Last week, Mekar Bhuana co-founder, Vaughan Hatch, explained to a group of guests at a dinner reception in Ubud a bit about the history of bamboo music in Bali. Part of his explanation included a demonstration performed by one of the conservatory’s quartets of gamelan musicians. Two of these bamboo instruments are called rindik, 11-13 keyed xylophones tuned to a fairly even-tempered scale. Read the rest of this entry »

After the purchase of a beautiful iron selonding gamelan set, a duplicate of the ancient 10th century set from Besakih Temple, Mekar Bhuana Conservatory has immersed itself serious selonding study. Read the rest of this entry »