The late Balinese composer I Made Subandi(Subandi) takes “Cecek Megelut”, a standard piece from the gender wayang repertoire, and rewrites it here for semar pegulingan. Gender wayang is a compact Balinese gamelan ensemble used to accompany wayang kulit, the island’s shadow puppet theatre, while semar pegulingan is a court-derived ensemble with a wider set of instruments. The extended version is played by the community arts group Sanggar Ceraken and appears on Insitu Sessions Volume 7, released on 8 February by Insitu Recordings.

Subandi was born in Batuyang village, Bali, on 23 February 1966. He first studied gender wayang with his father, a recognised master of the style, then continued at the performing arts high school SMKI (KOKAR) from 1984 and at the arts institute STSI Denpasar from 1988. He later became director of the music department at SMK 3 Sukawati (KOKAR), teaching many younger Balinese musicians who now form part of the island’s contemporary gamelan scene.

The recording took place on 26 July 2023 at Museum Wiswakarma in the village of Batubulan, in Gianyar regency. The semar pegulingan used in this session was built from repurposed instrument cases preserved at the museum. This was the final Insitu Session that Subandi supported before his death, and the same release also includes “Mutusake” by Balinese musician Ni Made Ayu Dwi Sattvitri, which returns to “Cecek Megelut” from a different angle.