Gamelan

The University of Wyoming Department of Music is home to the Wyoming Gamelan, Chandra Wyoga.  The gamelan is used by the community performance group, under the direction of Balinese gamelan master I Made Lasmawan, by the world music classes for teaching and study purposes as well as for outreach to the State of Wyoming.  The Gamelan is housed in the Department of Music and its use is coordinated by Rod Garnett.

Chandra Wyoga is a name given by musical director, I Made Lasmawan.  "Chandra" refers to the beauty of the full moon.  "Wyoga" has a double meaning indicating both "Wyoming Gamelan" and "meditation on the beauty of the full moon" - a special pleasure in the beautiful State of Wyoming.  This type of Balinese gamelan is called semar pegulingan, a particularly full and versatile set of instruments and was handmade in Bali, Indonesia and shipped to Laramie in the summer of 1996.

The Chandra Wyoga consists of six pairs of bronze tone-bar instruments (twelve in all), one set of eight kettle gongs (reyong), four flutes (suling), one single kettle gong (kajar), one set of cymbals (cengceng), one bell tree (gentorag), four drums (kendang), one small gong (kemong), one medium gong (kempur), and one large gong.  The instruments are hand-carved and painted with brilliant red and yellow.  The tone bar instruments depict scenes form the Ramayana epics.

The Wyoming Gamelan was purchased with a generous gift from the Allan And Regina Willman Fund, a private fund left to the Department of Music by Allan Willman who chaired the Department for many years.

For more information, contact Mollie Hand at mollie.hand@uwyo.edu