Drugged-out hippies lazily aspired to live in one. The Partridge family idealized and trivialized the possibilities of one.
Gamelan Cudamani, however, is a true embodiment of a functioning commune centered on the arts.
Now in its 10th year, the Balinese percussion ensemble successfully intermingles art, music and dance with community life, spirituality and traditional cultural practices.
In their community of Pengosekan, Ubud, Bali, the 60 members of Gamelan Cudamani are seen as leaders who directly contribute to artistic, political and spiritual life.
“Cudamani is a community who have grown and lived together; this is something they do every day, it’s not just entertainment,” said Anu Kishore Ganpati, director of development and communications at the UCLA Center for Intercultural Performance.
“(The ensemble) has known each other since they were 5 or 6 years old. They are friends, girlfriends, boyfriends and relatives.”
Gamelan Cudamani will share authentic Balinese culture in “Odalan Bali: An Offering of Music and Dance,” this Sunday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. An event that takes place once every 210 days in 20,000 temples in Bali, the odalan (temple ceremony) will take place in Royce Hall in association with UCLA Live.
All profits from their 12-city tour will go directly back to the ensemble’s community. One of Gamelan Cudamani’s main objectives is to educate village children. The group ““ which ranges from the ages of 18 to 35 ““ currently teaches over 100 Balinese village children for free and is the first gamelan group to teach to females.
“Their first commitment is to the village and vitality of Balinese art,” Ganpati said. “They want this to be accessible to the village so they offered this to girls.”
Though now a cohesive force symbolic of an even larger tight-knit community, the group came about as a response to social disunity fueled by tourism.
“All the young people were running away and performing in tourist hotels,” Ganpati said. “I Dewa Putu Berata, (the artistic director of Cudamani), called together all the leading musicians and dancers to form a community devotional service. He wanted to reconnect the artist to the community and wanted dance and music to play an integral role as it has in the past.”
Because Cudamani is deeply tied to its community, the members are able to perform with specific skills unprecedented in more individualistic cultures.
“The sense of community and understanding between such a huge orchestra is something unusual for an American audience to hear,” Ganpati said. “In America, we struggle to be who we are, to be individuals. They understand each other, like a jazz improvisation group. They are so aware of what the others are going to do.”
“Each of them is an incredible solo performer, but the group works in community,” Ganpati added. “The entire orchestra cannot function without one instrument. Every piece needs a person.”
Each member’s acute understanding of one another allows the group to progress upon the traditional art form of gamelan.
“Innovation is just part of their persona as artists,” Ganpati said. “For them it’s a natural progression, whereas in western culture it would be called innovation.”
Gamelan Cudamani is distinct from other gamelan ensembles in that the members play on hybrid gamelan Semarandana instruments. Derived from older gamelan, Semarandana features seven tones instead of the typical five tones.
“They can create more sounds, moods, flavors,” Ganpati said of the seven tones. “They are moving both back and way into the future. Cudamani is in the forefront of creative music.”
Though the ensemble is focused on community, touring provides Cudamani with the opportunity to share Bali’s versatile culture with others. Balinese mythology and beliefs, everyday practices and devotional dances are featured in the gamelan’s performance.
All aspects of the odalan, from meal preparations to cock fights to the appearance of “barong,” ““ an enormous lion-like guardian ““ are presented in a format that is as beautiful as it is insightful.
“All these exotic monsters they bring on stage are an integral part of who they are and their world,” Ganpati said.
“When they go on tour, they do workshops for music and theater students,” Ganpati added. “There’s always an educational component.”
Cudamani reveals not only is art a necessary component of cultural unity, but that song, dance, narrative,and theatre can permeate the everyday life of a culture.
“The ensemble is an alternative model to how shows are produced and presented in Hollywood,” Ganpati said.
“While they celebrate their music, we come away with an important piece of the philosophy of life in a Bali community. They do not present and walk away.”