We at Insitu Recordings are pleased to announce the first issue of our companion magazine!

When we first began talking about the Insitu Recordings project our intention was to create something that did not exist. We didn’t want to create a record label, in the usual sense, nor did we want to create a gang/band/group, or sanggar. We wanted to fill a void in the production of gamelan recordings and take advantage of recent technological developments that make such an effort easier today. We also saw potential in exploring new ways to engage with gamelan music through recordings. After we launched unexpected opportunities emerged too, including the prospect of facilitating the cross-pollination of gamelan with disparate musics, thus expanding its reach and audience within Indonesia and the rest of world, as well as helping people connect, collaborate, and inspire each other in novel ways. Many of these prospects have yet to bear fruit, but seeds have been sown and all signposts suggest wonderful things to come. This is what keeps us going.

It would be dishonest to take credit for the particular alignment of planets and stars that both encouraged us to take on this endeavor and made it possible at all. In retrospect I Putu Gede Sukaryana (Balot) and I recognize that we were only two bodies in a larger constellation that included many friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers. The music we set out to support and capture was brought to life by countless artists and teachers on Bali and abroad who have spent decades pushing aesthetic and cultural boundaries, thinking about what should come next, and sharing these experiences with students while encouraging them to explore new paths forward. We also have to acknowledge the new technologies that have made it easier for an independent group of this size to tackle a project of this scope on our own. Professional recording equipment is smaller, cheaper, and easier to operate than it used to be and the spread of the Internet has made it possible for us to collaborate efficiently and share the results despite being separated by great distances. All of these pieces seemed to fall into place in 2016 and we thought it would be irresponsible if we didn’t seize the opportunity to take advantage of the possibilities they pointed toward.

The main goals that guided much of our early discussions about the project included documenting the incredible music young people on Bali are creating today, which is often performed just a handful of times before it is forgotten and rarely, if ever, documented professionally. We were also determined to see this documentation available in both Indonesia and abroad. Furthermore, we wanted to support a growing network of artists that transcends customary spatial and conceptual borders and create a space where the aspiring can learn from the experienced. We didn’t want to focus exclusively on new music or new artists. We wanted to connect disparate realms because our own lives and interests crossed them too.

At that time a magazine was nowhere on the horizon, but it feels like a natural companion to the project now because it will help us reach these goals more effectively. Each issue will be a collection of essays and other media presented in a combination of English, Bahasa, and Balinese. This aspect of the magazine reflects the multi-lingual community we serve and supports those of us in it that want to get better at communicating with one another. In general, the offerings will give greater context to the wider world of gamelan music, exploring imagined centers as much as their peripheries, and be a medium through which established voices can be shared with younger people and/or those outside the rather inward-looking realm of Balinese gamelan. The magazine will also be a forum that allows us to better support artists that contribute to the Insitu Recordings project. Many contributors have interesting stories to tell and projects that are not represented in our catalog. The magazine will enable us to shed more light on their remarkable activities as well as aspects of the project that are difficult to illuminate elsewhere.

We know these are lofty goals and that we are marching toward a distant target, but we believe it’s worth it because along the way we’ll learn a great deal, meet many interesting people, and be supporting the creative practices we’ve grown to love that surround us.