Anglayang: Blend of Gamelan and Flavourful Jazz

GDA x Firetail recording at Sing Sing East

Recording of Anglayang album, a collaboration by Gamelan DanAnda and jazz fusion band Firetail Credit: Adelista Widjaya

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Gamelan DanAnda, a Melbourne-based gamelan group, has released a collaboration album with jazz fusion band Firetail, titled 'Anglayang'.

As evident from the ‘Nglayang’ song snippet, the music in this album is rich in influences, beyond Balinese gamelan and jazz.

This is partly due to Firetail itself having members hailing from various cultural backgrounds.

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Anglayang - kolaborasi Gamelan dan musik Jazz Kaya Rasa

SBS Indonesian

23/03/202506:20

Jamie McElhinney, Firetail’s bass player, said the band’s percussionist, for example, came from Srilanka and is skilled in traditional instruments such as Tabla as well as Carnatic singing from India. Their keyboard player is of South Korean background while the guitarist is from South America.

Prior to collaborating with Gamelan DanAnda, Jamie had not been too familiar with gamelan or Indonesian music in general. During the recording process, he was impressed by how gamelan players were able to switch from one instrument from another, while Firetail’s members were generally focused on each of their instruments.

The collaboration began as a chinwag between Jamie and John Cheong-Holdaway from Gamelan DanAndaon the possibilities of the two groups working together. The idea was supported by the late Zulya Kamalova, Director of The Boite, an organisation supporting musicians from multicultural backgrounds in Victoria. From one offer of support to another, the two groups finally found themselves in the recording studio.

Singer and instrumentalist in Gamelan DanAnda Ria Soemardjo, said that ‘Nglayang’, one of the songs in the album, is particularly touching for her. Ria, who is of Indonesia heritage, has studied traditional Indonesian singing styles,such as ‘nyinden’ for years. In this album, she also tried her hand at Carnatic singing.

Gamelan DaNanda Album, Firetail recorded on Wurunjerui Land to capture the CVarm,illie forest and faarm, Grenville on Wadawurrung Land. Credit: GAmelan DaNanda

For those who are not familiar with Indonesian music, despite the geographical closeness between Australia and Indonesia, Ria suggests that they take time to see a gamelan performance during a holiday in Bali, for instance.

She encourages one to experience deeply the gamelan performance, as the music, the atmosphere and visuals accompanying it are, according to her, truly unique.

Gamelan DanAnda and Firetail performed at the Brunswick Music Festival on March 2025 at Quad Club.

They will be supported by Ready New Gang, who also plays fusion gamelan music.

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Dina Indrasafitri