We had the good fortune of connecting with Adam Berg, Matthew Clough-Hunter, Dewa Ayu Dewi Larassanti, Kerri Shak and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Adam Berg, Matthew Clough-Hunter, Dewa Ayu Dewi Larassanti, Kerri Shak, what’s the end goal, career-wise?
This summer, the Los Angeles Gamelan Festival will be held at the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, on Father’s Day Weekend: July 14 & 15, 2025.

Through LAGF, we will launch the Los Angeles Gamelan Collective! LAGC will work to bring together all spectrums of gamelan, ranging from classical traditional works to experimental contemporary pieces. Moving forward, we will be seeking musicians, choreographers, composers, and various forms of artistry, to create opportunities for new repertoire. We will be drawing from techniques that span across the globe. Indonesian and American Artists are constantly inspiring one another, regardless of international boundaries and across generations. By the end of our careers, we want to be a Collective that embraces the nuances of Indonesian arts, and Global Culture, especially as the arts grow through collaboration and technology.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The Los Angeles Gamelan Festival is supported by Burat Wangi and the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia. Burat Wangi Gamelan is a professional Indonesian music and dance group based in Los Angeles. The group was founded in 1972 by Bapak I Nyoman Wenten, Ibu Nanik Wenten, and K.P.H. Notoprojo at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. The Los Angeles Gamelan Festival is held in celebration of the 50th Teaching Anniversary of our founders Bapak I Nyoman Wenten and Ibu Nanik Wenten.
The LAGF Team has been working tirelessly to produce all aspects of the event. Spearheaded by Adam Berg, the LAGF team works to bring this vision to life, with Producer Dewa Ayu Dewi Larassanti and Co-Producer Matthew Clough-Hunter, the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia as the host, and Gamelan Burat Wangi the home base. With the help of Production Coordinator Lizzy Erickson, LAGF’s production team is collaborating with Reason One to fulfill our production needs, including stage, sound, and lighting. Additional sound and production support is provided by Unity Studios LA and producer Adam Berg. Marketing campaigns have been boosted by the support of our marketing team: Shella Berg, Kerri Shak, Arista Nareswari, and Dewa Ayu Dewi Larassanti. A new festival at this level requires a plethora of expertise, LAGF can draw from backgrounds within our diverse team to make this event as successful as possible.
This Festival will bring together Indonesian repertoire and artists that rarely get to meet. Some of us being Indonesian ourselves, we find great value in providing a space for Indonesian gamelans across the states to become a community. And as artists, we recognize the significance of sharing our own cultures, compositions, and choreographies while learning more about Indonesian arts that we ourselves have not been exposed to. From Iowa to California, from North Bali to the South, from traditional to modern, the Los Angeles Gamelan Festival will connect us all.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If our best friends visit, we would definitely plan spending a weekend at the LA GAMELAN FESTIVAL (especially since this would be an awesome way to celebrate Father’s Day with your family)! But during the week, we would take our friends to eat and get boba on Sawtelle. We also enjoy finding and supporting local Indonesian businesses. To cap off the experience, we would book a session at Unity Studios LA (find us @unitystudiosla and https://unitystudiosla.com/)!

Website: https://www.buratwangi.com/lagf

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/la.gamelan.festival

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/la.gamelan.festival

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LosAngelesGamelanCollective

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@la.gamelan.festival

Image Credits
Photos by: Ted Soqui
https://www.tedsoquiphoto.com/

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