What If Music...Balinese Gamelan Meets Electro-Jazz with Firetail, Gamelan DanAnda, Mahindra Bali and Ria Soemardjo

This collaboration was kicked off by the “What if Music...” forum where creative workers engaged in a conversation with academics, arts administrators and venue owners to discuss the role of culturally diverse music and arts in telling Australian stories, and shaping our national conversation. They asked if perspective taking and creative collaboration can help us tackle issues faced by culturally diverse musicians and complexities of inter-cultural cohesion.

Firetail's music spans from 70’s jazz-fusion, South Indian Carnatic music and their very own brand of jazz-tronica. Formed in 2018 as a collaborative recording project, Firetail has developed an ambient approach to song-writing that blends soul-infused rhythms with evocative melodies and driving percussion. “Truly a musical journey that moves in and out of jazz and neo soul textures to progressive experimental post rock with heavy doses of psychedelia all smacked with a wet sloppy kiss of jazztronica flavors” - Robb Donker Curtis— American Pancake

Gamelan DanAnda (GDA) Operating since 2012, GDA is a community gamelan orchestra modelled on a Balinese organisation known as a Sanggar in which beginners and experienced players, students and professional performers come together to create a dynamic network of musical ensembles under one roof. GDA is dedicated to increasing awareness of the unique features of Balinese Gamelan music, for audiences to enjoy, performers to understand, and for composers to be inspired. Gamelan DanAnda have strong links with Victoria's Balinese and broader Indonesian community and frequently collaborate with other multicultural artists, ensembles and community groups.