GAMELAN BIKE BIKE
May 31, 2025
Photo by Yohei Shimomae
Evergreen Cultural Centre is proud to present Gamelan Bike Bike, an utterly unique, innovative musical experience where the traditional music of Indonesia meets the contemporary stylings of local and international musicians.
With origins from the islands of Java and Bali, this instrumental genre features several types of gongs and sets of tuned metal instruments that are struck with mallets. No two gamelans sound exactly alike either, as the instruments are hand-forged and tuned to match the ensemble rather than a specific pitch.
Tonight, this 10-member ensemble brings you a one of a kind musical experience.
FINAL REHEARSAL HALL SESSION OF
Gamelan Bike Bike draws its musical inspiration from Bali, Indonesia and its raw materials from the scrap metal bins of Vancouver. Founded as a community-based project, the ensemble brings together a diverse group of artists to materialize and animate new experimental instruments. They transformed over 100 discarded bicycle frames, along with other scrap metals, into a range of tuned metallophones and gongs that form the foundation of their sound.
The ensemble is dedicated to performing new music for gamelan, including compositions from guest composers I Putu Gede Sukaryana and I Putu Swaryandana Ichi Oka from Bali. In 2017 the group released Hi-Ten, an album of original works with the Indonesia-based label Insitu Recordings and is currently preparing their next album.
Gamelan Bike Bike is currently based at the Hadden Park Fieldhouse as part of the Publik Secrets fieldhouse residency with the Vancouver Park Board and regularly offers workshops and performances to the community.
Photo by Yohei Shimomae
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