Gamelan Madu Sari, a musical ensemble will be honouring their first teacher in a concert   featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings.

The concert will pay tribute to the late K.R.T. Wasitodiningrat (affectionately known to his many students as Pak Cokro) with traditional Javanese court music, dance and contemporary compositions.

The concert will feature classical gamelan pieces, as well as contemporary works by ensemble members Sutrisno Hartana, Michael O’Neill, Ben Rogalsky, Andrew Czink and Mark Parlett.

Kenneth Newby’s piece Symmetry, partly inspired by the bell-ringing tradition of English churches, will be premiered in its multi-media version, with live computer-animated abstract visuals by Aleksandra Dulic.

The tribute concert will feature two classical gamelan pieces associated with Pak Cokro, and a masked court dance in the refined style for solo dancer, Kelana Topeng Alus.

It will be danced by Sutrisno’s daughter Ayun in her dance debut. Pak Cokro was also a fine dancer in his younger days, and this was one of his favourite dances.

The concert is presented by Vancouver Community Gamelan and Western Front,  one of Canada’s first artist-run-centre that promotes role of artist to determine cultural ecology. The concert will be held at The Western Front located at 303 E. 8th Ave. on Sun Jan 27, 8pm. For more info visit: www.front.bc.ca.