What is Gamelan?
According to the early history of the emergence in 1835, Gamelan is heard as the music in the palace known as Gamelan Istana Pahang and Gamelan Istana Terengganu. Normally, this traditional music played an instrumental or singing to accompany the royal ceremony, celebrating the dignitaries and on certain festival days. Set of gamelan played here in Malaysia is a common set of gamelan ; slendro. It is a tool of Java gamelan that Linga brought from the palace in Riau. Now, gamelan is played outside of the palace and evolved into part of the arts for the community known as the Malay Gamelan.
Kelab Gamelan Citra Nusantara #KGCN
National Defence University of Malaysia (NDUM) as one of the higher education institutions are very concerned with the involvement of students in developing talent in the field of culture. Therefore, gamelan music, one of the traditional music orchestra was established as the official music for various events at the University. This is to provide opportunities for students to cultivate artistic talent. By doing so, it bring scholars to broaden the vision of art.
Kelab Gamelan Citra Nusantara is a new gamelan club which was officially opened on August 6, 2010. The establishment of this club is the idea of former NDUM Deputy Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Prof Wan Mahzom bt Ahmad Shah. All equipment and devices was specially imported from suppliers of gamelan Surakarta, Indonesia in 2009.
Up to now, Kelab Gamelan Citra Nusantara was able to shape its own image in driving a culture of traditional classical music playing. Although this club is new, but a number of achievements have been successfully achieved such as performing at the first NDUM Convocation, 'Jom Semarakkan Seni' performance at Pasar Seni, 'Majlis Puisi Kemerdekaan Rumah Pena', Cultural Night Performance at Surakarta Institute of Art, and several other performances. Subsequently, under the new leadership of Khairunnisa bt Ahmad, session 2012/2013, several activities have been planned to make Kelab Gamelan Citra Nusantara keep on moving forward.
