangsapura that formed in 2016 and spent years renting rehearsal space and instruments, at times for several thousand ringgit, while building a reputation through shows at KLPac and the Malaysia Tourism Centre. That track record led to a 2023 grant under the Creative Kuala Lumpur Creative Grants Programme, which, together with support from individual donors and the city-focused nonprofit ThinkCity, allowed the group to equip and open its own studio in 2024. Soundproofing panels decorated with red songket patterns line the space. Classes run at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, with five weekly slots scheduled to accommodate demand, and trial sessions are open to children from age seven. Teaching follows an oral tradition in which students learn by listening, watching, copying and repeating rather than reading notation, and participants can progress across several instruments rather than specializing in just one. Beyond regular classes, the studio hosts performances and immersive sessions for visitors who want a single, concentrated introduction to the instruments. The studio is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10am to 8pm and closed on Mondays. It can be reached by phone at +6 014 709 8125, and further information on classes and workshops is posted at gangsapura.com. Gangsapura fills what has until now been an empty category for Malaysia in this directory: the country has restaurant, diplomatic, bank and learning-center listings but no dedicated art or cultural center before this one.

Address

Unit GM-8-13A, GMBB, No. 2, Jalan Robertson, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening hours

Tuesday Sunday
10:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Monday
Closed

Contact

Category

Indonesian Art Center in Malaysia

Tags

Authentic Indonesian places in Malaysia · Family-friendly Indonesian places in Malaysia

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