Greetings to all,

Once again we had quite a crowd on the cobblestones in front of Unit 92, Stables Market, Camden, for the gamelan music open jam.  With so many waiting to play, we managed to set out most of the instruments by 7:30pm and by 8pm the soothing cacophony was off and running.

The musical diversity of the performances continues to grow by the week.  For the first time this year we brought out the amplifiers and microphones, enabling a whole new batch of instruments to enter, from traditional to not-so-traditional:  a large assortment of flutes and bird whistles, didgeridoos and bangbungs, Alex’ bass and Tim’s guitar, bamboo xylophones and djembes, just to name a few.  And thanks to Thierry for producing new mallets--we can now take advantage of the large collection of original sarons.  New faces continue to pour out of the woodwork to join our community.  At one point nearly the entire ensemble performing were first time visitors!  Many thanks to Gaby and Simone, Rasta and friends, all part of the Fuerzabruta show now playing at the Roundhouse.

Big thank you to two recent supporters who are (temporarily?) leaving London:  Azis (many of the photos posted this week are his), who is off to the North, and Stephanie who is heading south (we’ll miss her words, wine, and, yes, music). 

Thanks to the generosity of many present, the food and drinks tables were well stocked--including a table full of fresh juices generously provided by Banyan Café!  Please remember that we gather as an open community: ‘Pot Luck’, ‘BYOB’, ‘Thanksgiving’, call it what you like, we hope we can continue with each providing what they can and in turn taking what they like.  So far it has been a great success.

This past Sunday was also our first fund raising ceremony, with all monies collected going directly to aid Bicak and Ngunut, two hamlets hit hard by the 27 May Yogyakarta earthquake.  We collected just shy of £120 pounds, enough for more than 500kg of rice in Java.  These funds will be brought to Central Java this week.  Thank you all.

Again, a very big thank you to all who participated in last Sunday’s event.  Please remember that we meet EVERY Sunday at 7pm.  We again hope to build up to our next fund raising ceremony will be in the first week in August.  We will bring together the same musical enthusiasm we saw this past Sunday and present it alongside various styles of dance and movements, including a spectacular display of kembangan.  So get you’re your dancing shoes and sing the…  better yet, make joyous gamelan music.  Hope to see you all there this Sunday.

Warm salaams to all,

Sekar Gedhogan