Surat Siswa Sukra (April 26)
A quick rundown of Siswa Sukra's recent and upcoming activities
By Calum Bell, 27th Apr 2026
Greetings from Siswa Sukra! Here is a quick rundown of our recent and upcoming activities.
Summer Term
We are only days out from the start of our Summer term of gamelan classes. These sessions are led by our artistic directors Peter Smith and Dave McKenny and take place on Wednesday evenings at the Indonesian Embassy in London. A typical Siswa Sukra latihan consists of a pedagogy-focused intermediate session (running 17:30 - 19:00), followed by an advanced session (running 19:00 - 21:00) where repertoire new and old is explored.
If you are interested in joining us, please get in touch via our Contact page.
Spring Term in Review
This term we were delighted to welcome several new players to our intermediate group.
In March we were visited by renown academic Andy Sutton (University of Hawaii), who joined us for a few sessions, one evening bringing about twenty of his students to watch!
Following discussion with the Indonesian Embassy and Southbank Centre we are hopeful that Gamelan Lebdå Jiwå, the beautiful set of instruments that were used to run the Southbank Centre’s Gamelan programme for 30+ years, will be making its way to the Indonesian Embassy in London. We would like to thank the +700 people who signed the Letter of Support to help make this happen.
Upcoming Performances
We are delighted and honoured to be invited by the Anglo-Indonesian Society to once again perform at their annual garden party, taking place on the 11th July at the residence of the Indonesian Ambassador. We are putting together a programme of light classical pieces, as well as plenty of lively langgam and dhangdut (by request of our gracious hosts). For many of our intermediate group, last year's event was their first time performing with us.
In related UK Gamelan happenings, our friends at the Cambridge University Gamelan Society have a concert scheduled for Tuesday 12th May at West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge (get your tickets here). Several members of Siswa Sukra will be involved in the performance of the beautiful Srimpi Dhempel court dance.
