AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Music of the Tropics: Balinese Drum Troupe Performs at the Sackler

Syncopated rhythms and melodic drums characterize Indonesdian “gamelan” music

Anika Gupta

Syncopated rhythms and melodic drums characterize Indonesian "gamelan" music, the focus of today's installment in our "Around the Mall" performance videos. Gamelan differs from island to island, and the ensemble that played at the Sackler Gallery last week does Balinese gamelan. Check out the video below to learn how the gongs and drums are played, and to see a clip from the performance.

In an earlier performance video, "Ganesh in the Garden," we talked to a Rajasthani dance group about retelling the stories of Hindu Gods.

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Anika Gupta

Anika Gupta’s writing has appeared in India and the United States, including in Business Today magazine, where she served as its first digital content editor, the Hindustan Times newspaper and Smithsonian magazine. Currently, she is a Master's student at MIT, where she studies user-generated content and mainstream media culture. She's also a science writer, media blogger, and essayist.