With funds provided by the Yale Council on Southeast Asia Studies, and through the efforts of the Yale Department of Music and Yale Gamelan founding director, Dr. Sarah Weiss, this ensemble was purchased from Ki Midiyanto - Central Javanese dhalang and long time teacher at UC-Berkeley. They were shipped from Wonogiri, Indonesia where they had been used regularly for wayang and klenengan performances over the course of about four years. Shipped by sea, the instruments arrived on campus in November 2006 and were unpacked by volunteers in December. The ensemble was named Gamelan Suprabanggo, a singkatan formed from the names of the sons of Ki Midiyanto (Supraba and Anggo).

In spring semester 2007, Dr. Weiss began teaching Yale's first seminar on the history, theory, aesthetics, cultural contexts and performance of Javanese karawitan. The students in the seminar form the core of the Javanese performance ensemble which currently meets weekly (see Performance Ensemble, above)

gamelan - A Javanese/Indonesian word for ensemble. The word "gamel" means to hammer something. A Central Javanese gamelan consists primarily of bronze instruments - horizontal and vertical gongs and metallophones - but also includes several stringed instruments, flutes, drums, and voices in performance. Gamelan orchestras are the traditional accompaniment to wayang shows, dances, feasts and ceremonies of Java, Indonesia. Gamelan music consists of smooth, "impressionistic" tone clusters and intensely complex intertwining rhythms and textures.

wayang - Javanese wayang kulit or wayang purwa - a dramatic form involving puppetry - derived from a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist tradition, where hand-crafted leather puppets are used to depict epic stories of the gods in shadow play.

dhalang - The wayang puppeteer - in performance, employs the combined arts of puppet movement, dialogue, songs and commentary.

klenengan - Javanese gamelan music, played in soft and contemplative style, used for listening entertainment rather than for the accompaniment of a dramatic theatrical event.

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