An interview with a Balinese Composer "Yudane"

Bali is a place of varied arts such as music, dances, and stage plays. Moreover, it is a place of talented people who represent the Balinese culture and arts. Among these people is Yudane, a leading talent among the younger generation of composers of Bali, Indonesia.


Yudane is becoming quite popular as he produces works for concert performances, theatre, as well sound installations.


The Melbourne Age Critics Award for Creative Excellence as well as the Helpmann Award for Best Original Music Score were won for the 2000 Adelaide Festival production, The Theft of Sita, which had Yudane’s score.


Apart from those, Yudane also has been the recipient of the annual award for the Best Composition for Balinese gamelan not only once but 9 times. He also won the 1999 Adikara Nugraha Award for the Creator of New Musical Composition which was awarded by the Bali government.


Gamelan remains to be Yudane’s passion as he currently teaches it at the New Zealand School of Music and has also composed some pieces for the Gamelan Padhang Moncar. And right now, he is a resident part time of Wellington and is co-director of the Balinese ensemble Gamelan Taniwha Jaya.


"Paradise Regained, a work dedicated to the victims of the Bali bombing, is succinct, dramatic and technically ferocious and was beautifully executed by pianist Sarah Watkins and I Wayan Gde Yudane on an Indonesian xylophone-like gangsa. Rhythmically fevered fragments were exchanged between the players on and off the beat, framed within a mercilessly driving pulse. The quickfire exchanges and emphatic unison points seemed to represent not only a powerful interaction between two discrete cultures, but also a successful example of fusion." This is a statement from Yudane as a review of Encounters II.


These are just some of the people that make Bali proud. And, of course, there are also the many Bali villas, Bali luxury villas, as well as Bali villas resort, and private villas in Bali, that will definitely make your stay worthwhile.