I Madé Arnawa

I Madé Arnawa

was born in 1960 in Tabanan, Bali and began to play gamelan music at the age of nine. Immediately following his studies at the art academy STSI in Denpasar, he was taken on there as a lecturer. On many occasions in the 1990s, he was afforded the opportunity to work as a teacher for the Californian gamelan group “Sekar Jaya”, for which he also composed a number of works. After completing a composition training course at STSI Surakart, he returned to the art academy in Denpasar as departmental director of indigenous musical forms. As a composer, Arnawa has been fundamentally influenced by the diversity of Balinese musical forms, but has always had an open ear for the music of other cultures. Indeed, the confrontation with contemporary Western forms of music has left a clear imprint on his works. I Madé Arnawa is interested in subtly expanding the Balinese musical language. Formal variations with gong cycles that continuously change, the combination of two tuning systems, phase shifts with phrases of varying lengths—all these components can be found in his exciting, new compositions. In this way, Arnawa has been able to develop his very own, yet somehow still quintessentially Balinese musical style.

“The collective and the individual should not be opposites, especially not in Indonesia. To be able to use each at the right time and without hurting others—this should be our goal.” I Madé Arnawa